Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 20 May 2015 - Strasbourg

Commission Delegated Directive ../…/EU amending, for the purposes of adapting to technical progress, Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards an exemption for cadmium in illumination and display lighting applications" (B8-0464/2015)

  Diane James (EFDD), in writing. ‒ UKIP abstained on a proposal to reject a Commission delegated act, which conditionally allows the use of cadmium in illumination and display lighting applications. We believe it should only be our elected and accountable national governments that decide these things, not unelected EU Commissioners using the undemocratic method of delegated acts to pass wide reaching rules. We totally oppose the EU deciding what can and can’t be sold on the British market.

However, blocking this delegated act will potentially have a far reaching effect on a certain section of British industry. However, of course we recognise the consequences of allowing cadmium to continue to be used, especially when there is new technology in its infancy that doesn’t use cadmium-based dot technology in display screens. UKIP fully supports the development of alternative technology to these hazardous substances.