Environment committee eases draft EU tyre controls

MEPs on the European parliament's environment committee have voted to soften European Commission plans to curb the content of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in car tyres.


Voting on Wednesday, the committee said a 10 parts per million (ppm) limit on extender oils in tyres should enter force in January 2010 – one year later than the Commission proposed last year.


MEPs said manufacturers should also be able to sell all remaining stocks of non-compliant tyres once the ban enters force. They backed a two-year derogation for racing tyres and added a similar grace period for “vintage and specialist” tyres. New rubber used to “retread” old tyres will also have to comply with the limits.


In a separate vote this week the committee nodded through Commission proposals to place an EU marketing and use ban on several hundred carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances newly classified as such under EU chemicals legislation.


And in a second-reading vote on a draft directive to revise the 1976 bathing water directive, the committee said a series of microbiological quality limits weakened in a ministerial agreement last year should be returned to the level of stringency proposed by the European Commission.


But MEPs rejected amendments that would have harmonised chemical quality standards with the water framework directive and extended the law to include other recreational activities such as surfing.


Republished with permission of Environment Daily

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