Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 260: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number, title and purpose of the EU directives not yet incorporated into law relating to his Department's work; and when it is envisaged that this outstanding directives will be incorporated into Irish law in each case. [21816/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There are currently seven directives in my Department's area of responsibility that are outstanding for transposition. Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles contains two stages of transposition, the first by 21 April 2002, for new vehicles sold after 1 July 2002, and the second by January 2007 for all other vehicles. It is anticipated that this directive will be fully transposed in 2005.

The second is Directive 2002/49/EC on assessment and management of environmental noise, for which the drafting of regulations for transposition is well advanced and transposition is intended during this summer. The third and fourth are Directive 2002/88/EC on measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery and Directive 2004/26/EC amending Directive 97/68/EC on the approximation of the laws of member states relating to emissions from internal combustion engines in non-mobile road machinery. Draft regulations transposing both directives are nearing completion with a view to transposition during this summer.

Directive 2002/95/EC and 2002/96/EC with its amending Directive 2003/108/EC are two related directives and deal respectively with restrictions on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and arrangements for dealing with waste electrical and electronic equipment. These directives will be fully transposed before 13 August 2005 when the take-back of electrical and electronic waste will become operable. Legislative proposals for the transposition of Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information, repealing Directive 90/313/EEC, are in drafting. It is intended that this directive will be transposed by the end of the year.

I am keenly aware of the importance of timely transposition of EU environmental legislation, some 200 items of which, including more than 140 directives, have by now been transposed in this country. More recently, external legal and drafting expertise have been utilised in order to expedite this.