WRITTEN QUESTION E-0965/00 by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission. Community aid to scrapyards.
C 46 E/94 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 13. 2. 2001 (2001/C 46 E/097) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0965/00 by Rosa MiguØlez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission (31 March 2000) Subject: Community aid to scrapyards Automobile scrapyard owners are asking for information on the real scope of the new Community legislation concerning their sector. While they welcome the idea of legislation for the sector, they feel they are insufficiently informed as to how they will be affected, how much time they will have to adapt their facilities to the new directive, and whether or not public funding will be available for adaptation. Can the Commission explain in what fashion it intends to inform undertakings in the sector of the new EU legislation concerning automobile scrapyards? How much time will undertakings have to adapt? Will aid be made available to undertakings for this purpose? Does the Commission intend to establish any kind of criteria relating to excellence, exchange of experiences or best practice, or systems of approval at EU level? Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission (17 May 2000) The proposal for a Council directive on end of life vehicles (1) ü like all Community directives ü is addressed to the Member States. The Member States are obliged to comply with the objectives established in directives, while they remain free to choose the appropriate instruments to reach such objectives. It is primarily a task of the Member States to make sure that the concerned economic operators are sufficiently informed and assisted where necessary in order to comply with the requirements of directives. As regards the time available for complying with the directive, this will only be known once it is finally adopted. At present, the legislative procedure has not yet finished. The Commission reasonably expects that the directive will be adopted before mid-2000. At the moment, the common position (2) foresees that the directive will enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official journal, and that Member States will have an extra transitional period of 18 months for transposing the Directive into national law. According to the EC Treaty, the financing of Community environmental measures is the prerogative of the Member States. No specific Community financial aid is foreseen in the common position. Finally, concerning excellency parameters and good practices, the common position, besides setting out minimum treatment requirements in Article 6 and Annex I, in its Article 5(5) refers to the introduction of certified environmental management systems in relation to establishments which carry out vehicle treatment operations. (1) OJ C 337, 7. 11. 1997 as amended, OJ C 156, 3. 6. 1999. (2) Common Position 39/1999, OJ C 317, 4. 11. 1999