Brussels, 26/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the Internal Market Council reached an agreement on the entry into force of the regulation aligning the cost of crossborder payments to that of national payments, in July 2003. The stances expressed brought Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal - that urged for more time to be left to banks for reaching a voluntary commitment - into opposition with the supporters of swifter implementation. The points discussed pertain to:
Voluntary agreement: Germany, followed by the Netherlands and Portugal, urged for the banks to have a last chance at reaching a voluntary agreement. In this respect, these countries insisted that the regulation should take effect from July 2002 for electronic payments only and from July 2003 for other forms of payment, and that a suspension clause be included in the regulation in order to freeze the regulation on 1 July 2002 if banks reached a satisfactory voluntary agreement. Denmark and the United Kingdom were willing to rally to a compromise on this basis. On the other hand, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece and Austria would have preferred a binding approach, along the lines of the Commission. The Commission's legal services maintained that the Council could not unilaterally suspend the entry into force of the text. The suspension clause was therefore not approved.
Entry into force: While the European Commission proposed that the regulation should take effect for payments under EUR 50,000 as of 1 January 2002 for electronic payments and January 2003 for other forms of transfer, a Presidency compromise proposed that the regulation should take effect in: 1) July 2002 for electronic payments below EUR 12,500; 2) July 2003 for the other payments below EUR 12,500; 3) January 2006 for payments below EUR 50,000. This timetable and these amounts were finally approved by the Council. At first reading, the European Parliament had taken on board the date of March 2002 for electronic payments. Within the Council, France and Austria supported the dates proposed by the Commission. Ireland, Portugal, Luxembourg and Finland, on the other hand, recommended even longer times than those adopted in the Presidency compromise. "The dates of January or March 2002 are not realistic for banks, and the political priority is to facilitate introduction of the euro", said one diplomat of a State in favour of the Presidency compromise.
Rise in the cost of national payments: Several Member States, such as Denmark, Ireland and Portugal, feared that the banks would increase the charges on national payments in order to offset losses on crossborder payments. Along the lines of the Parliament, the Presidency proposed asking the Commission to carry out a study in July 2004 in order to assess the impact that the regulation would have on the cost of national payments and the evolution of the infrastructures of the crossborder payment system. This option was approved by the Council
Council does not reach agreement on Community Patent
The political agreement reached on amendment to the Cosmetic Products Directive (see following page) and the snatched agreement by qualified majority on cross-border payments were welcomed as the two major successes of the Internal Market Consumers Council. They did not, however, eclipse the resounding failure by ministers in their attempts to reach an agreement on the Community Patent. During the evening, the ministers were to resume their discussions on this subject.
During a press conference without the Chairman, Charles Picqué, who was held up for this difficult task, a representative of the Presidency recognised that the chances that a text might be approved were few and far between.. There were still differences over the problem of the languages to be used and the extent of decentralisation (role of the national offices compared to the future European Patents Office). Without being over-optimistic, the Presidency hoped it would be able to sufficiently fine-tune the text in order to reach a compromise in December.
Concerning crossborder payments, the Presidency stressed that the measures are binding but sufficiently spread out over time to allow banks to adjust. As for cosmetic products, President Magda Alvoet welcomed the fact that the compromise "will ban animal testing for all finished products of the cosmetics sector, will ban experimenting with ingredients on animals when alternative and scientifically valid methods are available". The Council, moreover, adopted conclusions on the services of general interest. We give below an overview of the first results:
Marketing of dangerous preparations and substances.
Azoic colours: The Council gave its political agreement, by qualified majority, on the amendment to the Directive 76/769/EEC with a view to banning the use of such substances and the marketing of certain textile and leather goods. The concerns expressed by both delegations (Denmark and Germany) that hoped to extend the ban to any article containing azoic colours likely to come into contact with the skin or mouth were heard. A Commission declaration stressing that it will, in 2002, grant priority to matter other than leather and textiles, allowed Denmark to lift its reservation. Germany, on the other hand, abstained, considering that the text will not go as far. In a declaration, it stresses that, because of the carcinogenic properties of these substances, a general ban on colours in toys is, in its opinion, imperative in order to protect the health of children.
Carcinogenic and mutagenic substances and substances harmful for reproduction: Pending the opinion of the Parliament at first reading, the Council reached a common guideline for banning such substances.
Phthalates: The Council was informed by the Presidency of the little progress made on the 1999 proposal of directive aimed at finding a long term solution for limiting the risks of young children to exposure to plastic softeners, which are dangerous for health. At this stage, work still comes up against the divergent opinions between the delegations in favour of extending the scope of the ban to all phthalates as well as to all toys and baby products, and the delegations that support limiting the ban to six phthalates currently targeted by the temporary ban and to articles that are for children under the age of three, and that are put in the mouth. Commissioner Erkki Liikanen specified that, on the basis of the most recent scientific information, the Commission can now envisage submitting an amended proposal that would, he hopes, make it possible to come out of the impasse.
European Food Authority. The Council was briefed by the Presidency on its informal contacts with the European Parliament - contacts which, it believes, augur well for an agreement between the two institutions on outstanding issues (composition of the administrative board, participation of the EP in the appointment of members of the Board and of the director of the Authority, the question of denunciation by an operator in the food sector of identified cases of infringement to the food legislation) without having to carry out conciliation procedure. A Council working group met on Monday to examine the thirty-odd amendments voted by the parliamentary committee, and meetings will continue with the Parliament until the Coreper meeting on Tuesday/Wednesday. The question of the location of the Food Authority, which is to be settled by the European Summit in Laeken, was discussed from the point of view of the criteria that the Parliament hopes to establish for guiding its decision.
Consumer credit and indebtedness. The Council adopted a resolution which, with regard to the phenomenon of growing indebtedness in the internal market, considers European cooperation is necessary on the basis of statistics gathered in the context of work on poverty and social exclusion indicators, and statistics on income and living conditions. To this end, the Council invites the Member States and the Commission to examine as soon as possible the ways and means for following the evolution of over-indebtedness through an exchange of information, mainly on the level of indebtedness and on good practices. It notes the Commission's intention to propose certain harmonisation of preventive measures in the context of revision of the directive on consumer credit.
The Council, moreover, heard: 1) David Byrne present the Commission Green Paper on good commercial practices with a view to protecting the consumers; 2) the Presidency present the conclusions of the last meeting of European consumer organisations.
Tourism. The Commission presented its communications to the Council on a "cooperative approach for the future of European tourism" and on the impact that the attacks on 11 September will have on this sector in Europe (see EUROPE of 15 November, p.8). During a brief exchange of views, the French Secretary of State for Tourism, Jacques Brunhes, urged in favour of a multiannual programme that takes on board the priority actions proposed in the communications. He called on the Commission to carry out a study on the mergers between operators in the tourism sector in order to measure the extent of the impact of the terrorist attacks. Finally, he proposed initiating a communication campaign in order to make Europe a safe tourist destination. The Belgian Presidency "noted" these proposals. The Spanish Secretary of State, Juan José Güemes told the press that the Spanish Presidency would propose measures to integrate environmental protection in tourism policy, in the form of an "Agenda 21 for Tourism".