Page 47 - Lawtext Environmental Law & Management Journal Sample

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1 1 1 1 15 55 58 8 (2008) 20 ELM : INDUSTRY SOUNDINGS – POCKLINGTON
The Commission had proposed that a new item – EU ETS update
‘unexcavated contaminated soil’ – should be added to the
list of materials excluded from the ambit of the new WFD While readers might sympathise with Dr Jackson in her
via Article 2(1)(f), and the Council common position was task of reconciling ENVI Committee views on the WFD
worded as: (above), this is dwarfed by the task facing Avril Doyle, the
ENVI rapporteur on the modifications to the EU ETS
uncontaminated soil and other naturally occurring Directive. France has just taken over the Presidency of
material excavated in the course of construction the EU and is anxious to expedite a 1st Reading Agreement
activities where it is certain that the material will be during its term of office, which ends in December 2008.
used for the purposes of construction in its natural In addition to promoting France’s own national agenda,
state on the site from which it was excavated. this urgency is driven by concerns that the less positive
stance of Czechoslovakia towards the EU ETS might result
However, under the agreed ENVI position this became: in delays that would result in key decisions being taken in
the new Parliament. Not only would the whole package
uncontaminated excavated materials which can be be subject to further revision, but subsequent presidencies
used, either on the same site or on another site, on may have substantially different attitudes to this issue. It
condition that these natural geological materials do appears that France intends to produce most of the
not have any characteristics which are likely to result compromise amendments itself, unlike its predecessor –
in a notable impact on the receiving environment. the Slovenian Presidency, which relied heavily upon the
Commission.
This revised wording is problematic in many respects, in: Although ENVI is the lead committee and its output
will go to the plenary, the directive is being progressed
• not specifying whether these materials would be under the Enhanced Hughes Procedure, and other
3
assessed in terms of the deleterious or beneficial committees will be able to submit their own amendments
effects to the plenary. Dates for the submission of amendments
• the use of the highly subjective term ‘notable’ to the ITRE and ENVI Committees were 17 June and 2
• the phrase ‘either on the same site or on another site’ July, and 404 and over 827 amendments were tabled
is open to wide interpretation including where respectively, with 108 in ECON.
‘another site’ is in another Member State, thus To complicate matters further, the 1st Reading
encouraging the trans-border movement of these Agreement will be on the total energy package, not just
materials the EU ETS component, and as such the rapporteur will
• the term ‘excavated materials’ could be construed as be at pains to prevent major clashes between the parties.
being quite restrictive The other time constraint facing the passage of the
• use of the term ‘natural geological materials’, which directive results from the 2009 elections in June and the
has until recently caused significant problems through appointment of new Commissioner who takes office on 1
its inappropriate use within Annex V of the REACH November. Although the directive is unlikely to be
Regulation in relation to cement. concluded in the current Parliament, provided that a 1st
reading agreement is reached, it will not be necessary for
In the event, the full plenary session of the European the next Parliament to start anew. However, there will be a
Parliament agreed on a compromise deal reached between long period in 2009 during which little progress is made.
the rapporteur, Dr Caroline Jackson, the Council
Presidency, Slovenia, and the Commission including: Changes at the Environment Agency
unexcavated contaminated soil remaining outside the
scope of the WFD, and uncontaminated soil not being While everyone anticipated the appointment of a new
regarded as a ‘waste’ if it is used for the purposes of chairman in June, Sir John Harman having been prevailed
construction on the site from which it was excavated. The upon to stay in post a further six months from December
European Council will now vote formally on the proposals, 2007, Barbara Young’s departure at the end of May caught
and while some expect this to be a mere formality, there many by surprise. In May it was announced that Lady
are others who believe it will go to conciliation where Young has been nominated as the Department of Health’s
further changes are to be expected. preferred candidate to chair the shadow Care Quality
It seems inevitable that the European legislative
process will result in a ‘Catch 22’ situation on contentious
issues – the more controversial the subject, the more
3 Under the Enhanced Hughes Procedure [Rule 162A, Rules of Procedure
amendments it is likely to attract. The result is an of the European Parliament, 15th edn February 200<?><?>], amendments
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ambiguous text within the final legal instrument which tabled by the Opinion Committee(s) are given a higher status, and the
requires further detailed consideration by the ECJ. cooperation between the Lead Committee and the Opinion
Committee(s) is more formal. In particular, the amendments accepted
Although the revised Waste Framework Directive has yet by the Opinion Committee go directly to the plenary session of the
to be finalised, it is likely that it will trigger a new tranche Parliament for a vote, and the Lead Committee cannot determine
of action in the European Court. whether to accept them or not.
4 The Guardian (1 May 2008).
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