52002AG0038

ANNEX

"ANNEX I

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MARKET FUELS TO BE USED FOR VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH POSITIVE-IGNITION ENGINES

Type: Petrol

>TABLE>

ANNEX II

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MARKET FUELS TO BE USED FOR VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINES

Type: Diesel fuel

>TABLE>

ANNEX III

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MARKET FUELS TO BE USED FOR VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH POSITIVE-IGNITION ENGINES

Type: Petrol

>TABLE>

ANNEX IV

ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MARKET FUELS TO BE USED FOR VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINES

Type: Diesel fuel

>TABLE>"

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 11 May 2001, the Commission presented to the Council its proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels.

2. The European Parliament gave its opinion on 29 November 2001.

The Economic and Social Committee adopted its opinion on 18 October 2001.

3. On 15 April 2002, the Council adopted its Common Position in accordance with Article 251(2) of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE

The proposal introduces the requirement to introduce petrol and diesel fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg into the market place, on a balanced geographic basis by 1 January 2005, and it makes this limit compulsory by a specified end date (1 January 2011 in the proposal). This final date for diesel fuels is subject to review.

The proposal also clarifies the situation regarding the currently permissible sulphur content for diesel used in non-road mobile machinery but introduces no new provisions. It also proposes minor changes to the provisions on technical adaptation and alignment with a pending European standard on fuel quality monitoring. No changes to the non-sulphur parameters have been proposed.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

1. General

The main issues are:

- the final date after which the maximum sulphur content of all petrol and diesel sold must be limited to 10 mg/kg: the Commission proposed 1 January 2011, Parliament proposed 1 January 2008 and the Council agreed on 1 January 2009. In relation to the availability of this fuel by 1 January 2005 the Council agreed that this should be on an "appropriate" geographic basis, rather than "balanced" as in the Commission proposal,

- non-road mobile machinery: the Commission did not propose changing this, Parliament suggested the same requirements should apply from 1 January 2005 and the Council have requested that the Commission come forward with proposals in relation to fuel quality for non-road mobile machinery; however, Member States may now apply more stringent standards for sulphur content if they so wish,

- more stringent environmental specifications for petrol and diesel than those set down in the directive when they are justified by local environmental conditions. The Council extended the current provision in Directive 98/70/EC, whereby a Member State may seek permission to have more stringent environmental specifications for petrol and/or diesel in specific areas within its territory for air quality reasons, to include risks to groundwater pollution.

The Commission has accepted the Common Position agreed by the Council.

2. European Parliament amendments

In its plenary vote on 29 November 2001, Parliament adopted 36 amendments to the proposal. Seventeen of these have already been incorporated (seven to the Articles and 10 to the recitals), either verbatim, in part or in spirit, into the Council's Common Position.

(a) The 19 amendments which have not been incorporated can be grouped as follows:

Fiscal incentives (amendments 10, 19 and 27): Parliament proposed that Member States should have an automatic right to promote the early introduction of petrol and diesel with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg through the use of fiscal incentives. This was not accepted by the Council due to incompatibility with the legal basis for this proposal and existing provisions in Community legislation.

Derogations (amendments 20, 21, 24, 25): Parliament proposed to delete the possibility for a Member State to seek derogation from the obligation to market petrol and diesel with a sulphur content less than 50 parts per million from 1 January 2005 for up to two years. This was not accepted.

Definition of balanced geographic basis (amendments 42/45 and 43/46): Parliament proposed that the Commission should identify, via a comitology procedure, criteria to determine what would constitute availability of 10 mg/kg petrol and diesel on a balanced geographic basis during the introductory phase. The Council felt that the divergence of local circumstances would mitigate against the development of such common criteria.

Non-road mobile machinery (amendments 3, 12, 26 and 37): Parliament proposed that diesel used in non-road mobile machinery should meet the same environmental specifications as on-road diesel from 1 January 2005. The Council did not however accept these amendments, it did invite the Commission in Article 1(5)(b) to establish the necessary specifications required for diesel when considering the next stage of emission standards for compression ignition engines used in non-road mobile machinery.

Final date (amendments 5, 11, 15, 18, 23 and 32): Parliament suggested advancing the final date after which all petrol and diesel sold must comply with a 10 mg/kg maximum sulphur content to 1 January 2008, eliminating the possibility for the Commission to confirm the final date in the case of diesel and providing for the possibility of derogation due to socioeconomic considerations, these amendments are not reflected in the Common Position. The Council did however agree to advance the final date to 1 January 2009 but maintained the possibility for the Commission to confirm the date for diesel no later than 31 December 2005.

