Brussels, 25/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Internal Market/Consumers/Tourism Council meeting to be held in Brussels on 27 September has some thorny issues to sort out - including the Community patent - but few formal decisions are expected, apart from agreement in principle on food supplements. The Belgian Presidency will, however, try to get agreement on the Remote Sales of Financial Services Directive, which the Council has been discussing since 1998. In line with current events, Ministers will debate progress in preparing consumers in the different Member States for the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, a debate open to the public. Ministers will discuss, exchange views, or consider progress on the other points on the agenda. Belgium's Economics and Scientific Research Minister, Charles Piqué, will chair the meeting. Frits Bolkestein, David Byrne and Erkki Liikanen will represent the European Commission. The agenda is as follows:
Remote sales of financial services: Through a final compromise, the Presidency will attempt to reach political agreement on the amended 1999 proposal rounding off existing legislation on contracts negotiated remotely (Directives 97/7/CE and 98/27/EC) by adapting to fit financial services with the aim of increasing consumers' confidence in e-commerce and avoiding distortions of competition. In COREPER (the Permanent Representatives' Committee), the Presidency's compromise proposals did not solve issues raised by the Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Belgian delegations, which in the interest of consumer protection want to keep their existing national legislation covering the suppliers of financial services established in another Member State until the deadline for transposition of the Directive expires. The e-commerce Directive (stipulating that the law of the country supplying the service shall apply rather than the law of the consumer's country) comes into force in January 2002.
Food supplements: The Council is expected to reach qualified majority political agreement on a common position on the Directive to harmonise national legislation on the sale of food supplements. The Presidency compromise tries to strike a balance between the supplements' nutritional value and restricting the amount of vitamins and minerals for safety reasons. Austria and Denmark want a different approach and will maintain their principled objection arguing that the pharmacological effect of a product containing more than the Recommended Daily Allowance of a vitamin or mineral should be considered a drug. Spain wanted greater harmonisation and is likely to abstain.
Food legislation setting up European Food Safety Authority: The Council will be informed about progress on the draft Regulation due to be adopted by the end of the year. The issue of where the Authority's headquarters will be based still needs to be decided so that the Authority can be up and running by January 2002.
European contract law: The Council will be informed about the Commission Communication on the potential risk arising from national disparities in contract law which might prevent companies and consumers from taking advantage of the internal market (see EUROPE of 14 July, p.9).
Genetically modified food: The Commission will present two proposals completing current legislation by providing further safety assurances and, the Commission hopes, enabling the de facto moratorium on new authorisations for marketing such products in the Union to be lifted by 2003. The proposals in question are the draft Regulation on genetically modified food and feedstuffs, and the draft Regulation on the labelling and traceability of food or feed products containing or derived from GMOs (see EUROPE of 27 July, p.5). The latter proposal will require the changing of recent legislation on the voluntary dissemination of GMOs in the environment (Directive 2001/18/EC).
Patents/designs: Ministers will assess progress in adopting the Regulation setting up the "Community patent", while waiting for the Presidency to arrange bilateral meetings with Member States with the aim of reaching general agreement before the end of the year (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12). The Presidency will also make a progress report on the new Regulation on Community designs, which is politically connected with the patent Regulation. Belgium, Portugal and Greece want their languages to be recognised along with the five official languages under the Regulation on Community designs but Belgium would be prepared to make a concession here.
Insurance: Member States will discuss progress in adopting the Directive on insurance brokerage that will regulate the activity of insurance brokers. Disagreements focus on the application of the Directive to non-life insurance and insurance companies' agents. We are not yet ready to make a decision on this dossier, acknowledged the Presidency.
European company status: The Council will simply note the agreement with the Parliament. After 30 years of negotiations, the Directives on the status of the European company and on information for workers should be adopted at the Social Affairs and Employment Council on 8 October.
Services of general interest: Here too, the Council will do no more than note progress, namely the Commission's preliminary report and possible contributions from Member States. As requested by the Nice Summit, a full report on services of general interest will be presented at the Laeken Brussels Summit.
Public contracts: The Council will discuss the two proposals unveiled by the Commission in May 2000, namely a general Directive to clarify and simplify the coordination of adjudication procedures for public contracts; and a Directive on public contracts for water, energy and transport services, taking account of liberalisation in these areas. The Presidency is hoping to reach agreement on the general Directive before the end of the year, but there are disagreements over the fate of companies with a criminal conviction in a Member State.
Regulation on free circulation of goods (the Strawberry Regulation): On the basis of a Commission report, the Council is expected to endorse conclusions on the application of the Regulation on the free circulation of goods, known as the Strawberry Regulation following the case of Spanish strawberry lorries blocked by farmers at the French border. In March 2001, the Commission made a damning assessment of the application of the Regulation (which installs a rapid alert mechanism between Member States when strikes or blockades risk stopping the circulation of goods). The procedure was launched in 1998 and was used 4 times in 1999 and 18 times in 2000 (particularly during the lorry drivers' strikes). The Commission comments that it has only rarely been informed of strikes or blockades. The EU laggards, Italy and France, had to be called to order for failing to respect information deadlines (see Europe of 24 March, p.14).
Pentabromodiphenyl ether: The Council is expected to reach agreement in principle on the Directive banning the use of pentabromodiphenyl ether. The Commission proposed in January 2001 to ban the use and sale of products containing this chemical (used to fireproof furniture foam but giving off toxic substances). When voting on this in July 2001, the Parliament wanted octabromodiphenyl ether to be banned too, but the Commission wanted to wait until a risk assessment had been carried out. The EP boosted the Directive by setting the maximum pentabromodiphenyl ether content at 0.1% rather than 5% as suggested by the Commission.
Commissioner Frits Bolkestein will present to the Council a) the cross-border payments Directive unveiled by the Commission in July 2001 to cut bank charges on cross-border euro payments; b) the Directive on EU citizens and their families' right to freely circulate and reside in other Member States (Ministers will look at progress in the other Councils considering the same issue: Justice and Home Affairs and General Affairs); c) the implementation of Directive 91/477 on monitoring the holding and acquisition of arms, which was adopted by the Commission a long time ago but has been put back on the agenda in the wake of current events. Commissioner Erkki Liikanen will present to the Council 1) the voluntary agreement entered into by the car industry in July 2001 on ensuring car bumpers are made less hazardous to pedestrians and cyclists in the event of a collision; 2) revising the EU's pharmaceutical legislation; 3) the Commission's February 2001 White Paper on EU Chemical Policy; and 3) the Communication "Towards a Strategic Vision of Life Sciences and Biotechnology" that launched the consultation process on the future of biotechnology in Europe.
Tourism for all: The Council will note the results of the ministerial conference organised by the Belgian Presidency in Bruges, July 1-2 2001, and is likely to endorse the conclusions which recommend promoting the access of as many people as possible to tourism, including the disabled.
The tourism dimension of other sectoral policies: The Council will acknowledge an information note from the Presidency.
As requested by Belgium, the Council will also have an informal discussion on consumer over-indebtedness and accidents in the home.