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11. ..'t ICMV1ISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMVfUNITIES 
COM(94) 192 final 
Brussels, 11.05.1994 
94/0031 (COD) 
m»i Amended proposal for a 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DECISION 
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i At©it introducing a Community eyatem of information on home and 
leisure accidenta 
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) 
of the EC-Treaty) 
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-1-
Explanatory memorandum 
This amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision 
introducing a Community system of information on home and leisure 
accidents reflects the opinion delivered by the European Parliament at 
its first reading during the plenary session of 5 May 1994. 
The European Parliament delivered a favourable opinion on the proposal 
and adopted two amendments concerning Annex II, points 1 and 2 of the 
initial proposal, aiming to keep Community financial support at a 
constant level. 
To ensure that the proposal was adopted, the Commission accepted these 
two amendments, as given in this amended proposal, although the initial 
proposal provided for degressiveness in Community financial support. 
The Commission considers that when the the Council and the 
Parliament adopt the proposal they should take account of the need to 
involve the Member States in financing the system on a level reflecting 
the principle of subsidiarity in this area. 
-2-
Amended Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision 
introducing a Community eyatem of information on home and 
leisure accidents 
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2) 
of the EC-Treaty) 
Annex II - point 1 
Text by the Commission Amendment 
Community financial support for the 
hospitals participating in the 
collection of data would be 
allocated at a standard rate 
representing 80% of the actual costs 
in 1994, 70% in 1995, 60% in 1996 
and 50% in 1997 up to a ceiling of 
ECU 28.000 per hospital for the 
first year and with an adjustment of 
the ceiling corresponding to the 
abovementioned percentages for each 
of the following years. Community financial support for 
the hospitals participating in 
the collection of data would be 
allocated at a standard rate 
representing 80% of the real 
costs for the four years until 
1997, up to a ceiling of ECU 
28.000 per hospital per year. 
-3-
Annex II - point 2 
Text by the Commission Amendment 
Community financial support for the Community financial support for 
household surveys in Germany, Spain the household surveys in Germany, 
and Luxembourg will be allocated at 
a standard rate of 80% in 1994, 70% 
in 1995, 60% in 1996 and 50% in 1997 
of the actual costs incurred up to a 
ceiling of : Spain and Luxembourg will be 
allocated at 80% of the real 
costs for the four years until 
1997, up to a ceiling of 
ECU 380.000 for Germany 
ECU 225.000 for Spain 
ECU 95.000 for Luxembourg, - ECU 380.000 for Germany 
- ECU 225.000 for Spain 
- ECU 95.000 for Luxembourg, 
the first year and with an 
adjustement corresponding to the 
abovementioned percentages for each 
of the following years. per year, 
V 
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 
1. Title of operation 
Introduction of a Community information system on home and leisure 
accidents 
2. Budget heading involved 
B5-105 
3. Legal basis 
Article 129 A (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community 
4. Description of operation 
4.1 General objective 
In developing Community consumer protection policy, there is a need 
to establish a system for collecting data on "consumer" accidents, 
so as to identify the categories of products that give rise to 
hazards. This will help to provide guidelines based on the data 
gathered as to what specific measures are required. 
4.2 Period covered and arrangements for renewal or extension 
1994-1997 
5. Type of expenditure or revenue 
5.1 DO/DNO 
DNO 
5.2 CD/CND 
CD 
5.3 Type of revenue involved 
None 
s 
6. Type of expenditure or revenue 
Subsidy for joint financing with other sources in the public and/or 
private sector 
100% subsidy 
No. 80% 
Subsidy for joint financing with other sources in the public 
and/or private sector 
Yes 
- Interest subsidy 
No 
Other 
No 
Should the operation prove an economic success, is there 
provision for all or part of the Community contribution to be 
reimbursed? 
No 
Will the proposed operation cause any change in the level of 
revenue? If so, what sort of change and what type of revenue is 
involved? 
Not relevant 
7. Financial Impact 
7.1 Method of calculating total cost of operation (definition of unit 
costs) 
Part B of the budget 
1. Work done by the Commission: ECU 0.2 million 
methodology and data collection 
dissemination and exploitation at Community level of the 
national results and of specific analyses. Annual report (Art. 
3,3). 
2. G 
Finances allocated to the Member States for collecting, processing 
and exploiting the data; ECU 2.3 million. 
support for the hospitals participating in data collection on 
the basis of 54 hospitals with the breakdown shown in Annex 1 
of the proposal for a decision (80% of costs, with a maximum of 
ECU 28 000 per hospital for each year), as well as a 
contribution to Germany, Spain and Luxembourg using household 
surveys (80 % of the expenses as mentioned above with a ceiling 
as described in Annex II, point 2). 
support for the least developed national infrastructures, 
notably by strengthening appropriate data networks. 
