International NGO-indsats for bæredygtig produktion og forbrug
BILAG B
REACH-konferencen den 18-10-2004 – resultater
1.1 Positionspapir – “REACH eller kemisk kaos”
Denne publikation kan købes hos DN eller hentes på web-adressen: www.dn.dk/REACHellerKAOS
1.2 Konferenceprogram
Den 18. oktober 2004 var Danmarks Naturfredningsforening i samarbejde med Forbrugerrådet vært for en international konference om EU’s forslag til en ny kemikalielov (REACH). Formålet var at spore debatten ind på de oprindelige mål med den nye kemikalielov: At beskytte miljøet og menneskers sundhed. 120 deltagere fra nær og fjern fik om formiddagen en grundig gennemgang af REACH-forslagets fordele og ulemper fra en række interesseorganisationer og medlemmer af Europa-Parlamentet. Om eftermiddagen blev REACH-forslaget sat på anklagebænken. Med DR-journalisterne Martin Krasnik og Poul Smidt i rollen som sagførere blev otte "vidner" afhørt om deres synspunkter på REACH.
New Chemicals Law
CONFERENCE ON EU’S NEW CHEMICALS LAW (REACH)
IDA Conference Center, Copenhagen, 18th October 2004
Organised by
In cooperation with Danish Consumer Council
With the support of the Danish Board for EU Enlightenment and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency
New Chemicals Law
Political Landscape
Conference Programme
| 9.00 | Registration and coffee |
| MORNING SESSION. Chair: Mette Boye, Danish Consumer Council | |
| Welcome Speech | |
| 9.30 | Gunver Bennekou, Director of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation |
| The True Costs of REACH | |
| 9.40 | Dr. Frank Ackerman, Tufts University, Boston, USA |
| REACH and the Economy: Threat or Opportunity? | |
| 10.00 | Eva Bie Kjær, Health, Safety and Environment Manager, Hempel Group |
| 10.15 | Tony Musu, Research Officer, European Trade Union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety |
| 10.30 | Intervention by Margrete Auken, Danish MEP, European Greens |
| 10.40 | Discussion |
| 10.55 | Coffee Break |
| REACH and the Environment: Will it eliminate pollution with hazardous substances by 2020? | |
| 11.25 | John Hontelez, Secretary General, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) |
| 11.40 | Intervention by Gitte Seeberg, Danish MEP, EPP-ED |
| 11.50 | Discussion |
| REACH and our Health: Are Consumers Protected? | |
| 12.05 | Mette Boye, Danish Consumer Council/European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) |
| 12.20 | Intervention by Holger Krahmer, German MEP, ELDR |
| 12.30 | Discussion |
| 12.45 | Lunch |
| AFTERNOON SESSION. Chair: Thomas Færgeman, Danish Society for Nature Conservation | |
| 13.45 | The REACH Court |
| The lawyers: | |
| Martin Krasnik, journalist, DR Deadline | |
| Poul Smidt, journalist and lawyer, Nordic Public Service Broadcasters | |
| In the witness box: | |
| Per Rosander, Director of the International Chemical Secretariat (CHEMSEC) | |
| Thomas Jostmann, Director, European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) | |
| Dan Jørgensen, Danish MEP, Party of European Socialists | |
| Gyula Hegyi, Hungarian MEP, Party of European Socialists | |
| Connie Hedegaard, Minister of Environment, Denmark | |
| Petr Pomezný, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Czech Republic | |
| Anders Wijkman, Swedish MEP, European Peoples Party and European Democrats | |
| Ulla Hansen Telcs, Senior Advisor on Environment, Confederation of Danish Industries | |
| 14.00 | First hearing |
| 15.00 | Coffee Break (with possibility for submitting last questions to the lawyers) |
| 15.30 | Second hearing |
| 16.30 | Discussion |
| 17.00 | Round up by lawyers |
| 17.15 | Conclusions |
| 17.30 |
End of Conference |
New Chemicals Law
Political Landscape
Who’s who?
Morning session
Gunver Bennekou 
Director of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation.
Eva Bie Kjær 
Health Safety and Environment manager, Hempel Group.
Margrete Auken 
Danish member of the European Parliament, European Greens. Member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. Subsitute of the Environment Committee. Former member of the Danish Parliament for the Socialist People’s Party (SF).