(b) The 17 amendments, which Council has incorporated into its Common Position, can be grouped as follows:

Reporting (amendments 29 and, in principle 28): The Commission agreed to make available the information requested in the new paragraph introduced by amendment 29 (Article 8(4)); and amendment 28 makes small changes to the wording of the reporting requirement (Article 8(3)) made on Member States. Most of these changes were incorporated into the Common Position.

Dates (amendment 30): The earlier review date, suggested in this amendment for the full implementation of the proposal in relation to diesel fuel, of 31 December 2005 has been accepted verbatim, this fits with the Council's decision to make the end date two years earlier than proposed by the Commission.

91 RON petrol (amendment 35): This amendment permits the continued sale of 91 RON petrol and was included as part of the Common Position.

Review clause (amendments 48 and, in part, 47): The review clause (Article 9) agreed in the Common Position includes a requirement to consider the need to change other fuel parameters, and to encourage the introduction of alternative fuels, including biofuels (this covers amendment 48, in principle). The review also requires the Commission to consider the "impact of metallic additives and other relevant issues on the performance" of abatement technologies (this covers part of amendment 47, in principle).

Strengthening voluntary agreements (amendment 34, in principle): The spirit of this amendment has been incorporated to Article 9(1)(d) with two minor changes to the wording.

Recitals (amendments 1, 2, 4 (in part), 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16 and 44): These amendments have been incorporated into the recitals of the Common Position, they deal with:

amendment 1: highlighting the importance of the sulphur content of fuels in both on-road vehicles and non-road mobile machinery (recital 5);

amendment 2: more accurate reference to Directive title (recital 6);

amendment 4: emphasises the effect that lower sulphur content will have on CO2 emissions in on-road vehicles (recital 7), the part on non-road mobile machinery does not appear in the Common Position;

amendment 6: highlights role that fiscal incentives can play (recital 8);

amendment 7: stresses the need to take account of move towards petrol and diesel with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg in the review in 2003 of the voluntary agreements with the major auto manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles (recital 9);

amendment 8: is in part reflected in recital 10 to the extent that it improves the text referring to the maximum sulphur content. However, that part of the amendment referring to the mandatory availability of all grades of petrol with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg is not reflected in the Common Position;

amendment 9: introduces a new recital pointing to the need to allow the continued marketing of regular unleaded petrol, this is reflected by the provision in footnote 3 of Annexes I and III;

amendment 13: is in principle reflected in recital 14 in that the fuel quality monitoring systems foreseen will achieve the same objective sought by the amendment;

amendments 16 and 44: point to the need for further evaluation of alternative fuels, bio-fuels and of the impact of a number of issues, including the use of metallic additives in relation to abatement equipment which are both reflected in recital 17.

3. Most important innovations introduced by the Council

The most important innovation, which is also a move towards Parliament's position (in amendments 5, 11, 15, 18, 23 and 32), is the change to the end date for full market availability of the petrol and diesel fuels with a maximum sulphur content of 10 mg/kg. The date proposed by the Commission was 1 January 2011, this has been brought forward in the Common Position to 1 January 2009 (Parliament suggested 1 January 2008). Given the earlier end date, Parliament's amendment to bring forward the review date in relation to diesel fuels, from 31 December 2006 to 31 December 2005 was incorporated into the Common Position.

The Commission's proposal made no change to the fuel requirements for non-road mobile machinery. The Council considered this issue very carefully and amended the proposal to require that the Commission come forward with a proposal in relation to fuel quality for non-road mobile machinery when considering the next stage of emission standards for compression ignition engines.

The Council also decided to extend a previous provision in Article 6 of Directive 98/70/EC, which currently allows Member States, subject to a Community control procedure, to require the marketing of fuel with more stringent environmental specifications in certain parts of a Member State for reasons of atmospheric pollution, to include reasons related to groundwater pollution.

IV. CONCLUSION

The Council considers that its Common Position takes account of the opinion of the European Parliament in first reading to a large extent. The Council's Common Position has moved the Commission's proposal towards Parliament's opinion in relation to most of the amendments which were not accepted. It represents a balanced solution for the amended Directive, which ensures the environmental benefit to be derived from the new limits while also making requirements on the industry which are practically feasible.

