The committee adopted the report by Pernille FRAHM (EUL/NGL, DK) broadly approving the proposal under the consultation procedure, subject to a few technical amendments. It said that the proposal should have a single legal basis rather than the double legal basis - Articles 175(1) and 95(1) TEC - proposed by the Commission. Given that the main purpose of the Protocol was the protection of human health and the environment, and not the functioning of the internal market, Article 175(1) of the EC Treaty was the appropriate legal basis.
The committee also deleted the provisions relating to a centralised procedure for how proposals to amend the international agreements on POPs should be agreed. It pointed out that a procedure was already provided for in the agreements themselves. Moreover, the EC Treaty guaranteed individual Member States the right to negotiate in international bodies and conclude international agreements.