Commission Decision
of 14 April 2003
establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the Community eco-label to tourist accommodation service
(notified under document number C(2003) 235)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2003/287/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 on a revised Community eco-label award scheme(1), and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) thereof and the sixth paragraph of point 2 of Annex V thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Under Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 the Community eco-label may be awarded to a product possessing characteristics which enable it to contribute significantly to improvements in relation to key environmental aspects.
(2) Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 provides that specific eco-label criteria are to be established according to product groups.
(3) In the case of tourist accommodation service, the ecological criteria should be divided into mandatory criteria, all of which must be complied with, and optional criteria, only a number of which need be complied with.
(4) As regards the related fees, reductions should be made as provided for by Regulation (EC) 1980/2000 and Article 5 of Commission Decision 2000/728/EC of 10 November 2000 establishing the application and annual fees of the Community eco-label(2).
(5) In the case of micro enterprises and mountain huts, it is appropriate to provide for further reductions in the fees in order to take account of their limited resources and their particular importance within this product group.
(6) The measures provided for in this Decision are based on the draft criteria developed by the European Union Eco-labelling Board established under Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000.
(7) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee instituted by Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
In order to be awarded the Community eco-label under Regulation (EC) No 1980/2000 the service provided must fall within the product group "tourist accommodation service" as defined in Article 2 of this Decision and must comply with the ecological criteria set out in the Annex to this Decision.
These criteria are divided into mandatory criteria, all of which must be complied with, and optional criteria, a number of which must be complied with, as indicated in the Annex.
Article 2
The product group "tourist accommodation service" shall comprise the provision, for a fee, of sheltered overnight accommodation in appropriately equipped rooms, including at least a bed, offered as a main service to tourists, travellers and lodgers. The provision of overnight sheltered accommodation may include the provision of food services, fitness activities and/or green areas.
Article 3
1. The application and annual fees shall be as laid down in Decision 2000/728/EC.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the application fee for micro enterprises and mountain huts shall be reduced by 75 % with no other reduction possible.
The minimum annual fee shall be EUR 100, and the annual volume of sales, from which the annual fee is calculated, shall be reduced by 50 %.
The annual volume of sales shall be calculated by multiplying the delivery price by the number of overnight stays and reducing the resulting product by 50 %. The delivery price shall be considered as the average fee paid by the guest for the overnight stay, including all the services which do not entail an extra charge. The reductions to the minimum annual fee set out in Article 2 of Decision 2000/728/EC shall apply.
3. For the purposes of this Decision, micro-enterprises are as defined in Commission Recommendation 96/280/EC of 3 April 1996 concerning the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises(3) and its subsequent amendments, and mountain huts shall mean a tourist accommodation suitable for offering a sheltered overnight stay in isolated mountain areas to mountaineers and hikers.
Article 4
For administrative purposes the code number assigned to the product group "tourist accommodation service" shall be "25".
Article 5
This Decision shall apply from 1 May 2003 until 30 April 2007. If on 30 April 2007 revised criteria have not been adopted, this Decision shall apply until 30 April 2008.
Article 6
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 14 April 2003.