COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 20 December 1995 on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies (95/C 350/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the third paragraph of Article 129 (1),

Having regard to the acts adopted by the Community in the field of public health or which have an impact on public health,

Whereas on 11 November 1991 the Council and the Ministers for Health, meeting within the Council, adopted a resolution concerning fundamental health policy choices, which indicated that the Council needed to be able to discuss those aspects of any decision to be taken at Community level which had health implications;

Whereas on 27 May 1993 the Council and the Ministers for Health, meeting within the Council, adopted a resolution on future action in the field of public health, which in particular includes guidelines to ensure that the necessary weight is given to health policy requirements in debates and decisions relating to other Community fields and that appropriate mechanisms are established for this purpose;

Whereas on 19 November 1993 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on public health policy after Maastricht, in which it requested the Commission to take on specific responsibility for coordinating all aspects of public health policy and to analyse and assess the impact of other policies on health;

Whereas the Commission, in its communication of 24 November 1993 on the framework for action in the field of public health, highlighted that, apart from risks to health related to genetic, physical and mental constitution, other risks to health related to the life-style a person has chosen and his immediate environment, in particular the combination of social, economic and cultural conditions that provide the general context for people's lives, and pointed out that steps taken to protect their health had to address both of those 'environments`;

Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 2 June 1994 on the framework for Community action in the field of public health, in response to that Commission communication, agreed that further consideration needed to be given to the manner in which health protection requirements are to be integrated into the Community's other policies;

Whereas, in its report of 29 May 1995 on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies, which identifies which Community policies are relevant to health and shows that the multiplicity of policies and measures having an effect on health creates difficulties for a coherent overview of their repercussions for people's health, the Commission points to the need to achieve coherent, balanced and effective policies, from a health point of view, which must be supplementary, within the framework of Community action, to the social and economic aspects;

Whereas the health protection impact of any proposal needs to be identified at a sufficiently early stage for the Council to be able to take account of it in adopting the proposal;

Whereas the extent of health problems requires cooperation between Member States and coordination of their health protection policies and programmes by means of a comprehensive, integrated, and cross-sectoral approach which takes account of the differences and diversity of status within the Community, from one Member State to another and between socio-economic groups;

WELCOMES the Commission's communication on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies as an important step towards giving effect to the provisions of Article 129;

REAFFIRMS the need for coordination, consistency and complementarity for all Community activities with a health dimension;

REAFFIRMS that, in order to ensure a high level of health protection for the citizens of the European Union, the goals to be achieved, mainly by preventive measures, including health promotion, are extending life expectancy and reducing the incidence of premature death, increasing the number of years free of illness, reducing or limiting the negative consequences of illnes and handicaps, promoting healthy life styles and a healthy physical and social environment, and improving the quality of life in general;

CONSIDERS that to contribute to achieving those goals the Community should pay particular attention to the impact on health of the action it takes in various policy fields, among others:

- economic policy, in particular taxation,

- social policy including questions of employment,

- free movement of goods and persons,

- agricultural and food policy,

- consumers protection,

- research and technological development,

- environment,

- transport;

AGREES that better information and coordination mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that the Council can be informed of the health repercussions of proposals for Community action so that it can take appropriate steps;

CALLS upon the Commission to:

- achieve early and transparent evaluation of the impact of Community policies on human health,

- identify in its annual work programme all proposals which may have an impact on health protection;

- produce further reports annually on the integration of health protection requirements in Community policies giving consideration inter alia to initiatives taken in the policy fields identified above.