Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-02-Speech-4-044"
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"en.20090402.6.4-044"2
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"Mr President, I should like to start by thanking all the speakers in today's debate for their very constructive and positive speeches.
We want to limit bureaucracy and ensure that the various texts which refer to the relevant criteria will be simple and convenient and that the Ecolabel will be as harmonised as possible with other international and national labels.
The text of our proposal provides this facility, in that it contains a reference to the drafting of special explanatory documents and the adoption of special rules to promote harmonisation with national labels.
I shall be filing three statements by the Commission with Parliament's secretariat for inclusion in the minutes of today's sitting:
the first concerns the way in which misleading claims for fish products are dealt with. The Commission intends to propose a regulation which will prohibit labelling with misleading claims which are incompatible with sustainable fisheries;
the second statement relates to the Commission's intention to ensure that the revised Ecolabel regulation does not infringe regulations relating to chemical products, such as the REACH regulation;
the third statement concerns the Commission's plan to re-examine the level of duty on Ecolabel products.
To close, I would like to say that both the ΕΜΑS and the Ecolabel are exceptional initiatives. To date the potential of neither the one nor the other has been fully exploited and I agree with Mrs Svensson that it should be applied as it is being applied now, not only in the five Directorates General and committees, but also in the other Directorates General and that is what we are doing with the decision which we are preparing. The European Parliament has decided to apply the ΕΜΑS and we expect the same of the Council.
Today's proposed review will allow the ΕΜΑS and the Ecolabel to develop into reference points for sound environmental management and best environmental performances by products.
I should therefore like to stress once again the importance of reaching agreement at first reading. Numerous useful changes have been made to the texts and the results are very balanced. I therefore call on you to support this text in its entirety without further change.
Before I close, I should like once again to thank the rapporteurs for their extremely useful contribution. I truly believe that, with their hard work and with the cooperation of the Czech Presidency, we are in a position to agree at first reading, which is very important.
On the basis of the text agreed for the ΕΜΑS, organisations and companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the world, will have access to a simple and effective eco-management system.
Independently of the adoption of the Ecolabel Regulation, the Commission confirms that it intends to propose a Regulation on ecolabelling of fishery products before the end of this year to be mainly based on criteria for sustainable fishing.
The study foreseen in article 6(5)a of the Ecolabel regulation dealing with additional aspects such as processing, pre-packaging, packaging and transport, which will examine the feasibility of the extension of the scope of the Ecolabel Regulation to food, including the products of fishing and aquaculture, will not influence or prejudge the adoption of this Regulation.
The Commission will ensure that the implementation of the Ecolabel Regulation will be coherent with the other relevant Community legislation addressing substances, preparations and mixtures.
The Commission confirms it intends to review the level of fees for the Ecolabel within 18 months of entry into force of the Regulation, taking into account the cost incurred by Member States in administering the scheme, and propose a revision of the fee levels as appropriate.
With this revised ΕΜΑS, participating companies will have a net benefit, given that they will be able to use their environmental reports to promote their environmental performance to consumers, to the public and to other companies and inspectors and auditors.
Thanks to the amendments proposed by Parliament, the text of the regulation on the Ecolabel has been improved still further from an environmental point of view and is now more accessible to companies. Parliament's amendments also played an extremely important role in guaranteeing the credibility of the label among consumers and environmental organisations.
The revised Ecolabel will be more flexible and will allow criteria for the inclusion of even more goods and services to be laid down at a later stage, especially in categories of goods with an important environmental impact and, therefore, huge room for improvement.
Approval of this text at first reading will increase the number of Ecolabel products, giving consumers far greater choice when shopping. Our objective is, of course, for there to be broad recognition of and to safeguard the validity and reliability of the European label scheme at international level.
In the meantime, however, this Ecolabel first needs to be recognised by consumers and companies throughout the European Union.
That is why I want to emphasise that Mr Wijkman was quite right to remark that we need to strengthen commercial support, the marketing of the Ecolabel still further. That is precisely why the Commission has earmarked resources and means, more than at any other time, to strengthen the marketing of the Ecolabel.
We also fully endorse the view expressed by Mr Howitt about the prospects of the ΕΜΑS at international level. To be specific, international ISO standards have already been included and incorporated into the ΕΜΑS. The ΕΜΑS will now be open to applications by international companies outside the European Union."@en1
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"1) In relation to the Ecolabel Regulation's relationship to upcoming fisheries legislation"1
"2) In relation to coherence with chemicals legislation"1
"3) In relation to fees review"1
"Commission's statements"1
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