51997AP0136

A4-0136/97

Decision on the common position adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a European Parliament and Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery (C4-0072/97 - 95/0209(COD))

(Codecision procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the common position of the Council, C4-0072/97 - 95/0209(COD),

- having regard to its opinion at first reading( ((OJ C 308, 20.11.1995, p. 29.))) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council, COM(95)0350( ((OJ C 328, 7.12.1995, p. 1.))),

- having regard to Article 189b(2) of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to Rule 72 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0136/97),

1. Amends the common position as follows;

2. Calls on the Commission to support Parliament's amendments in the opinion it is required to deliver pursuant to Article 189b(2)(d) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to approve all Parliament's amendments, amend its common position accordingly and definitively adopt the act;

4. Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council and Commission.

(Amendment 1)

Recital 21a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

(21a) Whereas an agreement on a 'modus vivendi¨ between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission concerning the implementing measures for acts adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the EC Treaty was reached on 20 December 1994(1),

(1) OJ C 102, 4.4.1996, p. 1.

(Amendment 3)

Article 14, second paragraph (new)

>Text following EP vote>

The committee shall meet as a rule in public, unless a specific duly motivated decision is taken to the contrary and published in good time. It shall publish agendas two weeks in advance of its meetings. It shall publish minutes of its meetings. It shall establish a public register of declarations of interest by its members.

(Amendment 4)

Article 15

>Original text>

1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.

>Text following EP vote>

1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

>Original text>

2. (a) The Commission shall adopt measures which shall apply immediately.

(b) However, if the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event:

>Text following EP vote>

2. The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.

>Original text>

- the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided for a period not exceeding three months from the date of the communication;

- the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within the time limit referred to in the first indent.

>Text following EP vote>

2a. The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the committee. It shall inform the committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.