CLEAN ROAD TRANSPORT VEHICLES (5130/06)
Letter from Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport, to the Chairman
I am writing to keep you informed on the above
proposal, which seems unlikely to make further progress due to
the position in the European Parliament.
The proposal was considered by the European Parliament's
Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee in 2006.
The Committee voted decisively to reject the proposal, which they
felt had been put forward too late and therefore, in its current
form, would not have the desired impact on the environment and
human health. The Committee therefore called on the Commission
to withdraw the proposal and to focus its efforts instead on coming
forward with a proposal on environmentally ambitious, technology-driving
and stringent EURO VI standards as soon as possible.
The Committee's view has not yet been put to
a European Parliamentary Plenary session. On several occasions
dates have been set for plenary consideration, only to be deferred
to a later date. This has recently happened again, and the date
currently scheduled for plenary consideration is 14 January 2008.
As you may recall, the Government also had doubts
about whether the proposal was likely to be effective in meeting
its objectives, a view which appeared to be shared by many other
Member States. There has in fact been very little discussion of
the proposal by Member States, and none at all since the EP Committee's
vote. It seems unlikely that there will be any further discussion
of the proposal unless the EP plenary takes a different view to
that taken by the Committee.
The European Commission is expected to publish
the proposals on Euro VI referred to by the EP Committee at the
end of this year.
I will, of course, write to your Committee again
if there is any change in the current position.
7 November 2007
Letter from the Chairman to Jim Fitzpatrick
MP
Thank you for your letter of 7 November which
Sub-Committee B considered at its meeting on 19 November.
We note the rejection of the proposal by the European
Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food
Safety, and the lack of support which the proposal appears to
enjoy among Member States.
We are content to lift scrutiny subject to the
understanding that if the proposal is revived you will deposit
a supplementary EM for our consideration.
21 November 2007
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