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Minister ignored his EU law obligation in light bulb ban

Issued : Friday 14 December, 2007

"The plan announced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley to ban incandescent light bulbs by January 2009 is unlikely to be achieved because of his failure to consider his obligations under EU law," Labour Spokesperson on the Environment, Deputy Joanna Tuffy has said.

"European Union Law, as negotiated and approved by Ireland back in 1998, requires that any proposal to ban or change standards in relation to any industrially manufactured product must comply with EU Directives know as the Transparency -Technical Standards Directives*. These Directives require that the European Commission is notified of any proposal to amend the national standards for a particular product. The European Commission must also be furnished with any draft legislation or regulation that would give effect to the proposal. In the meantime the draft legislation cannot be implemented for set periods of time as set out in the directives. The European Commission must in turn notifies the other EU member states to give them an opportunity to have their say about the proposal.

If the European Commission has plans to propose or adopt European Legislation in the same area the EU Transparency Technical Standards Directives means a country must wait up to 18 months after it has drafted and forwarded legislation to the EU before it can give effect to its proposed changes. These requirements were agreed by the Irish Government so the Minister and the department should be aware of them as it was the Irish Government that negotiated and signed up to these requirements.

The European Commission has proposals on the table in relation to the phasing out of lightbulbs. This June the European Commission launched a study on domestic lighting and it was suggested at the time that the European Commission would propose the phasing out of incandescent lightbulbs after 2009. One possibility being considered is a proposal that the bulbs are phased out gradually over an eight year period.

This will not be the first time the Government has had to delay legislation under the EU Transparency Directives. In 2002 Ireland had to delay its planned smoking ban because of the requirements of these directives.

*EU Directive 98/34/EC (as amended by Directive 98/48/EC) which aims to eliminate or reduce barriers to the free movement of goods.