The European Parliament adopted by 609 votes to 20, with 5 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of an agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council. They amended the proposal as follows:
Need for new measures: the amended text refers to Decision No 1386/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. This Decision provides that the pace of current developments and uncertainties surrounding likely future trends require further steps to ensure that policy in the Union continues to draw on a sound understanding of the state of the environment, of possible response options and their consequences.
Instruments should be developed with a view to ensuring the preparation of quality-assured data and indicators and to improving its accessibility. It is important that such data be made available in a comprehensible and accessible form.
Delegated acts: in order to take into account technical and scientific progress and supplement the provisions on energy accounts, the power to adopt acts should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the specification of the list of energy products referred to Annex VI as contained in the Annex to this Regulation.
Such delegated acts should not impose a significant additional burden on the Member States or on the respondents. The Commission, when preparing and drawing up delegated acts, should carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work and ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and to the Council.
The power to adopt delegated acts should be conferred on the Commission for a period of 5 years from 11 August 2011 and could be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration.
Implementing acts: in order to facilitate a uniform application of Annex V, the Commission should, by 31 December 2015, by means of implementing acts, establish an indicative compendium of environmental goods and services and of the economic activities to be covered by Annex V based on the following categories: environmental specific services, environmental sole purpose products (connected products), adapted goods and environmental technologies.
Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council.