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 38/2002

adopted by the Council on 15 April 2002

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No .../2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... on waste statistics

(2002/C 145 E/05)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285 thereof,

Having regard to the proposals from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1) Regular Community statistics on the production and management of waste from businesses and private households are required by the Community for monitoring the implementation of waste policy. This creates the basis for monitoring compliance with the principles of maximisation of recovery and safe disposal. Statistical instruments are still required, however, for assessing compliance with the principle of waste prevention and to establish a link between waste generation data and global, national and regional inventories of resource use.

(2) The terms for the description of waste and waste management need to be defined in order to ensure the comparability of results in waste statistics.

(3) Community waste policy has led to the establishment of a set of principles to be followed by waste-producing units and waste management. This requires the monitoring of waste at different points of the waste-stream generation, collection, recovery and disposal.

(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics(4) constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation.

(5) To guarantee comparable results, waste statistics should be produced in accordance with the specified breakdown, in an appropriate form and within a fixed period of time from the end of the reference year.

(6) Since the objective of the proposed measure, namely to establish a framework for the production of Community statistics on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, by reason of the need to define terms of description of waste and waste management so as to ensure the comparability of the statistics supplied by the Member States, and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve the objective of the proposed measure.

(7) Individual Member States may need a transitional period for the establishment of their statistics on waste for the economic activities of NACE REV. 1 as established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 of 9 October 1990 on the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community(5) for which their national statistical system requires major adaptations.

(8) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(6).

(9) The Statistical Programme Committee has been consulted by the Commission,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Objective

1. The objective of this Regulation is to establish a framework for the production of Community statistics on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste.

2. Member States and the Commission, within their respective fields of competence, shall produce Community statistics on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste, excluding radioactive waste, which is already covered by other legislation.

3. The statistics shall cover the following areas:

(a) generation of waste according to Annex I;

(b) recovery and disposal of waste according to Annex II.

4. In compiling the statistics, Member States and the Commission shall observe the mainly substance-oriented statistical nomenclature, as set out in Annex III.

5. The Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2), establish a table of equivalence between the statistical nomenclature of Annex III and the list of waste established by Commission Decision 2000/532/EC(7).

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes and within the framework of this Regulation:

(a) "waste" shall mean any substance or object as defined in Article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste(8);

(b) "separately collected fractions of waste" shall mean household and similar waste, selectively collected in homogeneous fractions by public services, non-profit organisations and private enterprises acting in the field of organised waste collection;

(c) "recycling" shall have the same meaning as in the definition given in Article 3(7) of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste(9);

(d) "recovery" shall mean any of the operations provided for in Annex II.B to Directive 75/442/EEC;

(e) "disposal" shall mean any of the operations provided for in Annex II.A to Directive 75/442/EEC;

(f) "recovery or disposal facility" shall mean a facility that requires a permit or registration pursuant to Articles 9, 10 or 11 of Directive 75/442/EC;

(g) "hazardous waste" shall mean any waste as defined in Article 1(4) of Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste(10);

(h) "non-hazardous waste" shall mean waste which is not covered by point (g);

(i) "incineration" shall mean thermal treatment of waste in an incineration plant as defined in Article 3(4) or a coincineration plant as defined in Article 3(5) of Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste(11);

(j) "landfill" shall mean a waste disposal site as defined in Article 2(g) of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste(12);

(k) "capacity of waste incineration facilities" shall mean the maximum capacity to incinerate waste, in tonnes per annum or in gigajoules;

(l) "capacity of waste recycling facilities" shall mean the maximum capacity to recycle waste, in tonnes per annum;

(m) "capacity of landfills" shall mean the remaining capacity (at the end of the data reference year) of the landfill facility to dispose of waste in the future, measured in cubic metres;

(n) "capacity of other disposal facilities" shall mean the capacity of the facility to dispose of waste, measured in tonnes per annum.

Article 3

Collection of data

1. Member States shall, whilst complying with conditions as to quality and accuracy to be defined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2), acquire the data necessary for the specification of the characteristics listed in Annexes I and II by means either of:

- surveys,

- administrative or other sources, such as the reporting obligations under Community legislation on waste management,

- statistical estimation procedures on the basis of samples or waste-related estimators, or

- a combination of these means.

In order to reduce response burdens, the national authorities and the Commission shall, subject to the limits and the conditions fixed by each Member State and by the Commission in their respective fields of competence, have access to administrative data sources.

2. In order to reduce the administrative burden on small enterprises, enterprises of less than 10 employees shall be excluded from surveys, unless they contribute significantly to the generation of waste.

