Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-155"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20051115.25.2-155"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, let me begin this debate by congratulating all those committees, and their many individual members, who have participated in the discussions on REACH, which is one of the most far-reaching proposals that the Commission has ever adopted. The committees and their members have had an enormous amount of work to do in analysing its details and in drafting amendments to improve it.
It is evident that various committees are making strenuous efforts to enhance the Agency’s role in assessing risk. The Commission accepts that such an approach has its merits in terms of more even and more consistent application of the Regulation’s rules, although we must be very cautious as regards the tangible form that this will take. The fact of the matter is that there is only a limited reserve of expertise, much of which is to be found in the Member States – whether in their competent authorities or in their scientific institutions. It is vital that the best possible use be made of these resources for the common good.
The authorisation procedure is one of the most important aspects of the whole REACH Regulation, if not, indeed, its cornerstone. On the one hand, we want to find an efficient way of giving businesses an incentive to substitute viable alternatives for substances of very high concern, but, on the other, we do not want to set up a system that puts chemicals producers within the EU at a competitive disadvantage. This affects a large number of high-tech companies, and the innovative benefit of chemical substances is crucial if they are to remain able to compete with those in the USA, China and other Asian countries. We must also be careful not to overstrain the Agency or the Commission to too little real effect.
The risk element must remain crucial in the authorisation procedure if we are to continue to endeavour to monitor it in an appropriate way. Firms must also be able to demonstrate that they are succeeding in doing that.
We can agree to a procedural step in which the Agency publishes information on its work programme for authorisation, that is to say, relating to its choice of chemicals to be proposed to the Commission as candidates for authorisation within a foreseeable timeframe. That is good for the industry, in that it will give businesses greater confidence in planning ahead. We can also accept the idea of attaching a review clause to the Agency’s authorisation of substances in individual cases.
Discussion of substances in products, to which Article 6 relates, has been made difficult, not through its being in any way politically controversial, but because of the objective facts, in that it involves, on the one hand, creating equal competitive conditions for manufacturers and importers of products, and, on the other, countering the problems arising through the import of products the chemical constituents of which do not have to comply with the same conditions as products manufactured from registered chemicals. These include many components that European industry processes into end products. In the final analysis, compliance with the WTO rules requiring risk-based regulations is unavoidable.
It is for this reason that the Commission is in favour of those proposals that are practicable and conform to WTO requirements. The intended rules for substances intended to be released from products appear to the Commission to be reliable. Other substances in products will require the creation of a system that companies will find easy to use and the primary purpose of which is the identification of risks.
Moving on to the confidentiality of data, a number of amendments have as their objection the enlargement of the list of items of information that should always and in principle be regarded as confidential. Others seek to shorten this list and facilitate the publication of more information on the Internet.
The Commission takes the view that, at the end of the day, its compromise proposal strikes the right balance. Our aim should be to ensure access to information that is really needed to protect public health and the environment. In the course of time, the Agency will have an important part to play in terms of communication and also in informing consumers, even though that is not the express objective of the REACH Regulation.
On the other hand, we must not be naive. Both Europe and the companies have great knowledge and experience in the use of chemical substances, knowledge that would certainly be of great value to competitors outside Europe. Within Europe, too, we must ensure that the competitive position of individual enterprises is not undermined.
We cannot therefore rule out the possibility of having to make a number of amendments to the text in order to bring REACH’s practical implementation into line with the provisions of the Aarhus Convention. I am thinking here, in particular, of the tight deadlines required for appeals decisions.
I am particularly obliged to Mr Sacconi, who, as rapporteur for the lead committee and as a stalwart defender of improvements to the protection of health and the environment, was open to the possibility of compromise. I also wish to thank Mr Nassauer, the draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on the Internal Market and an advocate of competitiveness and innovation as goals for policy, who was equally open to reasonable compromise, and Mrs Ek, who drafted the opinion of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and was equally active in putting forward the objections of industry, albeit without losing sight of the vital importance of protecting health and the environment.
