Press Release: Environment: Commission welcomes Council action on REACH, climate change and marine protection

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas welcomed the outcome of the 18 December 2006 Environment Council which adopted the new Regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH), reached political agreement on the framework directive for EU action on marine environment policy and adopted conclusions on climate change. REACH, a single EU regulatory system for chemical substances, will improve the protection of citizens' health and the environment. The marine framework directive aims to ensure that all EU marine waters are environmentally healthy by 2021 and it is the main component of the Thematic Strategy on the protection and conservation of the marine environment, which the Commission adopted in October 2005. . On climate change, the Council stressed the need to significantly accelerate global negotiations on a post-2012 agreement, with a view to completing them by the end of 2009 at the latest. The EU's vision and leadership is required now more than ever.