3. Member States shall produce statistical results, following the breakdown set out in Annexes I and II.

4. The exclusion referred to in paragraph 2 must be consistent with the coverage and quality objectives as referred to in Section 7(1) of Annexes I and II.

5. Member States shall transmit the results, including confidential data, to Eurostat in an appropriate format and within a set period of time from the end of the respective reference periods, as laid down in Annexes I and II.

6. The treatment of confidential data and the transmission of such data as provided for in paragraph 5 shall be carried out in accordance with the existing Community provisions governing statistical confidentiality.

Article 4

Transitional period

1. During a transitional period, which may not exceed two years after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission may, at the request of a Member State and in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2), grant derogations from the provisions of Section 5 of Annexes I and II, for the production of results relating to Section 8(1.1), items 13 to 17 of Annex I and to Section 8(2) of Annex II.

2. The derogations referred to in paragraph 1 can be granted to individual Member States only for the data of the first reference year.

Article 5

Import and export of waste

1. The Commission shall draw up a programme for pilot studies on the import and export of waste to be carried out on a voluntary basis by Member States. The pilot studies shall aim to assess the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data, and to evaluate the costs and benefits of collecting the data, and the burden on businesses.

2. The Commission programme for pilot studies shall be consistent with the contents of Annexes I and II, particularly the aspects related to the scope and coverage of wastes, waste categories for the classification of waste, reference years and periodicity, taking into account the reporting obligations under Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community(13).

3. The Commission shall finance up to 100 % of the costs for conducting the pilot studies.

4. On the basis of the conclusions of the pilot studies, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of the possibilities of compiling statistics for the activities and characteristics covered by the pilot studies for import and export of waste. The Commission shall adopt the necessary implementation measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2).

5. The pilot studies should be conducted within three years of the entry into force of this Regulation.

Article 6

Implementation measures

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2). These shall include measures:

(a) for adjustment to economic and technical developments in the collection and statistical processing of data, as well as the processing and the transmission of results;

(b) for adaptation of the specifications listed in Annexes I, II and III;

(c) for the production of results in accordance with Article 3(2), (3) and (4), taking into account the economic structures and technical conditions in a Member State; such measures may allow an individual Member State not to report certain items in the breakdown, provided the impact on the quality of the statistics is proven to be limited. In all cases where exemptions are given, the total amount of waste for each item listed in Sections 2(1) and 8(1) of Annex I shall be compiled;

(d) for the definition of the proper quality evaluation criteria and the contents of the quality reports as referred to in Section 7 of Annexes I and II;

(e) for setting out the appropriate format for the transmission of results by Member States within two years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation;

(f) for compiling the list for granting transitional periods and derogations to Member States, as specified in Article 4;

(g) for implementation of the results of the pilot studies, as specified in Article 5(4), Annex I Section 1(2), Annex I Section 2(2) and Annex II Section 8(3).

Article 7

Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom of 19 June 1989 establishing a committee on the statistical programmes of the European Communities(14).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

4. The Commission shall transmit to the Committee set up by Directive 75/442/EEC the draft measures that it intends to submit to the Statistical Programme Committee.

Article 8

Report

1. The Commission shall, within five years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation and every three years thereafter, submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the statistics compiled pursuant to this Regulation and in particular on their quality and the burden on businesses.

2. The Commission shall, within two years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation, submit to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal abolishing overlapping reporting obligations.

Article 9

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ C 87, 29.3.1999, p. 22 and OJ C 180 E, 26.6.2001, p. 202.

(2) OJ C 329, 17.11.1999, p. 17.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 4 September 2001 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 15 April 2002 and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 293, 24.10.1990, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2002 (OJ L 6, 10.1.2002, p. 3).

(6) OJ L 184 17.7.1999, p. 23.

(7) OJ L 226, 6.9.2000, p. 3. Decision as last amended by Council Decision 2001/573/EC (OJ L 203, 28.7.2001, p. 18).

(8) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39. Directive as last amended by Commission Decision 96/350/EC (OJ L 135, 6.6.1996, p. 32).

(9) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

(10) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 20. Directive as amended by Directive 94/31/EC (OJ L 168, 2.7.1994, p. 28).

(11) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 91.

(12) OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p. 1.

(13) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2557/2001 (OJ L 349, 31.12.2001, p. 1).

