Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2021)678 - EU position in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean on Urban Wastewater and Sewage Sludge

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dossier COM(2021)678 - EU position in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean on ...
source COM(2021)678 EN
date 27-10-2021


1. Subject matter of the proposal

This proposal concerns the position to be taken on the Union's behalf at the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (the ‘Barcelona Convention’) and its Protocols on a decision to adopt Regional Plans in the framework of Article 15 of the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-Based Sources (the ‘LBS Protocol’) on Urban Wastewater Treatment and Sewage Sludge Management.

2. Context of the proposal

2.1.The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols

The Barcelona Convention and its seven Protocols adopted in the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan constitute the principal regional legally binding Multilateral Environmental Agreement for the Mediterranean Sea.

The Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-Based Sources (the ‘LBS Protocol’) is one of the seven Protocols of the Barcelona Convention. It aims to take all appropriate measures to prevent, abate and eliminate to the fullest extent possible pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by dumping of wastes or other matter.

The European Union is a party to the LBS Protocol (amended) 1 . 

2.2.The Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols

The Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols brings together Ministers and senior officials representing all Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols. The Contracting Parties will meet between 7 and 10 December 2021 in Antalya, Turkey.

According to Article 25 of the Barcelona Convention, the European Union (the ‘EU’) shall exercise its right to vote with a number of votes equal to the number of its Member States which are Contracting Parties to this Convention and to one or more of its Protocols. The EU shall not exercise its right to vote when its Member States exercise theirs and conversely.

According to Article 15, paragraph 1, of the LBS Protocol, decisions on the adoption of action plans, programme and measures shall be made by a two-thirds majority of the Contracting Parties present and voting.

2.3.The envisaged act of the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols

The Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols are to endorse a Decision adopting Regional Plans in the framework of Article 15 of the LBS Protocol on Urban Wastewater Treatment and Sewage Sludge Management (‘the envisaged act’).

The purpose of the envisaged act is to adopt two Regional Plans: a Regional Plan which will upgrade several aspects of the current Regional Plan on Urban Wastewater Treatment and a new Regional Plan on Sewage Sludge Management (both referred to hereafter as the ‘Regional Plans’).

The Regional Plans will be binding on the Union in accordance with Article 15(3) of the LBS Protocol.

3. Position to be taken on the Union's behalf

The envisaged Regional Plan on Urban Wastewater Treatment substantively enhances over the previous Regional Plan on the Reduction of BOD5. In particular, Emission Limit Values (‘ELVs’) have been expanded to cover the most prominent pollutants discharged by treated wastewater, including reclaimed and industrial wastewater.

The proposed measures under the new Regional Plan for Sewage Sludge Management cover: the various uses of sewage sludge; limit values for pathogen contents and heavy metals in biosolids for agricultural use; aspects related to sludge use for energy/nutrient recovery; and monitoring of quality of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants.

A Union position is necessary because of the legally binding effects of the envisaged proposal.

The proposal is in line with the Union’s ambition under the Green Deal to reduce pollution and improve protection of the environment. It is therefore proposed that the Union support the adoption of the envisaged act.

4. Legal basis

4.1.Procedural legal basis

4.1.1.Principles

Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for decisions establishing ‘the positions to be adopted on the Union’s behalf in a body set up by an agreement, when that body is called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending the institutional framework of the agreement.’

The concept of ‘acts having legal effects’ includes acts that have legal effects by virtue of the rules of international law governing the body in question.

4.1.2.Application to the present case

The Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols is a body set up by an agreement, namely the Barcelona Convention.

The envisaged act will adopt Regional Plans in the framework of Article 15 of the LBS Protocol on Urban Wastewater Treatment and Sewage Sludge Management, and therefore its adoption constitutes an act having legal effects.

The envisaged act does not supplement or amend the institutional framework of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols.

Therefore, the procedural legal basis for the proposed decision is Article 218(9) TFEU.

4.2.Substantive legal basis

4.2.1.Principles

The substantive legal basis for a decision under Article 218(9) TFEU depends primarily on the objective and content of the envisaged act in respect of which a position is taken on the Union's behalf. If the envisaged act pursues two aims or has two components and if one of those aims or components is identifiable as the main one, whereas the other is merely incidental, the decision under Article 218(9) TFEU must be founded on a single substantive legal basis, namely that required by the main or predominant aim or component.

4.2.2.Application to the present case

The main objective and content of the envisaged act relate to protection of the environment.

Therefore, the substantive legal basis of the proposed decision is 192(1) TFEU.

4.3.Conclusion

The legal basis of the proposed decision should be 192(1) TFEU, in conjunction with Article 218(9) TFEU.