Brussels, 22/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - In the great pile of infringement procedures taken against the member states on Wednesday with regard to the environment (see EUROPE 10735), the reasoned opinions sent by the European Commission (second stage in infringement proceedings) concern - in three cases - the non-respect of EU legislation on waste management.
In the majority of cases, it is the inadequate or incomplete transposition of EU environmental legislation which is challenged. In all the cases, the member states have already been called to order (by a letter of notice) and will now have a two month deadline to meet the requirements of European law. In the absence of a satisfactory response to the reasoned opinion, the Commission will be able to refer them the Court of Justice.
Landfill. Bulgaria and Italy are asked to clean up their landfills. The European Commission asks Bulgaria to bring its landfills into line with Directive 1999/126/EC on landfills. Landfilling is an option of last resort which member states may only use under conditions allowing harmful effects on human health and the environment to be avoided. Bulgaria did indeed agree to close the landfills that do not meet the requirements of EU directive but 124 landfills still infringe the EU legislation.
Italy still has to proceed with closing or bringing some of its landfills into line. According to the Commission some landfills were still being used in Italy after the 2009 deadline. Under the terms of the directive, the member states were obliged to ensure that their landfills - which had been granted a permit or which were already in operation when the directive was transposed - were closed after July 2009 if they were not in line with the requirements of the directive.
Mining waste. The Czech Republic has still not transposed Directive 2006/21/EC although the deadline for this was 1 May 2008. Despite a formal letter being addressed to them in May, the Commission is still waiting for notification of national measures aimed at transposing this legislation that focuses on preventing or reducing as much as possible the adverse effects of the management of waste from extractive industries on human health and the environment (particularly water, air, soil, fauna and flora).
Bathing water. Italy has still not remedied the gaps in its national legislation to transpose Directive 76/160 EC (which will be replaced by Directive 2006/7/EC in 2014) into its domestic law. Arrangements are missing from Italian legislation which oblige member states to cooperate and exchange information when a river basin gives rise to transboundary impacts on bathing water quality.
Batteries and accumulators. Italy has still not amended its national legislation in order to transpose Directive 2006/66/EC correctly into domestic law. Mechanisms are currently missing in Italian legislation requiring manufacturers to ensure that chemical contents - such as lead, mercury and cadmium - are marked clearly, legibly and in a permanent manner. This is a gap in their legislation that the Italian authorities have recognised but not amended.
Floods. Italy must improve transposition of the directive that obliges member states to perform flood risk assessments for their river basins and to establish emergency plans. The Commission deplores the excessively restrictive nature of the Italian legislation which excludes floods caused by non-meteorological events - such as tsunamis and infrastructure failures like dam breaks. The Italian authorities have agreed to bring the amendments required but the problem persists despite a letter of formal notice being sent to them in March.
Nature protection. Slovenia must designate more sites to integrate into the special protection areas (SPAs) of Natura 2000 - the pan European network of protected natural areas. This must be done under Directive 2009/147/EC, the so-called Birds Directive. Slovenia has designated 27 SPAs but the number and extent of these areas are insufficient with regard to the inventory of important bird areas used by the Commission to assess if the member states are in line with their obligations. Eight additional sites must be designated and 14 others remain to be increased in order to satisfy the demands of the directive. Despite a letter of formal notice being sent to the Slovenian authorities in June 2007, no progress has yet been made. (AN/transl.fl)