Earlier this year, after much debate and negotiation, the European Parliament and the Council finally agreed on the text for the sixth community environment action programme. Negotiation of the programme saw a battle of wills between the Commission and environmentalists over a number of issues, including the need for clear targets and timetables. MEPs tabled a large number of amendments to the proposed text which, in the end, had to be agreed via the EU conciliation procedure.

The new programme sets out the priorities for action on the environment for the next 10 years and provides the environmental component of the Community's strategy for sustainable development. It takes forward some of the objectives from the fifth environment action programme, which came to an end in 2000, and introduces new ones. Four priority areas - climate change, nature and biodiversity, environment and health and quality of life, and natural resources and waste - are established.

To achieve improvements in these areas, the new programme sets out five strategic approaches:

• ensure the implementation of existing environmental legislation;
• integrate environmental concerns into all relevant policy areas; - work closely with business and consumers to identify solutions;
• ensure better and more accessible information on the environment for citizens; and - develop a more environmentally conscious attitude towards land use.

It calls for a more effective use of legislation, based on the best scientific evidence and a more participatory approach to policy making. The formal recognition of a link between the environment and human health is a major step forward in EU thinking. The overall objectives for this priority area are defined as follows:

• achieving better understanding of the threats to the environment and human health in order to take action to prevent and reduce these threats;
• contributing to a better quality of life through an integrated approach concentrating on urban areas;
• aiming to achieve within one generation (ie by 2020) that chemicals are only produced and used in ways that do not lead to a significant negative impact on health and the environment. Also, recognising that the present gaps of knowledge on the properties, use, disposal and exposure of chemicals need to be overcome;
• chemicals that are dangerous should be substituted by safer chemicals or safer alternative technologies not entailing the use of chemicals, with the aim of reducing risks to man and the environment;
• reducing the impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment and, more generally, achieving a more sustainable use of pesticides and a significant overall reduction in risks and of the use of pesticides consistent with the necessary crop protection. Pesticides in use which are persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic, or have other properties of concern, should be substituted by less dangerous ones where possible;
• achieving quality levels of ground and surface water that do not give rise to significant impacts on and risks to human health and the environment, and to ensure that the rates of extraction from water resources are sustainable over the long term;
• achieving levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on and risks to human health and the environment; and
• substantially reducing the number of people regularly affected by long-term average levels of noise, in particular from traffic which, according to scientific studies, cause detrimental effects on human health and preparing the next step in the work with the noise directive.

In order to achieve these objectives, the programme will encourage the reinforcement of existing research programmes and scientific expertise and the identification of new priority areas for research and action such as the health impact of electromagnetic radiation. It will also lead to the definition and development of indicators for health and the environment and to the revision and development of health standards and limit values. Also envisaged is a review of trends and the provision of an early warning mechanism for new or emerging problems.

Various priorities for action regarding chemicals, pesticides, water, air quality, noise and the urban environment are set out in the programme. They are mostly the familiar ones from existing legislation and programmes, eg revision of the bathing water directive, improvements in the monitoring and assessment of air quality, the development of further standards for noise emissions, the promotion of public transport and so on.

The difference is that while the fifth action programme dealt with these areas in isolation from each other, the sixth action programme gives them all the overriding theme of improving environmental health and quality of life. In justifying proposals for new legislation or initiatives, the Commission will be able to point back to the programme and quote this as a fundamental principle of EU policy.

The framework for action on environment and health is thus better defined. Whether the programme will do anything to help deliver the concrete targets and timetables demanded by the environmentalists remains to be seen.

Copies of the action programme, including an executive summary, can be found on the website of the Commission's environment directorate-general at http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/newprg/index.htm

PACKING WASTE UPDATE

A proposal1 to amend the 1994 packaging waste directive to substantially increase recovery and recycling targets and to introduce specific minimum recycling targets for different packaging materials has been welcomed by the European Parliament.

MEPs want to extend the scope of the revision to other issues such as prevention, reuse and producer responsibility. The proposed new targets, to be achieved by 30 June 2006, are:

• an overall recovery target of between 60 per cent as a minimum and 75 per cent as a maximum (previously 50 per cent - 65 per cent);
• an overall recycling target of between 55 per cent as a minimum and 70 per cent as a maximum (previously 25 per cent - 45 per cent); and
• differentiated material specific targets: ie glass 60 per cent; paper/board 55 per cent; metals 50 per cent; and plastics 20 per cent.

A DTI consultation paper earlier this year indicated that the UK government broadly supports the proposal but is concerned that the differentiated material specific targets may lead to unfair competition between materials and may lead to more complex reporting requirements and bureaucracy.

References

1. http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/pdf/2001/com2001_0729en01.pdf
2. http://www.dti.gov.uk/environment/consultations/package.pdf

NEW ANIMAL FEED RULES

Work on tightening up what goes into animal feed continues. In May, a new directive on undesirable substances in animal feed was adopted to replace the existing 1999 directive.

The directive lists the substances considered to be undesirable in animal feed and sets limits for the amount that feedstuffs may contain. Where maximum levels are exceeded, member states will now have to conduct investigations, in conjunction with economic operators, to identify the sources of undesirable substances. The same applies where increased levels are detected, taking account of background levels, and the directive provides for action thresholds to be set, if necessary, for the triggering of such investigations.

It will no longer be permissible to dilute products exceeding the maximum levels by mixing them with other products. The directive's scope has also been extended to include feed additives, which are under review. A proposal to repeal the existing 1970 directive on feed additives and replace it with one taking into account technological advances in feed additive production and the ever greater need to protect human and animal health was issued in March.

http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/en/dat/2002/ce203/ce20320020827en00100021.pdf