(14) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

ANNEX I

GENERATION OF WASTE

SECTION 1

Coverage

1. The statistics are to be compiled for all activities classified within the coverage of Sections C to Q, of NACE REV. 1. These sections cover all economic activities, except agriculture, hunting, forestry (A) and fishing (B), which are outside the domain of this Annex.

This Annex also covers:

(a) waste generated by households;

(b) waste arising from recovery and/or disposal operations.

2. The Commission will draw up a programme for pilot studies to be carried out on a voluntary basis by Member States in order to assess the relevance of including sections A and B of NACE REV. 1 in the coverage list referred to in point 1. The Commission will finance up to 100 % of the costs for these pilot studies. On the basis of the conclusions of these pilot studies, the Commission will adopt the necessary implementation measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2) of this Regulation.

SECTION 2

Waste categories

1. Statistics on the following waste categories are to be produced:

Aggregates list

>TABLE>

2. In accordance with the reporting obligation under Directive 94/62/EC, the Commission will draw up a programme for pilot studies to be carried out on a voluntary basis by Member States in order to assess the relevance of including packaging waste entries (EWC-Stat Version 2) in the breakdown list set out in point 1. The Commission will finance up to 100 % of the costs for these pilot studies. On the basis of the conclusions of these pilot studies, the Commission will adopt the necessary implementation measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2) of this Regulation.

SECTION 3

Characteristics

1. Characteristics for the waste categories:

for each waste category listed in Section 2(1), the quantity of waste generated will be compiled.

2. Regional characteristics:

population or dwellings served by a collection scheme for mixed household and similar waste (NUTS 2 level).

SECTION 4

Reporting unit

1. The reporting unit to be used for all waste categories is 1000 tonnes of (normal) wet waste. For the waste categories "sludge" an additional figure for dry matter should be provided.

2. The reporting unit for regional characteristics should be the percentage of the population or dwellings.

SECTION 5

First reference year and periodicity

1. The first reference year is the second calendar year following the entry into force of this Regulation.

2. Member States will furnish data for every second year after the first reference year.

SECTION 6

Transmission of results to Eurostat

The results are to be transmitted within 18 months of the end of the reference year.

SECTION 7

Report on the coverage and quality of statistics

1. For each item listed in Section 8 (activities and households), Member States will indicate the percentage to which the compiled statistics represent the universe of waste of the respective item. The minimum requirement for the coverage will be defined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2) of this Regulation.

2. Member States will submit a quality report, indicating the degree of precision for the collected data. A description will be given on the estimations, aggregations or exclusions, and the way these procedures affect the distribution of waste categories, listed in Section 2(1) by economic activities and households, as referred to in Section 8.

3. The Commission will include the coverage and quality reports in the report provided for in Article 8 of this Regulation.

SECTION 8

Production of results

1. The results for the characteristics listed in Section 3(1), are to be compiled for:

1.1. the following sections, divisions, groups and classes of NACE REV. 1:

>TABLE>

1.2. households

>TABLE>

2. For economic activities, statistical units are local units or kind-of-activity units, as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community(1), according to each Member State's statistical system.

In the quality report, to be produced under Section 7, a description of how the chosen statistical unit affects the groupings of NACE REV. 1 data distribution should be included.

(1) OJ L 76, 30.3.1993, p. 1. Regulation as amended by the 1994 Act of Accession.

ANNEX II

RECOVERY AND DISPOSAL OF WASTE

SECTION 1

Coverage

1. The statistics are to be compiled for all recovery and disposal facilities which run any of the operations referred to in Section 8(2) and which belong to or are part of the economic activities according to the groupings of NACE REV. 1, mentioned in Annex I, Section 8(1.1).

2. Facilities whose waste treatment activities are limited to the recycling of waste on the site where the waste was generated, are not covered by this Annex.

SECTION 2

Waste categories

The list of waste categories for which the statistics are to be compiled, according to each recovery or disposal operation as referred to in Section 8(2), are the following:

Incineration

>TABLE>

Operations which may lead to recovery (excluding energy recovery)

>TABLE>

Disposal (other than incineration)

>TABLE>

SECTION 3

Characteristics

The characteristics, for which the statistics are to be compiled on recovery and disposal operations, as referred to in Section 8(2) are set out in the table below.

Number and capacity of recovery and disposal operations per region

>TABLE>

SECTION 4

Reporting unit

The reporting unit to be used for all waste categories is 1000 tonnes of (normal) wet waste. For the waste categories "sludge" an additional figure for dry matter should be provided.

