Environment Council (Hansard, 27 October 1992)

§ Mr. Howard

I chaired the Environment Council which met in Luxembourg on 20 October. My hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment and Countryside represented the United Kingdom.

The Council agreed a common position on a new regulation on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community. The Council has invited the European Parliament to co-operate in expediting the adoption of this regulation so that the next meeting of the Council in December can settle the date when the EC and the United Kingdom can ratify the Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. The regulation could therefore come into operation in 1994. The Government will have powers under the regulation to ban imports for final disposal from all countries including member states of the EC unless they produce hazardous waste in such a small quantity that it would be uneconomic for them to provide their own disposal facilities. The regulation also contains strict controls on the international movement of recoverable wastes and will give legal effect to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development decision on the movement of recoverables.

The Council agreed to press for methyl bromide to be added to the list of controlled substances covered by the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer at next month's meeting of the parties in Copenhagen, with an initial control involving a freeze at 1991 levels by 1995. My hon. Friend indicated that the United Kingdom would have been willing to go further and accept a 25 per cent. cut in methyl bromide production and consumption by the year 2000 if other member states had been willing to do likewise. The Council also exchanged views on the controls on chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting substances that the Community should press for in Copenhagen and on other issues likely to arise there.

The Council held a discussion on the fifth environmental action programme—"Towards Sustainability"—and gave initial consideration to a draft Council resolution endorsing the programme. Ministers envisaged the adoption of the resolution in December when the European Parliament's opinion has been received.

The Council held a discussion about the European Environment Agency. Ministers expressed regret at the lack of a decision on the location of the agency which continues to prevent it from beginning its work. They expressed the hope that the European Council would, as a matter of urgency, reach a decision on this issue.

The Council discussed informally climate change and follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. On the former, they agreed that the climate change convention should be ratified by the end of 1993; that member states should produce the national plans required under the convention by the same time; that member states' own plans for reducing CO₂ emissions should be submitted to the Council by the end of this year; and that the Council will consider the Commission's proposals for monitoring 544W member states' CO₂ emissions at its next meeting. On the latter, Ministers reaffirmed the plan agreed at the Lisbon European Council for follow-up action to Rio.

The Council discussed the Commission's proposal for a regulation on eco-auditing, which would establish a voluntary scheme to encourage positive and effective environmental management of industrial operations and public reporting of the environmental impacts of their activities. Ministers endorsed the continuation of work aimed at the further refinement of the proposal to enable early agreement on it.

The Council considered for the first time the Commission's proposal for a revision of controls on the wildlife trade—the "Convention on Trade in Endangered Species regulation". Other member states joined the United Kingdom in supporting a significant strengthening of current controls, while emphasising that any extension of controls beyond those species covered by CITES must be on a scientific basis. The Council agreed that any harmonised controls within member states must be sharply focused; that the Community must avoid needless bureaucracy; and that it was important to ensure that member states retained an appropriate level of discretion in operating the controls. Ministers invited the Committee of permanent representatives to continue their work on this issue.

The Council took note of progress in preparing a directive which would extend to light-duty vehicles provisions on the control of exhaust pollutants which already apply to passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles. Ministers hoped to reach a common position on the draft directive in December.