EC ECO-MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT SCHEME

HL Deb 10 May 1994 vol 554 cc84-6WA

Lord Lyell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether a decision has yet been taken on who is to be the United Kingdom Competent Body for the EC Eco-Management and Audit Scheme and what progress there has been in implementing the regulation.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Arran)

In July of last year we published a consultation document on arrangements for implementing the EC Eco-Management and Audit scheme in the UK. The regulation establishing the scheme requires each member state to set up a Competent Body to compile and maintain a register of participating sites. The consultation document proposed that this function be undertaken by the UK Ecolabelling Board. In the light of the responses received and further discussions with the board we have decided that, for the time being, my department should be the Competent Body. We propose to establish a consultative group of people with different interests in the scheme to advise us on this function.

This decision reflects a realisation of the potential complexity of the arrangements if we do not limit the number of key players involved, particularly in the initial stages of setting up the scheme. My department is already involved, together with the Department of Trade and Industry, in representing the UK on the EC Regulatory Committee which is further developing the policy. I believe it would therefore be sensible for my department to take on the additional, but fairly limited, functions of the Competent Body, at least for the time being. The ecolabelling scheme continues to prove more difficult to implement than anticipated and this decision will leave the board free to continue to give it their strong and single-minded focus.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Technology announced in another place on 29 October 1993 that the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB) would be responsible for accrediting the verifiers, the independent third parties who will check compliance with the terms of the regulation, as well as certifiers to the new environmental management standard BS7750. I am pleased to be able to inform your Lordships that the NACCB is to launch the initial phase of this accreditation at the end of this month and is now inviting applications from the first bodies who wish to be so accredited.

These developments represent significant milestones in putting in place the necessary arrangements for implementing the scheme which will come into operation in April 1995.