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| Press Release from The European Commission DG XI, Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, date : Brussels, 11 October 2000
The Conciliation Committee(1) on 11 October noted that agreements had been reached by the Council and the European Parliament on
- a Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental marine pollution, and
- directive on the incineration of waste. In each case, the two institutions will have to confirm the agreement by an absolute majority of the votes cast in the case of the Parliament and by a qualified majority in the Council - subject to which these legislative acts will be definitely adopted.
Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental marine pollution
The agreement on the decision setting up a Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental marine pollution for the period 1.1.2000 to 31.12.2006 contains the following elements:
As a follow-up to the amendments voted by the Parliament in second reading, a formulation was included in article 1,2a stating that accidental marine pollution risks include releases of harmful substances into the marine environment, whatever their origin including those linked to the presence of dumped materials, such as munitions. Furthermore, co-operation between Member States will be promoted in order to provide for compensation for damage in accordance with the polluter-pays-principle.
It is recalled that the Community framework for co-operation in the field of accidental marine pollution is intended to support and supplement existing instruments for the protection of the marine environment, human health and coastlines, and strengthen the conditions for efficient mutual assistance between Member States in this field. Pollution at sea to be targeted includes accidental or deliberate causes, be it from ships, offshore platforms or land based sources as long as not otherwise regulated by other Community instruments.
The framework will bring about increased simplification and coherence between the actions already undertaken since 1978, encompassing in one single act a Community Information System and an Action Programme. This legal basis allows increasing co-operation among Member States, setting out criteria and financing arrangements for the actions to be funded, for which a yearly amount of Euro 1 Million is foreseen. The Community Information System will make use of the Internet where a Community Home Page and National Home Pages will provide, respectively, general information and information related to the national intervention resources available and contact points.
Directive on waste incineration
The aim of the directive is to prevent or, where that is not practicable, to reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment, in particular the pollution caused by emissions into air, soil, surface water and groundwater, and the resulting risks to human health, from the incineration and co-incineration of waste. This is to be achieved by way of stringent operational conditions and technical requirements and setting up emission limit values for waste incineration and co-incineration plants within the Community.
The directive will lead to significant reductions in emissions of several key pollutants across the EU despite the projected increase in the amount of waste incinerated. Moreover, the controls on releases to water will, for the first time, reduce the pollution from incineration of marine and fresh water eco-systems. Considerable reductions will be achieved for acid gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2) and hydrogen chlorides (HCl) as well as for heavy metals. Emissions of cadmium throughout the EU are expected to decrease from 16 tonnes per year in 1995 to 1,1 tonnes and those of mercury from 36 tonnes per year to 7,1 tonnes in 2005. (1)The Conciliation Committee has 30 members: 15 members of the European parliament and 15 representatives of the Council. The meeting of the 11th October was co-chaired by Mr. Renzo IMBENI, Vice-president of the European Parliament, and Mr. Jean-Claude GAYSSOT, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing of the French Republic.
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