§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which Council of Ministers formation her Department has called on to lead the debate on the forthcoming EU chemical regulation. [147230]
§ Alun MichaelGiven the wide-ranging nature of the forthcoming EU chemical regulation, the Government have always considered it essential that the expertise of both the Competitiveness Council and the Environment Council would be needed in coming to decisions on the regulation on registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals.
Following the decision of the Italian presidency to ask the Competitiveness Council to lead this debate, we welcome the formation of an ad-hoc working group between the two as a way to enable this wide input to detailed policy discussions. Such an approach is essential if we are to make good progress with this long awaited legislation. I recently visited Brussels to discuss the issues with parliamentarians and the Environment Commission's team and in the UK Ministers at Defra and DTI are working closely with each other and with 628W both industry and non-governmental organisations to give the Commission's latest proposals the best possible scrutiny from all perspectives.