Gitte Seeberg 
Danish member of the European Parliament, European Peoples Party and European Democrats. Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Former member of the Danish Parliament for The Conservative Party.
Holger Krahmer 
German member of the European Parliament, European Liberal Democrats. Member of the Environment Committee. Substitute of the Committee on Regional Development.
Frank Ackerman 
Professor and Research Director, Tufts University, Boston, USA. Author of the report ”The True Costs of REACH”. Coauthor of ”Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing”.
Tony Musu 
Research Officer, European Trade Union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety (TUTB).
John Hontelez 
Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).
Mette Boye 
Environment and Health Adviser in the Danish Consumer Council. Co-responsible for the drafting of BEUC positions on REACH.
Afternoon Session
Chair: Thomas Færgeman
Head of Policy Section, Danish Society for Nature Conservation
Lawyer: Martin Krasnik 
Presenter and interviewer at TV-programme “Deadline” since August 2002. Former journalist, editor of foreign news and correspondent in Jerusalem and London for Weekendavisen.
Per Rosander 
Director of the International Chemicals Secretariat.
Dan Jørgensen 
Danish member of the European Parliament, Party of European Socialists. Member of the Environment Committee. Substitute of the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Budgetary Control Committee.
Connie Hedegaard 
Minister of Environment, Denmark. Member of the Danish Parliament for the Conservative Party in years 1984-1990
Anders Wijkman 
Swedish member of the European Parliament, European Peoples Party and European Democrats. Member of the Environment Committee. Substitute of the Committee on Development.
Lawyer: Poul Smidt 
Journalist and a lawyer. Correspondent for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) in Brussels for 11 years, a couple of years he was based in Washington. Now a representative for the Nordic Public Service Broadcasters in Brussels.
Thomas Jostmann 
Executive Director of the European Chemical Industry Council’s Product Stewardship Programme.
Gyula Hegyi 
Hungarian member of the European Parliament, Party of European Socialists. Member of the Environment Committee. Substitute of the Committee on Culture and Education. Former member of the Hungarian Parliament.
Petr Pomezný 
Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Environment, Czech Republic.
Ulla Hansen Telcs
Senior Advisor on Environment, Danish Confederation of Industries.
Conference organiser
Michael Minter 
Environmental Policy Officer in the Danish Society for Nature Conservation. Danish Board Member of the European Environmental Bureau.
New Chemicals Law Political Landscape
About the Organisers
The Danish Society for Nature Conservation (Danmarks Naturfredningsforening) is the biggest nature conservation and environmental organisation in Denmark. With the support of
140.000 members we work to protect nature and the environment. Our 216 local committees and our 2000 active members are our eyes and ears at local and regional levels.
In 1911 we started as an organisation mainly aiming at nature conservation and access to nature. Today we work with a broad range of issues concerning nature, our common environment, resources and consumption. Our vision is a sustainable society with a rich nature and a clean environment.
Our daily work is performed by a secretariat of about 45 enthusiastic staff members. Some of us spend most of our time working on European and international issues.
European legislation is becoming increasingly important for our national policies. Most of the Danish environmental legislation emanates from Brussels. Since the late 1990’s we have focused more and more of our activities on European affairs. We also put considerable effort into generating attention to EU matters in Denmark. By keeping track of European developments we are able to make our views known to the Government, Members of Parliament and the public.
Environmental problems do not respect national borders, and our task does not end with keeping Denmark clean and green. We are working for green EU policies that protect nature and improve the quality of the environment in Europe and globally. The issues we work with include nature protection, chemicals, water, waste and agriculture. We are also lobbying to put the environment at the front of EU’s Sustainable Development Strategy and the so-called Lisbon Proces.
The Danish Society for Nature Conservation co-operates with several environmental organisations from around Europe. Our main partner at the European level is the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). EEB is a federation of over 140 environmental citizens organisations based in most EU Member States and a few countries from outside the EU. The aim of the EEB is to protect and improve the environment of Europe and to enable the citizens of Europe to play their part.
Read more about us on www.dn.dk
The Danish Consumer Council (Forbrugerrådet) represents the interests of consumers and is independent of public authorities and commercial interests. Founded in 1947, the Consumer Council is the spokesperson for consumers' interests, lobbying vis-a-vis the Government, the Parliament, public authorities and the business community. Our most important partner at the European level is the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC).
