Dangerous substances, metallic mercury: banning of exports, safe storage

At its Plenary Session of 21 May 2008, the European Parliament adopted a compromise package consisting of 22 amendments which had been agreed with the Council in view of reaching a second reading agreement. The Commission accepts all the amendments as they are in line with the overall purpose and the general characteristics of the proposal.

These amendments concern essentially:

·         the scope of the export ban (extended to two mercury compounds and mixtures with a high mercury content, in order to prevent circumventing the export ban on metallic mercury);

·         the date of the entry into effect of the export ban (15 March 2011 instead of 1 July 2011);

·         the link of an information exchange and a report on safe disposal (solidification) options to the adoption of specific acceptance criteria under comitology;

·         extended reporting requirements;

·         an enhanced revision clause.