SECTION 5

First reference year and periodicity

1. The first reference year is the second calendar year following the entry into force of this Regulation.

2. Member States will furnish data for every second year, after the first reference year, for the facilities which are referred to in Section 8(2).

SECTION 6

Transmission of results to Eurostat

The results are to be transmitted within 18 months of the end of the reference year.

SECTION 7

Report on the coverage and quality of statistics

1. For the characteristics listed in Section 3, and for each item amongst the types of operations listed in Section 8(2), Member States will indicate the percentage to which the compiled statistics represent the universe of waste of the respective item. The minimum requirement for the coverage will be defined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2) of this Regulation.

2. For the characteristics listed in Section 3, Member States will submit a quality report, indicating the degree of precision of the collected data.

3. The Commission will include the coverage and quality reports in the report provided for in Article 8 of this Regulation.

SECTION 8

Production of results

1. The results are to be compiled for each item amongst the types of operations listed in Section 8(2), according to the characteristics as referred to in Section 3.

2. List of recovery and disposal operations; the codes refer to the codes in the Annexes to Directive 75/442/EEC:

>TABLE>

3. The Commission will draw up a programme for pilot studies, to be carried out on a voluntary basis by Member States. The pilot studies will aim to assess the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data on the amounts of waste conditioned by preparatory operations, as defined in Annexes II.A and II.B to Directive 75/442/EEC. The Commission will finance up to 100 % of the costs for conducting these pilot studies. On the basis of the conclusions of these pilot studies, the Commission will adopt the necessary implementation measures in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7(2) of this Regulation.

4. Statistical units are local units or kind-of-activity units, as defined in Regulation (EEC) No 696/93, according to each Member State's statistical system.

In the quality report, to be produced under Section 7, a description of how the chosen statistical unit affects the groupings of NACE REV. 1 data distribution should be included.

ANNEX III

WASTE STATISTICAL NOMENCLATURE

as referred to in Annex I, Section 2(1) and Annex II, Section 2 EWC-Stat REV. 2 (mainly substance oriented waste statistical nomenclature)

>TABLE>

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 28 January 1999 the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Regulation on waste management statistics(1).

2. The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 22 September 1999(2).

3. The Commission subsequently amended its proposal and on 9 March 2001 submitted an amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste statistics(3). The proposal is based on Article 285 of the Treaty.

4. The European Parliament adopted its opinion at first reading on 4 September 2001.

5. On 11 December 2001 the Commission submitted an amended proposal incorporating most of the European Parliament's amendments.

6. On 15 April 2002 the Council adopted its Common Position pursuant to Article 251 of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVES

The aim of this proposal is to establish a framework for the production of Community statistics for monitoring the implementation of waste policy. Within the framework thus defined, Member States will have to submit regular statistics on waste generation, recovery and disposal.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

A. GENERAL COMMENTS

A logical classification system, one which is based on management practice but which is unambiguous (without overlaps, for example), scientifically justified and based on unequivocal common definitions, is essential for the production of statistics. Such preconditions do not yet exist in certain areas, such as waste arising from agriculture and fishing or the import and export of waste. The Common Position recommends that pilot studies should be conducted that assess the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data and evaluate the costs and benefits of collecting the data and the burden on enterprises, in order to decide whether such areas are to be incorporated into the scope of the Regulation.

A proper balance needs to be struck between relevant statistics which help achieve the objective sought and the workload on and cost to undertakings and public administrations. The Common Position favours high-quality statistics produced at regular intervals rather than over-frequent and excessively detailed statistics. However, data must be produced sufficiently frequently to ensure that statistical series are rapidly available. Moreover, synchronisation with other international requirements will help optimise the information system. For these reasons, a two-year period has been chosen in the end in the Common Position for all Community waste statistics.

The comparability of the data submitted by Member States must be guaranteed by establishing minimum quality standards. However, such comparability is not affected by Member States' freedom to choose their statistical methods. Member States must continue to enjoy such freedom in accordance with the subsidiarity principle; it enables methods to be adapted to Member States' different economic structures and technical conditions, thereby ensuring better overall quality at the lowest cost.

The technical characteristics do not fall within the scope of legislative acts; they must be established in accordance with the committee procedure.

