Environment and Rural Development Committee, 21 Apr 2004
Meeting date: Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Official Report
200KB pdf
European Issues
The minister has not yet arrived, so we will consider the paper on European issues, which provides us with our regular update on those matters. The report is substantial and covers a large number of issues. However, I suspect that it does not include much that is entirely new to most members. The paper maps progress on the key issues that members have raised previously in committee. The run-up to the European elections will have a significant impact on the work of the Parliament. The paper provides a snapshot of the current position. I invite members to note what is on our European agenda.
I wish to bring members up to speed on a couple of issues. The first is the chemicals policy. I will circulate for members' interest a note of a conference that I attended on the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals—REACH. The conference was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry and was intended to bring together the environmental lobby and the business community. In some ways, it demonstrated how far apart the two camps were, although it also highlighted potential areas of agreement that could be mapped out. However, we are a long way off agreement.
Secondly, the United Kingdom white paper on the Commission's work programme is now available. This is the first time that the UK Government has produced such a paper. As a result of recommendations by the European Scrutiny Committee, the UK Government will expose the whole Commission work programme to parliamentary debate and discussion.
Scotland has its own system, which has been quite effective in flushing out issues that are being considered at a European level. Our committee is part of that process. However, I will circulate the white paper to members because we might want to explore how we can ensure that our interests are logged through that process.
Finally, I have provided extra information on the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive, on which I have asked a series of parliamentary questions. The UK is meant to transpose the WEEE directive through subordinate legislation by 13 August, but nothing is currently winging its way towards us. Our last note from the Executive said that it was in the process of consulting on the directive, but we have been given no indication of when that consultation will be concluded and when the directive will be transposed. I have put that on the agenda so that we can see what response we get from the Executive.
Now that I have given that update, do members want to follow up any issues in detail?
The Executive's consultation on the regional advisory councils closed on 6 February. Do we know what has come out of that consultation or what will be done about the councils? I know that, potentially, the regional advisory councils will be established by the end of the year, but have we any more details? It would be worth knowing about that target.
We have not received any information on that, but we could ask the Executive what the results of the consultation were and how it proposes to take the issue forward.
I am a bit bothered about the lack of progress on the WEEE directive. Such indications as we have received suggest that the burden will be put on the retail sector, which is not where the pressure was supposed to be exerted. I want to know more about what has been done. Perhaps we could exert pressure by writing to the Executive to ask for more information. It seems to me that we are in danger of being firmly on the back foot on this one, when we need not be.
The transposition deadline is 13 August, which is during our recess. I asked my parliamentary questions because I was concerned that, if we are in recess when the UK Parliament deals with the issue—Westminster's recess starts a month after ours—it might be difficult for us to exercise scrutiny on the issue. I am more than happy to write to the Executive on the committee's behalf to ask what the current plans are. I asked my PQs a while ago, but they have not yet received a response.
We want to enable people to respond to the directive. We do not want to require the business community or consumers to respond to the issue at the drop of a hat. It would be much better to have a good response.
Do members have any other questions? As well as keeping the committee informed, part of the purpose of this agenda item is to enable people outwith the Parliament to be aware of what is happening at a European level and how they can engage in that as key stakeholders. We have gone into a lot of depth on many issues. We will make a couple of requests to the Executive for more information. That will suffice.
I take it that everyone has read the timetable for 2004-05. We will probably need to gear ourselves up to consider some of those issues. All the thematic strategies are to be published in September, so I suspect that we will need to get our heads round waste recycling, soil protection and the sustainable use of pesticides. Those are big issues for our committee and for the stakeholders who are interested in our work. Members will also note that the United Kingdom takes over the presidency of the European Union next summer. That will be an interesting opportunity.
As members have no further questions, I will close the item on the European issues paper.