EU set to clash over proposed mercury ban

The European Parliament’s environment committee voted on Wednesday (26 March) to ban all imports and exports of mercury in the EU by 2010, reinstating earlier demands which had already been rejected by member states in June last year.

MEPs insisted that the ban should take effect as of December 2010, setting Parliament on a collision course with the EU Council of Ministers, which voted last year to maintain the Commission’s proposed October 2011 start date (EURACTIV 29/06/07).

However, the committee did agree with the Council that mercury waste should be stored “in a way that is safe for human health and the environment” before eventually being disposed of. Such places include abandoned salt mines, deep underground hard rock formations or specific safe storage facilities above the ground.

Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, project coordinator of the Zero Mercury Campaign at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), applauded the committee’s vote. “We are happy to see that, overall, [the environment committee] held their position from Parliament’s first reading last June.”

Mercury is highly toxic, with a recent study published in January by the ‘Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury’ campaign concluding that even low-level exposure to it in the womb can cause brain damage in children.

Mercury contamination comes from a wide variety of sources, including waste recycling and industrial facilities involved in cleaning non-ferrous metals and natural gas. In the EU, the chlor-alkali industry remains the largest single user of mercury and has already committed to either close or convert its mercury plants by 2020 at the latest. 

The Commission first presented its proposal for a regulation to control mercury back in 2006 (EURACTIV 26/10/06). It contained a proposal to ban mercury exports as well as measures for safer storage but did not propose a ban on imports, which was later introduced by Parliament at first reading (EURACTIV 20/06/07).

The full Parliament will adopt a final position during a plenary vote in May. If the two institutions continue to disagree, the proposal will be sent to the last-chance conciliation procedure.

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