COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 16 October 1989 on guidelines to reduce technological and natural hazards (89/C 273/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 1. NOTES that the safety reports concerning hazardous industrial activities covered by Article 5 of Directive 82/501/EEC (1) were to be completed by manufacturers by 8 July 1989;

EMPHASIZES that safety reports are an appropriate means of ensuring that the safety of hazardous installations is adequately investigated and that all the relevant safety measures are taken in order to prevent major accidents and to curtail their impact on man and the environment;

INVITES the Commission to work with the Member States towards mutual understanding and harmonization of national principles and practices regarding safety reports;

2. OBSERVES that accidents such as Bhopal and Mexico City demonstrated the hazard which arises when dangerous sites and dwellings are close together;

RECOGNIZES the importance of controls on land-use planning when new installations are authorized and when urban development takes place around existing installations;

CONSIDERS it necessary to include this concern among the obligations laid down by Directive 82/501/EEC (the "Seveso Directive")

and

INVITES the Commission to investigate ways of doing so as soon as possible;

3. EMPHASIZES the importance of keeping the public actively informed on industrial hazards;

NOTES with satisfaction the work carried out at the European Conference organized at Varese (Italy) in May 1989;

INVITES the Commission, inter alia on the basis of that work, to draft a practical guide to facilitate implementation of Council Directive 88/610/EEC of 24 November 1988 amending Directive 82/501/EEC on the major-accident hazards of certain industrial activities (2);

4. CONFIRMS the desirability of pooling the experience gained from industrial accidents which have occurred within the Community;

NOTES that uncertainty remains as to the level of the accidents to be examined;

RECOMMENDS the use, for reference purposes and for a trial period of two years, of the accident gravity scale drawn up by the committee of competent authorities responsible for implementing Directive 82/501/EEC;

NOTES the relevant technical contribution made by the Joint Research Centre

and

INVITES the Commission to review the accident gravity scale in the light of the outcome of that trial period, and to submit a proposal on appropriate developments;

5. RECOGNIZES that the transport of dangerous substances is a matter for concern as regards environmental protection, safety and the safeguarding of human life;

REITERATES the need to establish a common riskprevention approach as regards the transport of dangerous substances and waste;

WISHES this approach to fulfil the conditions for full realization of the objective of a single market in transport;

(1) OJ No L 230, 5.8.1982, p. 1. (2) OJ No L 336, 7.12.1988, p. 14. 6. CONSIDERS that effective implementation of the agreements of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on the transport of dangerous substances would improve environmental protection;

CONSIDERS furthermore that it would be opportune, particularly with a view to completion of the internal market, to review, by an appropriate procedure, the whole of Community legislation having implications for the transport of dangerous substances and waste (rules on transport, on hazardous materials, and on fixed loading, unloading or storage installations) so that the Commission can make any appropriate proposals on the matter, bearing in mind existing international agreements and conventions;

7. INVITES the Member States to examine the draft amendment to Annex 3 to the Marpol Convention, the purpose of which is to introduce an obligation for ships to deposit their bills of lading or other appropriate documents in the port of departure;

8. ENCOURAGES the Member States to take part in the work in progress within the International Maritime Organization on the securing of cargoes and, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, to examine the possibility of strengthening controls on operational arrangements such as the securing of cargoes;

9. INVITES the Member States more generally, both as flag States responsible for their vessels complying with international agreements, and as port States cooperating under the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, to step up their efforts to see that the standards laid down under the aegis of the International Maritime Organization are increasingly observed;

10. REITERATES the absolute necessity of being able to call on a considerable number of agencies capable of effective intervention in the event of accidental marine pollution and asks the Commission to take the appropriate steps to increase cooperation between Member States' competent authorities still further;

11. EMPHASIZES the need to increase knowledge through studies and by appropriate research into the behaviour of chemicals and hydrocarbons in water, and into cleaning techniques and asks the Commission to pay special attention to these matters in its annual programme of studies, pilot projects and training;

12. INVITES the Member States to play a full part in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1990 to 1999) decided by the United Nations Organization and in this connection asks the Commission, in conjunction with the Member States, to start looking into the prevention of natural hazards in the Community, particularly those associated with earthquakes, forest fires and floods;

13. WELCOMES the measures taken regarding technological and natural hazards in the proposals for the fifth STEP and EPOCH research programme;

HOPES that the review of the Communities' framework programme of research will afford an opportunity to reappraise research activities in the area of technological and natural hazards and that safety aspects will be taken into account in all Community research programmes, particularly with reference to transport and biotechnology.