THE vast majority of respondents to the EC's consultation on the review of the F-gas regulations have agreed the existing law is not sufficient but are divided on the appropriate action to take.
Between September and December 2011, the Commission held an online public consultation on actions to address emissions of fluorinated gases. The consultation was designed to gather input for a review of the F-gas regulations. An impact assessment is currently in preparation in view of a proposal to be presented in the autumn.
The online consultation received 261 responses, 63% of which came from registered stakeholder organisations, while 37% of the respondents identified themselves as individuals. The country with most responses was France (61 total responses), followed by Germany (32), UK (26), Belgium (16) and Italy (12).
Of those who responded, 84% found that the current status quo of implementing the existing regulation was not sufficient. While some stakeholders believed that better implementation would suffice, others wanted to see further legal action.
Only a tiny minority of all respondents (2%) thought that no further action would be an appropriate response for the EU in the absence of progress at the global level. Similarly, only 10% of respondents thought the current status quo (ie existing legal rules and level of implementation) is sufficient.
The summary can be downloaded here:
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/consultations/0011/summary_en.pdf