Government Legislation

Queen's Speech:
Crossrail Bill
Olympics Bill

Other Issues:
Sustainable Construction
Climate Change Levy

European Union Legislation:
Review of the Working Time Directive - Retention of the UK's Opt-out
Construction Products Directive
EU Chemicals Policy
Integrated Product Policy
EU Emissions Trading Scheme
Other areas of interest

Government Legislation

Queen's Speech:

Crossrail Bill

The Association welcomes the announcement of the Government’s bill to authorise the construction of Crossrail. It remains concerned however that the Government has not given any clear signal as to how Crossrail will be funded. The total cost of the project is now estimated to be in excess of £10 billion.

Olympics Bill

Winning the Games is a tremendous boost to the capital's economy and will provide a heritage of improved sports and transport facilities. The London bid set out an impressive £10 billion programme for sports stadia, accommodation and infrastructure investment, with the construction bill alone expected to be £2.5 billion.

The Olympic Village itself will make use of an already planned £650 million public-private regeneration scheme and will be converted from Olympic use to become a mixed-use community of 3,600 new apartments and town houses, which will deliver badly needed housing to the east of London.

The new challenge for the Olympic bid team and the construction industry is to ensure the timely and cost effective delivery of the promised facilities. Construction products manufacturers are ready to build on the Egan agenda and work together in a truly integrated way with the client, designers and contractors to realise this huge programme of much needed investment and regeneration in our Capital City.

The Association is working with Government and other key stakeholders to help play its part in successful delivery of the games. The Association has also established an ‘Olympic Liaison Group’ for manufacturers and suppliers through which information about Olympics related construction activity will be disseminated to members.  The group will also help the Association demonstrate how the construction products industry can best support this major investment programme.

Other Issues:

The Sustainable Buildings Task Group's report was published in May 2004 with a list of recommendations on how the industry can be improved to meet future needs. One of the recommendations specific to the construction products industry included the introduction of a Code for Sustainable Buildings where clients, (focusing primarily on the public sector) will look to procure to achieve a performance which is slightly higher than building regulations. There are also recommendations to improve energy efficiency and water efficiency in homes as well as recommendations for material efficiency, waste minimisation and durability & serviceability requirements. A senior steering group has been set up of which the Association is a member and work is ongoing within ODPM to ensure the Code is finalised before roll-out by March 2006.

Further details are available from http://www.dti.gov.uk/construction/sustaincode/codelead.htm

The Construction Products Association recognises the importance of the Government responding to the issue of climate change and our Kyoto obligations. We, however, strongly oppose the way the Climate Change Levy has been set up because:

• It is not revenue neutral for manufacturing industry
  
• The levy is not recycled through measures to encourage greater energy efficiency, but instead through a blanket reduction in NICs (the value of which has been taken away.)
  
• The basis which determines which sector/companies are eligible to enter into negotiated agreements is totally unsatisfactory and unfair.
  
• The procedures associated with establishing and monitoring negotiated agreements is a major administrative burden, particularly for smaller companies.

The Association has made representations to Treasury and HMC&E on its review in the distortions that currently exist due to the eligibility criteria employed for the Climate Change Agreements. The Association has been arguing for a widening of the Climate Change Agreements (CCA) to all manufacturers. However, the Treasury has recently only extended this to sites where the energy intensity threshold value is 12%, with a 3% lower threshold for industries which can demonstrate particular issues of global competitiveness.

European Union Legislation

In an attempt to get agreement between Parliament and Council, the Commission revised its proposal and suggested that an extension beyond the phase-out period of the opt-out would be possible, subject to Commission approval.  Other revisions included cutting the maximum working week from 65 to 55 hours, and extending the time used to average out a maximum 48-hour week from four to 12 months.

At recent meetings of Employment Ministers, no agreement has been reached on the Commission’s revised proposal. This means that the UK’s opt-out remains and the debate is likely to continue this year. Amongst those supporting retention of the opt-out were Ministers from Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus.  Opposition to the opt-out was led by France and included Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Greece, Finland, Lithuania and Hungary.

The Austrian Presidency has been holding intensive bilateral discussions with Member States. It is expected to be on the agenda of the Employment & Social Affairs Council meeting on 1- 2 June 2006. A new compromise proposal will be produced by the Austrian Presidency.

The key issues still to be resolved relate to the opt-out provision, as well as to the question of whether the maximum weekly working time is calculated per contract or per worker.

The Association welcomes the stand taken by the UK Government, in favour of retaining the opt-out, and will lobby to ensure that the UK retains the support of the blocking minority throughout the protracted discussions which lie ahead.  

Over the next few years some 400 new harmonised European Standards for construction products will be released, replacing National Standards. This is part of the Construction Products Directive, designed to allow a single market in these products.

A range of products now have harmonised standards and can be CE marked. More are being added as standards are completed. The process is currently being challenged by the actions of a number of delegations, particularly Germany, which state that the standards do not meet all their regulatory requirements. The UK position, supported by the Association, is that Member States should have advised CEN of their requirements at the beginning of the standardization process, not wait until the end and then veto standards. There remain a number of standards where Member States are maintaining national requirements, which is illegal. Where companies are willing to make formal complaints, the Association will support them.

The Commission is now working on a review and possible revision of the CPD. Consultants are carrying out a study on the CPD and its effect. Any changes would come into effect around 2008.

The European Council & Parliament have begun debating the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of chemical substances) proposal and in particular, the joint UK & Hungary joint proposal for 'one-substance, one-registration'. The Regulations will have an impact on construction product manufacturers both as producers and as downstream users since the scope of the regulations will include a wide range of substances including cement & steel. The Association supports the UK-Hungary proposal but has some concerns with issues regarding commercial confidentiality, mandatory consortia and cost-sharing which have not yet been resolved. The Association is keen to see the scope narrowed to avoid duplication with other existing Directives, a risk rather than volume based approach used for registration, and exclusion of wastes from the scope of the proposal.

The Commission has adopted its long-awaited Communication on Integrated Product Policy (IPP) favouring a voluntary approach and multiple stakeholders' consultation over concrete legislative measures. The Communication outlines a two-phased strategy to implement IPP aiming at:

• Improving the coherence of existing tools that cover many different products
• Focusing on those products that have the greatest potential for environmental improvement

The Commission will in parallel focus its action on some products that are environmentally damaging to develop a methodology for identifying these products in co-operation with stakeholders. The Commission will issue a practical handbook on best practice with Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a discussion document on the need for product design obligations on producers in 2005. The Association, through its European organisation, is liaising directly with the Commission to develop this Policy.

The Scheme commenced in January 2005. The Government’s National Allocation Plan which was submitted in November 2004 was rejected by the Commission and instead the Plan has had to set allocations based on its draft April 2004 Plan which was based on 20 million tonnes less of allowances.

UK Government has however launched legal proceedings against the Commission for rejecting its November 2004 National Plan.

In addition, industries have faced considerable hikes in gas and electricity prices of up to 40% in recent months which have added to their concerns of being competitively disadvantaged in comparison with their European counterparts. The Association is continuing to press Government to ensure the second phase discussions are started as early as possible and that harmonisation of definitions are adopted across Member States. Government must also ensure that it does not set tougher targets than needed under the Kyoto agreement to ensure a level playing field under this Scheme.

• Packaging Waste
  
• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive
  
• Environmental Liability
  
• Water Framework Directive
  
• Energy Policy Review
  
• Energy Performance in Buildings
  
• Physical Agents Directive
  

For information on all of the European legislation which the Association is currently monitoring please download a copy of our latest edition of European Notes.