UNION EUROPEENNE DE L’ARTISANAT ET DES PETITES ET MOYENNES ENTREPRISES
EUROPÄISCHE UNION DES HANDWERKS UND DER KLEIN- UND MITTELBETRIEBE
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATON OF CRAFT, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
UNIONE EUROPEA DELL’ ARTIGIANATO E DELLE PICCOLE E MEDIE IMPRESE
Environmental Liability – Vote in Plenary 13 May 2003
The outcome of the vote in plenary will mark the end of the first reading regarding the future
Directive on environmental liability. On this occasion UEAPME, the EU representative of
crafts’, trades and SMEs, would like to draw the attention of MEPs on a number of points,
particularly in the light of the outcome of the vote in the legal affairs committee at the end of
April.
Despite too much discretion left to the Member States on a number of issues such as the
mitigating factors or the definition of biodiversity, which will lead inevitably to distortions
and run counter to the principle of level playing field, the approach adopted by the legal
affairs committee is realistic. The report of the legal affairs committee takes account of a
number of basic facts such as the novelty of some of the concepts such as biodiversity damage
and the need to provide businesses with legal certainty. Therefore UEAPME welcomes the
following points and urges MEPs to adopt the following amendments of the legal affairs
committee:
Amendment 11 – deletion of fault based liability for biodiversity damage
Amendment 19 – deletion of joint and several liability
Amendment 37 – clarification regarding exemptions
Amendment 39 (if amendment 37 not adopted) – mitigating factors
Amendment 49 – financial security system
Amendment 64 to 73 – deletion of the concept of compensation for interim losses
UEAPME also encourages MEPs to adopt the following amendments of the Industry
Committee:
Amendment 8 – definition of biodiversity
Amendment 11 – activities covered by the Directive
Amendment 12 (same as amendment 11 legal affairs committee) – deletion of fault based
liability for biodiversity damage
Amendment 25 – damage caused by a third party
Amendment 26 – deletion of joint and several liability
For further information please contact Mr. Guido Lena (tel: +32 2 230 75 99; fax +32 2 230
78 61; email: g.lena@ueapme.com)
Brussels, 7 May 2003