Strasbourg, 06/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Finally on 6 April, the European Parliament approved on the third reading the outcome of the conciliation procedure with the Council of 31 January on the regulation restricting the use fluorinated gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol and on the directive on emissions from motor vehicle air-conditioning systems (see EUROPE 9122). The last minute addition by the European Commission of a statement, in the first case, reserving the right to take measures against Member States which did not comply with internal market rules almost scuppered the outcome of the conciliation on this important piece of legislation for efforts against global warming. Rapporteur Avril Doyle (EPP-ED, Ireland) fulminated that such a statement was a wrong interpretation of the outcome of the conciliation procedure, where the clear, though implicit, intention was for tougher national measures. She called for the vote to be postponed until Thursday to be able to obtain clarification of the Commission's stance. Finally Commissioner Kyprianou, replacing his colleague Mr Dimas, said that the Commission would re-assess on-going infringement procedures on the use of fluorinated gases in Denmark and Austria, taking into account the final agreement reached in conciliation, which allowed the plenary session to vote. Ms Doyle criticised the Commission's show of “contempt” for the legislative body, seeing in such behaviour signs of internal conflict between two directorates general at the Commission (environment and internal market).
The regulation adopted on Thursday seeks to reduce, and in some cases ban, emissions of 25 fluorinated gases: 17 hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), 7 perfluorocarbons (PFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), the most dangerous of all. Negotiations were complex, especially because of the dual legal basis of the regulation (Article 95, internal market, and Article 175, environment). The issue was particularly important for Denmark and Austria, which apply stricter rules as part of their Kyoto strategy: the new regulation will allow the two countries to maintain these rules until the end of 2012. The gases covered by the regulation are widely used in daily life, but their use will be banned, particularly in sports shoes (as soon as the law comes into force, twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal), tyres, domestic windows and extinguishers (one year later). Apart from these bans, the regulation provides measures restricting their use for industrial installations, standards to be met for the recovery of the gases (especially with regard to cooling systems air conditioning, hot air pumps, anti-fire systems) and labelling of equipment containing fluorinated gases.
The directive on air-conditioning systems in vehicles provides for a ban on fluorinated gases with a GWP (global warming potential: HFC-134a, for example, has a GWP of 1300) over 150 for new makes of vehicle from 2011 and for all vehicles from 2017. This new standard, it is hoped, will encourage technological innovation.