Adopted was the report of Mr. Ivar VIRGIN (Sw., EPP) on the proposal for a
Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93 on the supervision
and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the EU to
prohibit all exports of hazardous wastes destined for recovery operations
from OECD to non-OECD countries. The rapporteur was just in time to table 3
amendments which update his report and which are the result of the outcome
of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention (18-25 September
1995, Geneva). That conference agreed on an amendment of the Basel
Convention in order to prohibit the export of hazardous waste, for final
disposal, from OECD to non-OECD countries, immediately, and to prohibit the
export of hazardous waste, for recycling purposes, from OECD to non-OECD
countries, from 1 January 1998. In his most important amendment, no 3.,
like the other amendments adopted unanimously, Mr. VIRGIN proposes to add,
to the export ban, hazardous waste covered by the Basle Convention's
definition of hazardous waste as well as waste covered by the EU's
hazardous waste list.
a. Background: on 20 January 1993, the EP gave its opinion on the Commission
proposal for a Regulation on the supervision and control of shipments of
waste, within, into and out of the EU. Then, it was unable to reach any
agreement with the Commission on whether the export of hazardous waste to
non-OECD countries for recycling was to be permitted or not. In Regulation
259/93 the export of hazardous waste for recycling (recovery) was not
prohibited. The EP continued to oppose this state of affairs, since
'recycling' is often merely a euphemism for final disposal. b. The
Commission proposal: on 5 April 1995, Parliament adopted a resolution in
which it reiterated its view that the export of hazardous waste to
non-OECD countries for recycling should be prohibited as soon as possible
and called on upon Council and Commission to give their formal endorsement
to Decision II/12, taken by the Basle Convention in March 1994. Under this
decision, all transboundary movements of hazardous wastes which are destined
for final disposal from OECD to non-OECD States are immediately prohibited.
The transboundary movements of hazardous wastes which are destined for
recycling or recovery operations. (cf. COM(93)0143 final, 26 April 1995).
The Commission proposal reflects Parliament's latest requests. c. The
Commission's position Rapporteur VIRGIN is of the opinion that the
Commission is in a difficult position. On the one hand is should protect
the needs of the environment, on the other hand the pressure of business
interests is very strong. A number of groups within the waste sector in
non-OECD countries want the trade in all hazardous wastes to be as
unrestricted as possible to enable them to use waste substances as raw
materials. Some Member states would like to retain the ability to export
their hazardous waste. This makes it very difficult for decisions to be
taken by the Commission. d. The rapporteur's conclusions: although
rapporteur VIRGIN was not entirely satisfied this morning by the
Commission's proposal, the Committee agreed with him that the proposal
could be accepted by adopting the above mentioned amendments. In the
future, when the problems of defining hazardous waste have been to some
extent resolved, the proposal can be tightened up somewhat.