B. SPECIFIC COMMENTS

1. Council position on the European Parliament's amendments

1.1. The Council has incorporated amendments 1, 5 and 25 into its Common Position.

1.2. The Council has taken over the following amendments in principle or in part:

Amendments 2 and 11 (recital 7 and Article 4):

The Council cannot accept the total abolition of the transitional period since Member States must be given time to adapt their national statistical systems to the requirements of the Regulation which is to be adopted. The fact that work on this proposal has been going on for some time cannot justify the abolition of the transitional period, as it is only when the text is adopted, when its content is certain, that Member States will be able with confidence to start making the national changes necessary for its implementation.

Nevertheless, in order to respond to the concerns expressed by the European Parliament, the Council has:

- restricted the scope of the transitional period to those activities in respect of which major changes have to be made,

- underlined the individual nature of a Member State's request for derogation based on problems specific to that State which are to be examined in accordance with the committee procedure.

Amendments 3 and 12 (Articles 1 and 5):

The Council acknowledges that there is a political need for the collection of data on the import and export of waste. However, preparatory work must be carried out in order to resolve certain technical problems (inter alia the development of a methodology and common definitions) before such areas are incorporated into the Regulation.

Nevertheless, the Council has amended paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 5 in order to give a firmer guarantee that statistics on the import and export of waste will be collected as soon as possible.

Amendment 4 (Article 1(4)):

The Council shares the European Parliament's reasoning. However, it has adopted a different wording, as a legislative text cannot refer to a text which no longer applies (Decision 94/3/EC). The emphasis is placed on the mainly substance-oriented statistical nomenclature. It is also stated that Annex III will have to be adapted in accordance with the committee procedure in order to take account of Commission Decision 2000/532/EC, which replaced Decision 94/3/EC (new paragraph 5 of the Common Position).

This new wording involves the following changes in order to make the text consistent:

- Annex II, Section 2: deletion of paragraphs 1 and 2,

- Annex III:

- change in the title,

- deletion of the codes preceding the headings (as they no longer apply) and purely editorial correction of the headings as a result of the deletion of the codes (some headings appeared several times under different codes; once the codes were deleted, the repetition of the headings no longer made sense).

Amendments 6, 7 and 8 (Article 3(1)):

The Council has incorporated the editorial amendments made by the European Parliament in the first subparagraph.

However, the Council cannot accept a uniform method of collection. Waste management is not organised by the same structures in all Member States. In accordance with the subsidiarity principle, it is for each Member State to adapt its method of collection to its own context. A uniform method of collection is unnecessary, unworkable and would lead to higher costs in return for poorer quality. The collection of data and results must be based on minimum quality standards, but the method used to comply with those standards must be chosen freely by Member States.

Amendment 10 (Article 3(3)):

The Council has accepted the deletion requested by the European Parliament. However, the economic structures and technical conditions existing in a Member State may justify that State being unable to communicate certain data. Nevertheless, the Council considers that the quality of the data provided must not suffer as a result (for example, there cannot be exemptions from the production of overall results), and that this question must be analysed and settled on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the committee procedure. It has therefore transferred the deleted text, with a more restricted wording, to Article 6(c).

Amendment 13 (Article 7(1)):

This amendment cannot be accepted as it stands because the appointment of two or more committees to assist the Commission with a view to the adoption of a single measure contravenes Decision 1999/468/EC. As the text in question is a legislative text relating to statistics, the Commission must be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee in accordance with Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97. However, bearing in mind the European Parliament's wish to encourage cooperation between statisticians and technicians, Article 7(4) has been amended to strengthen the advisory role of the Committee for the adaptation to scientific and technical progress of EC legislation.

Amendment 14 (Article 8(2)):

The Council shares the European Parliament's views that the proposals abolishing overlapping reporting obligations must be submitted as soon as possible. The words "where appropriate" have been deleted in accordance with the European Parliament's amendment. However, it does not seem realistic to set a deadline before the first reporting year. A review of reporting obligations also forms part of the measures set out in the proposal for a sixth environmental action programme which is currently being examined by the European Parliament and the Council; the revisions planned for that programme and for this proposal must be conducted in parallel. Two years would appear to be a reasonable deadline.

Amendments 15 and 20 (Annex I, Section 1 and Annex I, Section 8, paragraph 1.1):

The Council has accepted the deletion of the exclusion of Division 12 of NACE REV. 1.

With regard to waste arising from agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, the Council shares the European Parliament's opinion that these economic activities are not insignificant sources of waste for which a management policy must be put in place. The Council considers that assessment of the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data and evaluation of the costs and benefits of collecting the data, and the burden on enterprises in these areas should be clarified by pilot studies; to that end, it has added a new paragraph 2 to Annex I, Section 1.

