Threat to church organ pipes finally over

 Brussels 28 June 2006

 Martin Callanan MEP is celebrating having finally received confirmation from the European Commission that neither existing church organs nor new church organs are affected by European environment legislation

It had been feared that recent legislation passed by the Commission might have banned the use of lead in organ pipes. Organists and organ builders had maintained that lead was an essential component in giving church organ pipes their distinctive sound.

 
Conservatives in the European Parliament had received assurance from environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas that existing organ pipes would not be covered by EU legislation, but the question of whether production of new organ pipes would be affected remained unresolved. This matter was finally laid to rest when the European Commission and the Member States agreed that the RoHS and WEEE directives did not affect existing or new church organs.

 
Martin said "At last we have a definite answer from the Commission on whether new church organs will be affected by the RoHS and WEEE directives. I'm extremely pleased that the Commission and the departments responsible in the Member States have applied some common sense to this issue and come up with what in fact was always going to be the only common sense answer - no, neither new, nor existing, church organs are covered by this legislation".