ENDS Europe DAILY 2161, 12/09/06 - Norway plots path through deca-DBE minefield
Wednesday 13 September 2006
ENDS Europe DAILY Article from 12 September 2006
Website: http://www.endseuropedaily.com/articles/index.cfm
Norwegian environment minister Helen Bjornoy has defied the country's pollution control authority, fellow members of the governing coalition and environmentalists by rejecting a ban on the brominated flame retardant deca-BDE in electronics, according to press reports.
The minister has given the go-ahead to adopt the EU's restrictions on hazardous substances directive (RoHS), including a controversial exemption from the law for deca. The pollution control authority had proposed banning deca in electronics (EED 04/02/05 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/18164).
Norway is obliged to adopt EU internal market legislation such as the RoHS directive under the European Economic Area trade agreement. At the same time, however, the government has lent its support to a challenge to the deca exemption being undertaken by Denmark and the European parliament (EED 10/01/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20132).
"A veto of the directive would have sent a much stronger signal than supporting Denmark in a lawsuit", a Friends of the Earth Norway (FoEN) spokesman said. The move has also been criticised by the environment spokesman of the Labour party, which heads the centre-left government. Ms Bjornoy is a member of the Socialist Left party, a junior coalition member.
Follow-up: See Nationen newspaper article http://www.nationen.no/nyheter/article2275908.ece and SFT press release http://www.sft.no/nyheter/dbafile13293.html(2005) (both in Norwegian).Article Index: chemicals, products, trade, waste
Website: http://www.endseuropedaily.com/articles/index.cfm
Norwegian environment minister Helen Bjornoy has defied the country's pollution control authority, fellow members of the governing coalition and environmentalists by rejecting a ban on the brominated flame retardant deca-BDE in electronics, according to press reports.
The minister has given the go-ahead to adopt the EU's restrictions on hazardous substances directive (RoHS), including a controversial exemption from the law for deca. The pollution control authority had proposed banning deca in electronics (EED 04/02/05 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/18164).
Norway is obliged to adopt EU internal market legislation such as the RoHS directive under the European Economic Area trade agreement. At the same time, however, the government has lent its support to a challenge to the deca exemption being undertaken by Denmark and the European parliament (EED 10/01/06 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/20132).
"A veto of the directive would have sent a much stronger signal than supporting Denmark in a lawsuit", a Friends of the Earth Norway (FoEN) spokesman said. The move has also been criticised by the environment spokesman of the Labour party, which heads the centre-left government. Ms Bjornoy is a member of the Socialist Left party, a junior coalition member.
Follow-up: See Nationen newspaper article http://www.nationen.no/nyheter/article2275908.ece and SFT press release http://www.sft.no/nyheter/dbafile13293.html(2005) (both in Norwegian).Article Index: chemicals, products, trade, waste
