COMMON POSITION (EC) No 8/95 adopted by the Council on 19 June 1995 with a view to adopting European Parliament and Council Directive 95/. . ./EC of . . . amending Directive 79/581/EEC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of foodstuffs and Directive 88/314/EEC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of non-food products (95/C 182/02)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (1),

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189b of the Treaty (2),

Whereas the programmes of the Community for a consumer protection and information policy (3) provided for the establishment of common principles for indicating prices;

Whereas these principles were established by Directives 79/581/EEC (4) and 88/314/EEC (5) concerning the indication of prices of foodstuffs and non-food products;

Whereas these Directives also provided for the obligation to indicate the unit price of products marketed in bulk and of certain pre-packaged products as well as a certain number of exemptions to this obligation, when products are marketed in ranges of pre-packaged quantities, when this unit-price indication does not provide meaningful information to the consumer or when it represents an excessive burden for certain small retail businesses;

Whereas these Directives provided for a transitional period for implementing exemptions to the indication of the unit price for certain pre-packaged products; whereas this transitional period expires on 7 June 1995;

Whereas, however, application of these Directives has proved extremely complex, in the light of trade practices which vary from one Member State to another;

Whereas account should be taken of all the difficulties encountered in implementing the enacting terms of these Directives and it is appropriate to propose new and simplified enacting terms;

Whereas the Commission should, to this end, submit within the year a proposal for simplified enacting terms, having as its basis the general obligation to indicate the price and unit price of all products;

Whereas, however, these new enacting terms cannot be adopted before June 1995;

Whereas it is appropriate to bring forward the period for transposition by Member States of the proposed new enacting terms;

Whereas, accordingly, the transitional period provided for in the first paragraph of Article 10 of Directives 79/581/EEC and 88/314/EEC should be extended by two years,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

1. In the first sentence of Article 10 of Directive 79/581/EEC the terms 'a period of seven years` shall be replaced by 'a period of nine years`.

2. In the first sentence of Article 10 of Directive 88/314/EEC the terms 'a period of seven years` shall be replaced by 'a period of nine years`.

Article 2

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

The provisions adopted shall be applicable as of 7 June 1995.

2. When Member States adopt the provisions, these shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods for making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

3. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 3

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at . . .

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) Opinion delivered on 30 March 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 May 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council common position of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(3) OJ No C 92, 25. 4. 1975, p. 2, and

OJ No C 133, 3. 6. 1981, p. 2.

(4) OJ No L 158, 26. 6. 1979, p. 19. Directive as amended by Directive 88/315/EEC (OJ No L 142, 9. 6. 1988, p. 23).

(5) OJ No L 142, 9. 6. 1988, p. 19.

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. Introduction

1. On 5 December 1994, the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal based on Article 100a of the EC Treaty for the purpose of amending Directive 79/581/EEC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of foodstuffs as amended by Council Directives 88/315/EEC and 88/314/EEC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of non-food products.

2. The European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee delivered their opinions on 19 May 1995 and 30 March 1995 respectively.

In the light of the European Parliament's opinion, the Commission forwarded its amended proposal on . . . June 1995.

3. On 19 June 1995, the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 100a of the Treaty.

II. Objective

1. The purpose of the proposal is to postpone by four years the full implementation of the current provisions of Community law on the indication of unit prices for certain pre-packaged products; if this were not done, the provisions would be applicable as from 7 June 1995.

The additional period will be used to prepare new simplified provisions on the indication of prices.

III. Remarks

In view of the Directive's aim and the need to prepare the simplified provisions referred to above without delay, the Council was able to accept unchanged the European Parliament's amendments Nos 1 to 4, which the Commission incorporated in its amended proposal. The Council's common position provides, inter alia, for postponing implementation of the two Directives to be amended for only two years.

On the other hand the Council, unlike the Commission, did not see fit to accept the European Parliament's amendment No 6, as it felt that it was irrelevant to the purpose of the proposal (simple postponement); it felt that it would be more appropriate to cover that point, if the Commission's approach so required, in the context of the proposal on the simplified provisions.