Brussels, 22/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Two months to the day after the introduction of the euro, the European Union's consumer ministers will be holding a public debate on the euro and consumers as the high point of the 1 March Internal Market/Consumer Affairs Council in Brussels. The only formal decision the Council will take concerns the protection of under-age consumers through the labelling of video and computer games for children. The main issue to be discussed in the Internal Market section of the meeting will be the preparations for the Barcelona European Summit. All the other issues the ministers will discuss will be the subject of conclusions or progress reports in the case of sensitive issues like Community Patent (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.11), public procurement and models of public utility. The meeting will be chaired by Ramon de Miguel y Egea, Spanish European Affairs Minister. Commissioners Frits Bolkestein and David Byrne will be representing the European Commission at the Council. The agenda:
Consumers and the euro. The Council will hold a public debate in order to draw up a balance sheet of the situation in the twelve eurozone Member States based on a questionnaire prepared by the Presidency, through which the ministers will cover the issue from four different angles, namely the implantation of the euro in their country, consumers' perception of the changeover, any unjustified price rises for specific goods and services and measures to be taken at the end of the dual circulation period.
Labelling video and computer games. The Council will adopt a resolution stressing the importance for consumers, particularly children, of access to clear information about the content of games and the suitable age classification for products on the market in order to help them make informed choices and protect children against potentially damaging content.
Green Paper on future of consumer protection. The Council will be informed of the outcome of the public consultation exercise that was concluded on 15 January 2001 on the Green Paper presented by the Commission in October 2001 with the aim of finding the best way of encouraging fair commercial practices and greater use of cross-border transactions by companies and consumers in the single market. The two options under consideration are continuing with harmonisation of legislation on a case-by-case basis or adopting a new framework-directive.
Preparing for the Barcelona Summit. The Commission will present the Council with a summary report on the Lisbon strategy and making a successful change, and will discuss the draft Summit conclusions on issues related to the Internal Market. This chapter will cover the creation of optimum conditions for enterprises; raising confidence in the market, goods and services; public services and network industries and changing the method used in the Cardiff process. The main area of conflict was raised by France, which wants references to the advantages gained by companies holding a monopoly position in their national market to be balanced by a reference to the need to consider the concept of services of general interest, as defined in Nice. Sweden wants the Summit to call on the Commission to prepare a report on the exhaustion of patent rights.
Resolving problems in the internal market. The Council will adopt conclusions responding to the Commission's Communication of 27 November 2001 on SOLVIT (effective ways of solving problems in the internal market) in which the Commission proposed setting up a SOLVIT network to help citizens and companies facing problems in applying internal market rules posed by national administrations. The aim is to reduce the number of infringement proceedings launched by the Commission by solving problems at source. The conclusions are expected to note that Member States will pledge to provide sufficient human and financial resources to co-ordination centres dealing with complaints. The Commission wanted the centres to be obliged to stick to 10-week deadlines for responding to complaints but Germany is calling for looser wording through fear that the centres will be overwhelmed and unable to meet the deadlines.
Community Patent. The Council will note that no progress has been made in adopting the Community Patent (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.11). The Spanish Presidency hopes that work will continue based on compromise put forward by Belgium at the end of December (see EUROPE of 21 December, p.5), with a Spanish diplomat saying that this was the first compromise to be agreed to by twelve Member States after years of negotiations. The aim is for all 15 Member States to agree as they do not want to put any Member State "in the corner", added the same source.
Utility model. The Commission will make an oral report on the current consultations over the creation of a model utility requested by Spain.
Software patents. The Commission will unveil the new draft directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (see EUROPE of 21 February, p.8).
Public procurement. The Council will "take note" of progress in the public procurement package, namely the framework directive on co-ordination procedures for awarding public contracts; the regulation on terminology and classification of public contracts (Common Procurement Vocabulary); and the sectoral directive on water, electricity, transport and telecommunications. No progress has been made in this area but Spain has not given up hope of reaching agreement on CPV and the framework directive before the end of June.
European company statute. The Presidency will report on the draft regulation unveiled by the Commission in 1992, work on which was put on hold in 1996 because of disagreement about worker' involvement. The dossier was kickstarted under the Swedish Presidency on the basis of a compromise formulated by the Nice Summit for the European company statute. The Presidency hopes to strike political agreement at the 21 May Council.
Standardisation in Europe. The Council will adopt conclusions on standardisation based on the Commission's 21 September 2001 report.