Le 5 juin 2007, la commission parlementaire Environnement a refusé d'exempter de manière permanente les baromètres contenant du mercure de la liste globale de l'UE frappant d'interdiction certaines substances. Ce vote préfigure l'approbation possible du texte par l'assemblée plénière du Parlement européen et par le Conseil.
The British Conservatives in Parliament had pushed for a permanent exemption on mercury-containing barometers as a way to protect "small businesses in an historic industry in the UK". The Conservatives also argued that health risks from mercury in barometers are negligible.
Environmental groups countered, saying that mercury is a dangerous substance, and that such a ban would not adversely affect business given modern alternatives to its use.
British Conservative MEP Martin Callanan, a key proponent of the permanent exemption, lamented the outcome of the committee meeting and criticised the British government's lack of support: "I am extremely disappointed at the result of the vote today and am particularly annoyed at the lack of support from the British government who yet again are prepared to see hundreds of years of British tradition destroyed and the production of barometers banned." Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies was also in favor of the exemption.
According to the UK's Daily Telegraph, Philip Collins, secretary of the British Barometer Makers Association, said that the vote "sounded the death-knell for centuries of craft".
A group of European campaigners against mercury, including the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the Health & Environment Alliance, published a press release applauding the committee's vote as a "victory for common sense" and a "great source of relief". In reference to the agreement reached between Council and Parliament on barometers and blood pressure devices, the group added that "this is the best compromise we can realistically hope to obtain".
The Commission proposal to ban mercury in measuring devices is part of a wider mercury strategy tabled in January 2005. Council was in favour of the ban, as long as it included a two-year derogation on traditional barometers.
In November 2006, Parliament voted largely in favour of the proposal in first reading, but the British Conservatives succeeded in pushing for a permanent, rather than two-year, derogation on mercury-containing barometers. Parliament also pushed for a total ban on mercury in blood-pressure devices used in hospitals.
Council did not accept this and in April 2007 sent the text back to Parliament for a second reading, restating its support for the two-year phase-out but adding a stipulation that blood-pressures device should be kept in use as long as the Commission published a report after two years on mercury-free alternatives.