The amendments also address many other individual issues. Although time does not permit me to mention them all, I would like to draw your attention to the amendments relating to the Agency, which cover a multitude of issues relating to its mandate, the way its committees work together within it, the composition of the Management Committee and the appointment of its Executive Director. The Commission’s view of these amendments is founded on a pragmatic approach. We have an open mind about, and will deal constructively with, proposals aimed at making the Agency more efficient, but we must avoid heaping additional burdens upon it. The more tasks we expect it to perform, the greater the risk that it will not enjoy initial success.
Let me also emphasise to the budgetary authority that giving the Agency additional tasks must, self-evidently, be accompanied by a corresponding increase in its financial resources.
The Commission hopes, then, that the compromise package presented by Mr Sacconi and Mr Nassauer is one to which Parliament will feel able to give its approval. We believe that this package can help to foster widespread support for a piece of legislation that is among the most problematic, complex and, certainly, most controversial in the history of the European Union.
From the very beginning of the discussion of REACH, the Commission has always seen itself as having the role of helping to find a rational and pragmatic solution that struck the right balance between the demands of the economy and the objectives associated with health and the environment, and we do believe that these compromise proposals achieve it rather – and let me make this perfectly clear – than weakening the Commission’s original proposal. We believe that this compromise package makes the proposal more workable, more efficient and also more cost-effective; a better way, indeed, of achieving the environmental and health objectives. It is for this reason that the response from the Commission’s meeting today was so positive, and I hope that will also encourage the Council to adopt the whole package before the year is out. The proposals to which the Commission has given such a favourable response are watertight by comparison with those submitted earlier by the UK Council Presidency, so I do now believe that we have an extraordinarily good chance of successfully wrapping up this very difficult legislative package by the end of the year.
Not least in your House, this legislative project has made enormous demands in terms of organisation, and the Commission itself found it difficult to respond to over 1 000 amendments and come to an agreement. We will be able to explain in detail our position on the compromise package put forward by Mr Sacconi and Mr Nassauer, and also to respond in detail to the amendments that were handed well in advance of the deadline, but I do ask you to understand that the Commission will not be able to consider in full the amendments tabled immediately prior to the deadline for submission, and that, for this reason, I cannot yet give you the Commission’s position on them. We will, however, delay as little as possible in stating our position on those amendments that gain a majority at the vote.
I will now turn to the fundamental questions to which the amendments refer.
The Commission supports Mr Sacconi’s and Mr Nassauer’s proposed compromises on registration and on the exchange of information. We take the view that they strike a very good balance between the demands of our industry’s competitiveness on the one hand and advances in the protection of health and the environment on the other. On the subject of the exchange of information, I would like to stress that any such system must offer the maximum possible incentives, although there will be situations in which – for reasons, among others, of cost – it will not be in businesses’ interests to cooperate and in which the exchange of information could be detrimental to their essential interests. It is for that reason that I am grateful that a system has been devised for the conditions applicable to data exchange to minimise inconvenience for businesses and the Agency.
There is, I would say, a threefold motivation behind the amendments relating to the regulation’s scope. One has to do with substantive clarification of it. A second has to do with creating a derogation from it for a number of other substances that are not regarded as presenting any risk, and a third has to do with the avoidance of duplication of rules.
The Commission accepts the clarifications relating to derogations from the scope of the regulation, notably for waste, food, biocides and pesticides. We also accept the clarification to the effect that REACH cannot alter or circumvent the rules in the cosmetics directive for the avoidance of animal experiments.
We accept the need for the requirements relating to specific substances – that is, minerals, ores, ore concentrates and chemicals occurring in nature – to be expressed with greater clarity.
Turning to the requirements to be imposed on what are termed downstream users, the Commission is in favour of introducing a threshold of one tonne per annum where such users are required to submit a chemical safety report on their own account. This is necessary if they are not to be put at a disadvantage over against their own suppliers and also in order for the system to be made more compatible with their needs."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples