REPORT on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 87/217/EEC of the Council, Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directive 86/278/EEC and Council Directive 94/63/EC as regards procedural rules in the field of environmental reporting and repealing Council Directive 91/692/EEC

12.7.2017 - (COM(2016)0789 – C8‑0526/2016 – 2016/0394(COD)) - ***I

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Rapporteur: Francesc Gambús

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 87/217/EEC of the Council, Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directive 86/278/EEC and Council Directive 94/63/EC as regards procedural rules in the field of environmental reporting and repealing Council Directive 91/692/EEC

(COM(2016)0789 – C8‑0526/2016 – 2016/0394(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2016)0789),

–  having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C8‑0526/2016),

–  having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 22 February 2017[1],

–  having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of ...[2],

–  having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A8-0253/2017),

1.  Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2.  Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Amendment    1 Proposal for a decision Recital 12
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(12)  Directives 2009/31/EC and 2003/87/EC require Member States to provide a report on the implementation of those Directives on the basis of a questionnaire or outline drafted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Directive 91/692/EEC. In order to avoid legal vacuum due to the repeal of Directive 91/692/EEC, it is necessary to replace reference to Directive 91/692/EEC by reference to the procedure referred to in the relevant Directive.	deleted
Justification
Deletion made in order to respect current trilogue negotiations on ETS
Amendment    2 Proposal for a decision Recital 14
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(14)  Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 contains reference to Directive 91/692/EEC. The relevant provision relates to the first reporting exercise, which has already ended. The relevant provision should therefore be deleted.	(14)  The second subparagraph of Article 21(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 refers to Directive 91/692/EEC, which is to be repealed. Pursuant to that provision, the first reporting exercise is due to start on the date of application of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013. On 19 December 2016, by means of Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/2323, the Commission established the first version of the European List of ship recycling facilities ('the European List'). In accordance with Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, Member States are able to authorise the recycling of ships in ship recycling facilities included in the European List prior to the date of application of that Regulation. In such circumstances, Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 does not apply. In order to avoid a gap during which time information is collected under neither Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 nor Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, it is appropriate to introduce a transitional reporting period between the date of the first anticipated authorisation under Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 in a given Member State and the date of application of that Regulation for each Member State that decides to use the transitional period provided for in that Article. To limit the related administrative burden for each such Member State, it is not necessary that the information collected during that transitional period form the basis of a separate report. Instead, it should be sufficient that such information be incorporated or form part of the first regular report covering the three-year period from the date of application of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013.
Amendment    3 Proposal for a decision Recital 15 a (new)
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
	(15a)  Since the objective of this Decision, namely to amend or repeal Union legal acts in the field of environmental reporting that are no longer applicable or relevant, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its nature, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
Amendment    4 Proposal for a decision Article 1
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
Article 1	deleted
Amendment to Directive 2003/87/EC
In Article 21(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC the fourth sentence is replaced by the following:
‘The report shall be drawn up on the basis of a questionnaire or outline adopted by the Commission in the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 22a(2)."
Justification
Deletion in order to respect current negotiations in trilogue
Amendment    5 Proposal for a decision Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 Directive 2009/31/EC Article 29a – paragraph 2
Text proposed by the Commission Amendment 2.  The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 29 shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from [date of entry into force of this Decision]. 2.  The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 29 shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from ... [date of entry into force of this Decision]. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.   The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The report shall be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council.
Amendment    6 Proposal for a decision Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 Directive 86/278/EEC Article 13 – paragraph 1
Text proposed by the Commission Amendment The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15a to adapt to technical and scientific progress the Annexes. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15a to amend the Annexes in order to adapt them to technical and scientific progress.
Amendment    7 Proposal for a decision Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 4 Directive 86/278/EEC Article 15a – paragraph 2
Text proposed by the Commission Amendment 2.  The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 13 shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from the date of entry into force of this Directive. 2.  The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 13 shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from ... [the date of entry into force of this Decision]. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.   The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The report shall be submitted to the European Parliament and Council.
Amendment    8 Proposal for a decision Article 5 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
In Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:	In Article 21(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013, the first and second subparagraphs are replaced by the following:
Amendment    9 Proposal for a decision Article 5 – paragraph 1 Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 Article 21 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Text proposed by the Commission Amendment The first electronic report shall cover the period from the date of publication of the European List to 31 December 2018. The first electronic report shall cover the three-year period starting on the date of application of this Regulation, in accordance with Article 32(1). Where a Member State authorises the recycling of ships in ship recycling facilities included in the European List prior to the date of application of this Regulation in accordance with Article 26, the first electronic report of that Member State shall also cover the period from the date of such authorisation to the date of application of this Regulation.
Amendment    10 Proposal for a decision Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new) Directive 94/63/EC Article 9 – second sentence
Present text Amendment   3a.  In Article 9, the second sentence is replaced by the following: The Commission is invited to accompany its first report where appropriate with proposals for the amendment of this Directive, including in particular the extension of the scope to include vapour control and recovery systems for loading installations and ships. “The Commission is invited to accompany its reports where appropriate with proposals for the amendment of this Directive, including in particular the extension of the scope to include vapour control and recovery systems for loading installations and ships.”
Amendment    11 Proposal for a decision Article 8 – paragraph 2
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
It shall apply from [OP: DATE of entry into force of amendment to Article 37(1)42 of Directive 2008/98/EC, the amendment to Article 943 of Directive 2000/53/EC, the amendment to Article 1544 of Directive 1999/31/EC, the amendment to Article 1745 of Directive 94/62/EC.]	deleted
_________________
42 COM(2015) 595 final
43 COM(2015) 593 final
44 COM(2015) 594 final
45 COM(2015) 596 final COM/2015/0337
Justification
Deletion of the references to respect current trilogue negotiations on Circular Economy package and their outcomes
Amendment    12 Proposal for a decision Article 8 – paragraph 3
Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
Article 1 shall apply as of [OP: the DATE of entry into force of the amendment of Article 22a of Directive 2003/87/EC46].	deleted
_________________
46 COM/2015/0337
Justification
Deletion of the references and date of entry into force in order to respect current trilogue negotiations on ETS and their outcomes

• [1]    Not yet published in the Official Journal.
• [2]    Not yet published in the Official Journal.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Context

The amount of environmental legislation has been steadily increasing since the 1970s, and reporting has always been a part of all environmental legislation. Attempts to streamline reporting obligations started with the Standardised Reporting Directive (SRD) 91/692/EEC. The SRD aimed at rationalizing and improving, on a sectorial basis, the provisions on the transmission of information and the publication of reports. It streamlined procedures and introduced a three-year reporting cycle for all covered legislation, e.g. in the areas of water and waste. The detailed content was then laid down in sector specific questionnaires. Consequently, a large number of implementing acts were adopted by the Commission over the years. The SRD currently covers 28 environmental acts. After several repeals, one regulation, nine directives and 23 decisions with references to the SRD remain in force, although most of these references have become obsolete and have no legal effect anymore.

Although the SDR aimed at a complete coverage of environmental reporting obligations, not all requirements were harmonised. For instance the Urban Waste Water Directive 91/271/EEC and the Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC excluded from the SRD scope. Over the last 25 years, the SRD proved to be difficult to implement, and became increasingly obsolete. The SRD’s relevance diminished with the development of the environmental acquis, including revisions of individual pieces of environmental legislation, which frequently removed reporting obligations from the SRD. The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC for example repealed older water legislation and therefore rendered the water questionnaire adopted under the SRD redundant. The IPPC Directive 96/61/EC and Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EC introduced independent reporting obligations as well.

Another reason for the SRD’s deficits was the unforeseen progress in information and communications technologies, and an increased need for timely, cross-border, and interactive environmental information. In 1994, the European Environment Agency (EEA) was established. Part of its mandate is to provide the EU and the Member States with objective information necessary for framing and implementing sound and effective environmental policies, and to record, collate and assess data on the state of the environment. The EEA coordinates the European environment information and observation network (Eionet). Several sectorial initiatives such as the Water Information System for Europe and the Biodiversity Information System for Europe followed. In 2007, Directive 2007/2/EC establishing an infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) was adopted.

Already in 2008 the Commission concluded in the context of the development of the Shared Environment Information System (SEIS), that in view of the ongoing modernisation of reporting, outdated provisions of the SRD should be repealed, in order to make the access to EU law, e.g. via online tools, simpler and more efficient. In its 2014 Communication on Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), the Commission announced that it would propose the repeal of obsolete or no longer applicable obligations in the field of standardised environmental reporting. The Commission also called for a broad review of existing reporting obligations in its Better Regulation Communication of May 2015, and initiated a REFIT Fitness Check for environmental monitoring and reporting in its Work Programme for 2016.

Following up on these commitments, proposed an SRD repeal package which was published on 15 December 2016. This package consists of three initiatives The first initiative is Commission Communication COM(2016)793 establishing formal recognition that a certain number of acts of Union law in the field of environment that were adopted under the SRD have become obsolete. This Communication lists eleven implementing acts that had established questionnaires for environmental reporting. The respective acts refer to waste incineration, VOC emissions, IPPC, control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, hazardous waste, and water.

The second initiative consists of two proposals for Commission Decisions, which will repeal Commission Decisions 2011/92/EU on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and 2010/681/EU on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations during the period 2011-2013. Both Decisions are no longer relevant, however for procedural reasons will be repealed via comitology at a later stage.

The proposal

The third and key initiative of the repeal package is this proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council, which repeals the SRD and amends six legal acts referring to it. For the sake of legal clarity, the SRD repeal decision amends all references to the SRD where these are obsolete. No changes content wise have been made or are foreseen to be made. In addition to the actual repeal of the SRD, which is set out in Article 7, the proposal contains four different groups of provisions.

Articles 1 and 5 replace the SRD reference in the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive 2003/87/EC currently under revision and in the Ship Recycling Regulation 1257/2013 EU. Article 5 also aligns the timeline for electronic reports under the Ship Recycling Regulation with other reporting obligations and sets 31 December 2018 as the end date of the first reporting period. As the original Ship Recycling regulation dates from 2013, the 3-year reporting cycle ended 2016 which gives the Member States two more years than originally foreseen.

Articles 2 and 3 align the use of implementing and delegated acts in the Carbon Capture and Storage Directive 2009/31/EC and in the Sewage Sludge Directive 86/278/EEC. Articles 4 and 6 delete obsolete reporting obligations in the Asbestos Directive 87/217/EEC and in the VOC(1) Directive 94/63/EC. Article 8 aligns the date of application of the proposal with the still to be determined date of entry into force of the Circular Economy Package and the revision of the ETS Directive.

Questionnaires adopted for ETS and waste that are still in use, i.e. under the Waste Framework Directive, for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), hazardous waste, landfill of waste, end-of-life vehicles etc. remain untouched.

The Commission concludes that only a complete removal of the obsolete SRD based reporting obligations will ensure legal certainty and transparency and an EU legislation that is fit for purpose in line with the Better Regulation agenda.

The rapporteur agrees that the Standardised Reporting Directive 91/692/EEC is outdated and that environmental reporting obligations are not transparent enough and could be - in certain cases- limited. He finds the presented findings and proposal conclusive and acknowledges the effort made by the Commission in cleaning out existing reporting obligations without changing the acquis. He welcomes the Commission approach to avoid overburden to people, organisations and Member States and agrees that any legislation that does not serve its objective should be removed from the EU legal system. The rapporteur supports the clarification regarding the due date of the first report under the Ship Recycling Regulation. He also agrees on the choice of delegated acts for the adaptation of the Annexes to Carbon Capture and Storage and Sewage Sludge Directives to technical and scientific progress.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Procedural rules in the field of environmental reporting
References	COM(2016)0789 – C8-0526/2016 – 2016/0394(COD)
Date submitted to Parliament	15.12.2016
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	ENVI 13.2.2017
Committees asked for opinions        Date announced in plenary	ITRE 13.2.2017	TRAN 13.2.2017	AGRI 13.2.2017	JURI 13.2.2017
Not delivering opinions        Date of decision	ITRE 12.1.2017	TRAN 27.2.2017	AGRI 25.1.2017	JURI 31.1.2017
Rapporteurs        Date appointed	Francesc Gambús 16.2.2017
Discussed in committee	29.5.2017
Date adopted	11.7.2017
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	65 1 0
Members present for the final vote	Margrete Auken, Pilar Ayuso, Zoltán Balczó, Catherine Bearder, Ivo Belet, Biljana Borzan, Lynn Boylan, Paul Brannen, Nessa Childers, Birgit Collin-Langen, Mireille D’Ornano, Miriam Dalli, Seb Dance, Angélique Delahaye, Stefan Eck, Bas Eickhout, José Inácio Faria, Karl-Heinz Florenz, Francesc Gambús, Elisabetta Gardini, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Arne Gericke, Jens Gieseke, Julie Girling, Françoise Grossetête, Andrzej Grzyb, Jytte Guteland, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Jean-François Jalkh, Benedek Jávor, Kateřina Konečná, Urszula Krupa, Giovanni La Via, Jo Leinen, Peter Liese, Norbert Lins, Rupert Matthews, Valentinas Mazuronis, Susanne Melior, Miroslav Mikolášik, Piernicola Pedicini, Bolesław G. Piecha, Pavel Poc, Julia Reid, Frédérique Ries, Michèle Rivasi, Daciana Octavia Sârbu, Annie Schreijer-Pierik, Davor Škrlec, Renate Sommer, Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu, Ivica Tolić, Estefanía Torres Martínez, Adina-Ioana Vălean, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Damiano Zoffoli
Substitutes present for the final vote	Luke Ming Flanagan, Elena Gentile, Esther Herranz García, Krzysztof Hetman, Ulrike Müller, James Nicholson, Christel Schaldemose, Bart Staes, Tiemo Wölken
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote	Siôn Simon
Date tabled	12.7.2017

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

65	+
ALDE	Catherine Bearder, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Valentinas Mazuronis, Ulrike Müller, Frédérique Ries
ECR	Arne Gericke, Julie Girling, Urszula Krupa, Rupert Matthews, James Nicholson, Bolesław G. Piecha, Jadwiga Wiśniewska
EFDD	Piernicola Pedicini
ENF	Mireille D'Ornano, Jean-François Jalkh
GUE/NGL	Lynn Boylan, Stefan Eck, Luke Ming Flanagan, Kateřina Konečná, Estefanía Torres Martínez
NI	Zoltán Balczó
PPE	Pilar Ayuso, Ivo Belet, Birgit Collin-Langen, Angélique Delahaye, José Inácio Faria, Karl-Heinz Florenz, Francesc Gambús, Elisabetta Gardini, Jens Gieseke, Françoise Grossetête, Andrzej Grzyb, Esther Herranz García, Krzysztof Hetman, Giovanni La Via, Peter Liese, Norbert Lins, Miroslav Mikolášik, Annie Schreijer-Pierik, Renate Sommer, Ivica Tolić, Adina-Ioana Vălean
S&D	Biljana Borzan, Paul Brannen, Nessa Childers, Miriam Dalli, Seb Dance, Elena Gentile, Jytte Guteland, Jo Leinen, Susanne Melior, Pavel Poc, Christel Schaldemose, Siôn Simon, Daciana Octavia Sârbu, Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu, Tiemo Wölken, Damiano Zoffoli
Verts/ALE	Margrete Auken, Bas Eickhout, Benedek Jávor, Michèle Rivasi, Davor Škrlec, Bart Staes

1	-
EFDD	Julia Reid

0	0

Key to symbols:

+  :  in favour

-  :  against

0  :  abstention