Amendments 16, 22 and 23 (Annex I, Section 2, List of categories, items 31 and 32 (new); Annex II, Section 2, "Recovery" table, items 12 and 13 (new); Annex II, Section 2, "Disposal" table, item 5):

The Council has accepted the spirit of the European Parliament's amendment, which aims to separate animal wastes from vegetal wastes, with regard to Annex I and the "Recovery" table in Annex II, but has reworded it to take account of the terminology used in Annex III. It cannot accept it for the "Disposal" table in Annex II because it is unworkable in the case of landfill, or would involve excessively high and unjustified costs in that case.

Amendments 18 and 24 (Annex I, Section 5 and Annex II, Section 5):

The Council considers that it is more important to ensure the collection of high-quality data than to increase their frequency. An annual survey in an area in which data change little from one year to the next cannot be justified from the point of view of the additional costs which it would incur for both the community and undertakings. However, in order to take account of the concerns expressed by the European Parliament and to make the text consistent, the Council has reduced to two years the periodicity for the production of statistics in the two Annexes.

Amendment 26 (Annex II, Section 8, "Recovery" table):

The Council has accepted the amendment but has made the table heading clearer (recovery "excluding energy recovery"), as the introduction of the word "recovery" without further clarification could lead to confusion given that it also covers incineration with energy recovery (which is already included in the previous heading "incineration"). In order to ensure consistency throughout the text, the same change has been made to Annex II, Section 2. The Council has retained the "+" signs to make it clear that the data to be supplied correspond to the total of the data for item 3.

Amendment 27 (Annex II, Section 8, "Disposal" table):

The Council has adopted the wording of the amendment but has retained the breakdown of the disposal operations in items 4 and 5 as they appeared in the Commission proposal. The intention is to bring data on disposal operations carried out in landfill sites (final disposal operations in a fixed permanent site) under the same heading: land treatment (D2) does not form part of this category and must remain under item 5, while surface impoundment (D4) must remain under item 4.

The Council has retained the "+" signs to make it clear that the data to be supplied correspond to the total of the data for item 4 and item 5.

1.3. The Council has not taken over the following amendments:

Amendments 9 (Article 3(2)) and 19 (Annex I, Section 7, paragraph 1):

These amendments relate to technical specifications which do not belong in a legislative text and which are not sufficiently justified with regard to the criteria adopted. Such technical specifications must be established in accordance with the committee procedure following a detailed examination of all the aspects to be taken into account.

Amendment 17 (Annex I, Section 2, List of categories, old item 35 (item 36 in the Common Position)):

As Decision 2000/532/EC amended the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) with regard to this point, the Council considers it reasonable to wait until Annex III has been adapted to the new Decision before deciding whether a specific heading for "dredging spoils" should be inserted into the Regulation.

Amendments 21 (Annex I, Section 8, paragraph 2) and 28 (Annex II, Section 8, paragraph 4):

The Council considers that Member States should be free to choose their statistical method on the basis of the business registers which they have at their disposal, especially since comparable results can be obtained irrespective of whether statistics are collected by local units or kind of activity units.

2. Amended Commission proposal

2.1. The Council's Common Position differs from the amended Commission proposal with regard to:

amendments 2 and 11 (transitional period);

amendments 15 and 20 (agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing);

amendments 16, 22 and 23 ("animal wastes" item). With regard to amendments 16 and 22, the Council considers that the need to include the item "animal faeces, urine and manure", as set out in the amended Commission proposal, cannot be established until the pilot studies have been carried out concerning the inclusion of agriculture in the statistics (see point 1.2, amendments 15 and 20). It would still be possible to include it in accordance with the committee procedure;

amendment 17 (Annex I, List of categories: dredging spoils);

amendment 24 (frequency of production of data in the context of Annex II);

amendment 27 (Annex II, Section 8, breakdown of disposal operations in items 4 and 5).

2.2. The Council has accepted the editorial clarifications made by the Commission to Annex II, Section 7(1), and Section 8(1).

Furthermore, the Council has:

- deleted the now superfluous codes in Annex II, Section 3(1), and Section 8(1);

- decided that Annex II, Section 8(1), should refer to all three items in Section 3 and not just to the total quantity of waste treated (item 3).

(1) OJ C 87, 29.3.1999, p. 22.

(2) OJ C 329, 17.11.1999, p. 17.

(3) OJ C 180 E, 26.6.2001, p. 202.