WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3320/97 by Alexandros ALAVANOS to the Commission. Illegal transport and dumping of nuclear waste
25. 5. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 158/65 This companyís clients include 25 undertakings › in Italy alone › producing 3000 tonnes of waste per day. 12 vessels filled with waste have already been sunk in the Mediterranean, not far from the shores of the European Union. What is the official position of the Commission regarding these revelations and what immediate action will it take before the Mediterranean is turned into a burial ground? (98/C 158/83) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3320/97 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (20 October 1997) Subject: Illegal transport and dumping of nuclear waste Greenpeace has alleged that the transport and storage of nuclear and other toxic waste is now partly controlled by illegal organisations. The Italian authorities have already begun investigations into illegal dumping in the Mediterranean. The file published by Greenpeace refers to the multinational company, Oceanic Disposal Management (ODM), based in Lugano, a subsidiary of an organisation called The Networkí which is involved in the illegal transport of the above waste and has offices in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, the UK and Switzerland. Can the Commission: 1. Provide information on the scale of the problem; and 2. Say what measures it intends to take to identify the above illegal organisations? Joint answer to Written Questions E-3234/97 and E-3320/97 given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (4 December 1997) The Commission does not have the information published by Greenpeace, according to which responsibility for transport and treatment of toxic and nuclear waste has fallen into the hands of the Mafia. Indeed the Commission has no competence as regards criminal matters. The Commission is therefore unable to provide information on the scale of the problem, but, on the basis of the information provided by the Honourable Members, it would make the following observations. The Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution (Barcelona Convention) and its Protocol for the prevention of pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by dumping from ships and aircraft entered into force for the Community on 15 April 1978. Article 4 of the Protocol prohibits the dumping in the Mediterranean Sea of radioactive waste and radioactive matter, as well as a broad range of other categories of hazardous wastes listed in Annex I. The dumping of other categories of wastes into the Mediterranean Sea is not prohibited as such but is subject to the issuing of a permit by the authorities, either a specific permit (for categories listed in Annex II) or a general one. In addition, as regards hazardous waste, Article 2. 3 of Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste (1) provides that Member States shall take the necessary measures to require that on every site where tipping or discharge of hazardous waste takes place the waste is recorded and identified. The company which Greenpeace holds responsible for the sinking of the vessels in the Mediterranean is based in Lugano, Switzerland. Switzerland is not a member of the European economic area (EEA) Agreement and is therefore not obliged to apply Community legislation. Nevertheless, it appears that this company also has offices in a number of Member States. In any case, any disposal operation such as release of waste into seas which is carried out in an area under the jurisdiction of a Member State, would have to obtain a permit in accordance with the provisions of Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (2). As regards transboundary movements of hazardous waste, these are regulated by Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community (3) or by Council Directive 92/3/Euratom on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste between Member States and into and out of the Community (4) as regards radioactive waste. Pursuant to Article 14 of this Regulation, exports of hazardous waste destined for final disposal out of the Community are prohibited, except to EFTA countries