Read more about us on www.fbr.dk
Danish Society for Nature Conservation / Danmarks Naturfredningsforening
Masnedøgade 20, DK-2100 København Ø, +45 39 17 40 00, dn@dn.dk, www.dn.dk
Danish Consumer Council / Forbrugerrådet
Fiolstræde 17, DK-1017 København K, +45 77 41 77 41, fbr@fbr.dk, www.fbr.dk
1.1 Konferencerapport – The REACH Court
Konferencedokumentationen består af de indlæg, som en række talere startede dagen med (de enkelte indlæg kan ses på web-adressen: http://www.dn.dk/sw22697.asp) efterfulgt af ”REACH-retten”, hvor en række deltagere blev interviewet af to ”dommere”, se afskriften fra denne ”ret” på: http://www.dn.dk/sw33418.asp
1.2 Opfølgning – 10 spørgsmål til de danske parlamentarikere
En rundspørge som Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, WWF, Greenpeace, Det Økologiske Råd og Forbrugerrådet foretog før valget til Europa-Parlamentet den 13. juni 2004 viste, at de danske medlemmer af Europa-Parlamentet vil sætte hensynet til miljøet og borgernes sundhed over snævre økonomiske hensyn, når de skal forhandle om EU's nye kemikalielovgivning (REACH). Langt de fleste kandidater svarede, at de er enige med os i, at REACH-forslaget skal strammes op på væsentlige punkter.
I rundspørgen blev kandidaterne bedt om at svare "enig", "uenig" eller "ved ikke" til følgende ti spørgsmål:
1) Er du enig eller uenig i, at stoffer, der produceres i mængder under 1 tons pr. producent pr. år også bør registreres?
2) Er du enig eller uenig i, at datakravene til stoffer, der produceres i mængder mellem 1-10 tons bør ændres, således at de er tilstrækkelige til, at myndighederne kan foretage en indledende miljø- og sundhedsvurdering?
3) Er du enig eller uenig i, at alle de nuværende kriterier for harmoniseret klassificering og mærkning af farlige stoffer (inkl. miljøfarlighed, sundhedsfare, giftighed mv.) bør fastholdes i REACH?
4) Er du enig eller uenig i, at EU’s eksisterende liste over farlige stoffer bør bevares og opdateres?
5) Er du enig eller uenig i, at det første skridt i en autorisationsprocedure bør være at undersøge, om det farlige stof kan erstattes med et mindre farligt stof?
6) Er du enig eller uenig i, at der ikke bør gives tilladelse til at producere et farligt stof, hvis der findes et tilgængeligt og sikrere alternativ?
7) Er du enig eller uenig i, at alle skadelige kemikalier, der findes i forbrugerprodukter skal registreres?
8) Er du enig eller uenig i, at forbrugerprodukter, der indeholder skadelige stoffer, skal mærkes tydeligt med en advarsel?
9) Er du enig eller uenig i, at de miljømæssige og sundhedsmæssige fordele ved REACH vejer tungere end de kortsigtede erhvervsøkonomiske omkostninger?
10) Er du enig eller uenig i, at krav om yderligere vurderinger af de erhvervsøkonomiske konsekvenser ikke bør forhale de politiske forhandlinger?
Af det nedenstående skema fremgår, hvor mange af de ovenstående
spørgsmål som de danske medlemmer erklærede sig enige i:
| Medlem af Europa-Parlamentet | Svar |
| Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Socialdemokraterne) | Svarede ikke |
| Henrik Dam Kristensen (Socialdemokraterne) | 10/10 |
| Britta Thomsen (Socialdemokraterne) | Svarede ikke |
| Ole Christensen (Socialdemokraterne) | 10/10 |
| Dan Jørgensen (Socialdemokraterne) | 10/10 |
| Karin Riis-Jørgensen (Venstre) | 10/10 |
| Niels Busk (Venstre) | 10/10 |
| Anne E. Jensen (Venstre) | 10/10 |
| Gitte Seeberg (Konservative) | Svarede ikke |
| Margrete Auken (SF) | 10/10 |
| Anders Samuelsen (Radikale) | 9/10 |
| Mogens Camre (Dansk Folkeparti) | 10/10 |
| Jens-Peter Bonde (Junibevægelsen) | 10/10 |
| Ole Krarup (Folkebevægelsen mod EU) | 10/10 |
Version 1.0 Juli 2008, © Miljøstyrelsen.