Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-12-Speech-1-069"
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"en.20051212.14.1-069"2
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".
Mr President, the report on batteries and accumulators has been adopted by a large majority in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. This Committee is of the opinion that the 41 amendments to this report have changed the Council’s common position for the better. We in the Committee are yet to agree on one key aspect, though, namely the reduction in the use of the heavy metals mercury, cadmium and lead in some batteries.
Moreover, Amendment 12 makes the link with consumer applications as defined in the directive on electronic waste. In order to avoid both a loophole and an overlap in the definitions, the Committee on the Environment has proposed in Amendment 13 a mirror definition of portable batteries by way of defining industrial batteries. The Committee on the Environment is of the opinion that Amendments 12 and 13 afford most clarity about those definitions.
As for producer responsibility, I have to say that this is a guiding principle for various other directives as well as for the battery directive. In this respect, I agree with the Council’s common position. In Amendment 44, though, the suggestion of shared responsibility is mooted. This leads, in practice, to much confusion and its implementation is very complex. I take the view that we must uphold producer responsibility and am therefore opposed to Amendment 44.
Amendments 18 and 40 ban the integration of batteries and introduce the requirement that batteries should be easy to remove. This appears to be a good thing on the face of it, but I gather that many applications will get into difficulty as a result, especially if the battery outlives the appliance. Moreover, this provision is superfluous, since the directive on electronic waste already stipulates that batteries should always be removed before electrical appliances are collected.
On behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, I would advise the plenary, while giving due consideration to the remarks I have made, to endorse the amendments to the report tomorrow.
This House adopted a clear stance in this area at first reading, after which apparently, objections were raised, or should I say, after which the battery producers engaged in some serious lobbying. In order to reach agreement after all, I tabled an amended proposal, namely Amendment 42, which is a watered-down version of the amendment adopted at first reading. I would like to make three points in connection with the restriction of the ban on heavy metals.
First of all, Amendment 42 confines the cadmium ban to portable batteries; the ban does not, therefore, apply to any industrial batteries whatever. The exception made for industrial batteries at first reading proved insufficient for industry, because it believes that an unacceptable number of these batteries would end up in the risk zone. For the sake of clarity, my Amendment 42 takes industrial batteries out of the risk zone completely.
Secondly, thanks to Amendment 42, the ban on lead is also restricted to portable batteries, which means that industrial lead accumulators also completely fall outside of the scope of the ban.
Thirdly, a number of categories of portable batteries are exempt from the ban on lead. This applies to button cells, and batteries for hearing aids are no longer at risk either. We have thereby taken on board the comments made by the Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Fourthly, since the cadmium ban on portable tools has been suspended for four years, this will give us plenty of time to make the complete switch to Li-ion- and NiMH batteries as alternatives to NiCd batteries. These alternatives have been widely available for nearly 10 years.
I have noticed that both the Socialist Group in the European Parliament and the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance have tabled a similar amendment to Article 4, the gist of which I can endorse.
Finally, I should like to turn to three other areas, namely definitions, producer responsibility and batteries integrated in appliances.
With regard to definitions, I take the view that these should be included in an article and not in a recital. That is why I am opposed to Amendments 46, 48 and 50. The Council’s common position remains vague in some aspects of the definition of portable batteries. The phrase ‘portable’ is subjective and the Committee on the Environment would therefore prefer a definition that sets a clear limit. Amendment 12 specifies a maximum weight of 1 kg for portable batteries."@en1
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