PURPOSE: to streamline EU environmental reporting legislation.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2018/853 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 and Directives 94/63/EC and 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directives 86/278/EEC and 87/217/EEC as regards procedural rules in the field of environmental reporting and repealing Council Directive 91/692/EEC.
CONTENT: the Decision repeals Council Directive 91/692/EEC on the standardisation of environmental reporting (SRD) and amends six legal acts containing references to it. For the sake of legal clarity, the Decision to repeal the SRD amends all references to it where they are obsolete. By amending or repealing legislative acts which are no longer applicable or relevant, the Decision brings legal certainty, increases transparency and reduces the administrative burden within Member States.
This decision is part of the package of measures repealing the standardisation of environmental reporting Directive presented by the Commission in 2016. This includes two other initiatives that shall also help to eliminate unnecessary texts from the legislative corpus.
On substance, the Decision aims to ensure that the comitology provisions in a number of acts are adapted to the Lisbon Treaty and the current Interinstitutional Agreement.
As regards Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and Directive 86/278/EEC on the protection of the environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture, the Decision provides that the power to adopt delegated acts should be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years with the possibility of tacitly extending the delegation of power for periods of an identical duration.
As regards Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 on ship recycling, it is specified that the first electronic report shall cover the three-year period starting on the date of application of this Regulation.
Where a Member State authorises the recycling of ships in ship recycling facilities that are included in the European List prior to the date of application of this Regulation, the first electronic report of that Member State shall also cover the period from the date of such authorisation to the date of application of this Regulation.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 4.7.2018.