Brussels, 14/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday EU environment ministers reached a political agreement on draft legislation on reducing green house gas producing gas fluoride emissions from industrial refrigeration systems, car air-conditioning systems and fire extinguishers. This legislation includes the gradual elimination of these gases (HFC, PFC, SF6) that have a potentially global warming effect 150 times higher than other applications (set out in industry, mobile and car sectors) and minimum standards for inspection and gas recuperation, product labelling, training and certification for staff who work with these gases in certain applications. The Dutch presidency compromise eventually facilitated the agreement through qualified majority on the framework regulation and the application of the directive to the cat sector, which amends the existing directive but without imposing emissions quotas on manufacturers (EUROPE yesterday p 12). Denmark and Austria voted against. Sweden, Portugal an Belgium abstained. All these delegations consider that the compromise is too modest and is indeed unacceptable to countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Austria, which have already taken drastic measures and which means that they would not be able to justify to their own people an agreement based on the "lowest common denominator" and which would result in their determination being sacrificed on the alter of the internal market.
The problem of the legal basis for the regulation was at the heart of the torment. The draft agreement includes a double legal basis -Article 175 (Environment) for most of the provisions and Article 95 (internal market) for three Articles on specific products and marketing of products containing gas fluorides. All presidency attempts to make a gesture for getting the most ambitious delegations, in respect of the treaty (for application of Article 95 paragraph 10) were suggested by the council legal service) failed. The most adamant continued to pursue application of Article 175 alone, with the kind support of the following delegations: France, Germany, Slovakia and Poland, which were anxious to pay homage to the efforts already accomplished by the most deserving.
Margot Wallström appealed at length to take into account the "added value of the EU" which went beyond national policies ("for the climate, it is not impotent if the gas comes from Austria, Germany or Poland". A global solution is needed"). Five delegations persisted in their points of view but were not able to prevent qualified majority pushing through the text, which president van Geele was determined to get through.
The agreement outlines that it is a semi-victory for the most ambitious, which at the time of the planned legislative revisions in four years time after its entry into force will need to be examined with regard to amending the Community provisions on global warming potential of gas fluorides, taking into account technological an scientific progress and the need to respect industrial planning deadlines. This additions is a concession to delegations that demanded that global warming potential (GWP) is brought to 50 but did not please them entirely as it did not cite nay figure or set a date for this objective. At the request of the dissatisfied, the Commission also agreed to outline in a declaration in the report that legislative revision would include other applications of gas fluorides in the text: aerosols, refrigeration, air conditions other than those for cars, hot pumps and protection against fires/extinguishers. In the context of cars, the agreement on the directive (Article 95) includes the elimination of HCFC 134 beginning in 2011 for new models and for all new cars from 2017.