- support for bilateral technical assistance provided to other 
Member States by the Member States that have an operating data 
collection system. 
Total of Part B: ECU 2.5 million. 
7.2.Itemized breakdown of cost 
Breakdown 
1. Work done by the Commission ECU 200 000 
2. 54 hospitals x ECU 28 000 ECU 1 512 000 
household surveys 
Germany : 
Spain: 
Lux: ECU 380 000 
ECU 225 000 
ECU 95 000 
+ support for the least developped countries 
+ support for bilateral technical assistance ECU 88 000 
ECU 2 500 000 
3 
7.3.2 Schedule for the preliminary draft budget for multiannual 
operations whose basic 
instrument contains an "amount deemed necessary" 
period: 1994-1997 
Budget 
1994 
2,5 Mio Ecu n + 1 
2,5 Mio Ecu n + 2 
2,5 Mio Ecu n + 3 
2,5 Mio Ecu TOTAL 
10 Mio Ecu 
From 1995 on the annual provision of appropriations for this line 
will be decided in the context of the annual budgetary procedure, 
depending on the results of the measures carried out taking into 
account the cost-effectiveness aspect and the method of payement 
described in 7.1.2. 
8. What ant i- fraud measures are planned in the proposal for the 
operation? 
Verification of the subsidies or of the acceptance of the 
preparatory, feasability or evaluation services or studies is 
carried out by the Commission prior to payment, taking into account 
the contractual obligations and the principles of economy and good 
financial and overall management. Anti-fraud measures (monitoring, 
submission of reports, etc.) are included in all the agreements or 
contracts concluded between the Commission and the benificiaries of 
the payments. 
ELEMENTS OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS 
9•1 Specific and quantifiables objectives; target population 
The system of collecting data on home and leisure accidents should 
be a key indicator for determining consumer protection policy and 
specially prevention policies. This objective is difficult to 
quantify in that an in-depth study would be needed in order to 
determine the precise socio-economic costs - which are certainly 
very steep - of home and leisure accidents; moreover the costs in 
human terms of these accidents are heavy but not quantifiable. 
8 
9.2 Grounds for the operation 
The measure complements existing national mesures. The collection 
of the measure of data from hospital emergency services selected in 
the Member States or through household surveys should provide 
direct information on the most important accidents, on the basis of 
agreed methods in the different Member States. Moreover, the data 
will be collected on an ongoing basis. A good knowledge of data of 
domestic and leisure accidents is vital in order to allow actions 
and policies of prevention of these accidents. The objective of the 
measure is in line with the Directive on general product safety, 
for which the collection should provide indicators on safety 
problems. 
Thanks to these objective data the operational impact of this 
Directive, which will enter into force in 1994, will be 
significantly enhanced. 
The safety of consumers in the Community must be ensured in the 
framework of the functionning of the internal market when more and 
more products will be circulating in the Community. As a result, 
the risks faced by consumers will increase, and it is desirable to 
have national monitoring systems which are sufficiently homogeneous 
to enable the conclusions drawn in one Member States to be used, 
where appropriate, in the other Member States and at Community 
level. 
Community involvement is required to enable the Member States to 
overcome the difficulties associated with the collection of data at 
national level. This is needed for methodological and budgetary 
reasons because if no Community assistance were forthcoming, in 
particular financial assistance, this would deal a blow to the 
collection of information on accidents in a number of Member 
States, specially in those with less developped administrative 
structures, a development which would seriously distort the 
monitoring of consumer safety in the Community. 
9 
9.3 Monitoring and evaluation of the operation 
The Member States should provide the Commission with two types of 
information: 
specific data on specific products, in line with the needs for 
a developing consumer protection policy and prevention of 
accidents; 
annual reports from the Member States on the implementation and 
results of the collection, on the basis of which the Commission 
will produce evaluation reports of the system at Community 
level (one report after two years and one at the end of the 
five year period). 
Moreover, the Commission will provide an annual synthesis report on 
the data collected and the conclusions to be drawn for the 
development of its consumer protection policy. 
Imponderables which may effect the specific results of the 
operation lie in its effective implementation and, above all, the 
functionality of the system in all the Member States. These depend 
on how well the two problems identified above are solved, in other 
words utilisation of the data and their faster availability, and in 
both these respects the Commission will do its utmost to ensure 
success. 
9.4 Coherence with financial programming 
Is the operation incorporated in the financial programming of the 
DG for the years concerned? 
Yes. 
To which broader objective defined in the DG ' s financial 
programming does the objective correspond? 
Policy on general product safety. 
10. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE (Part A of the budget) 
10.1 Will the proposad operation involve an increase in the number 
of Commission staff ? 
No, the necessary staff could be made available by internal 
reattribution of the functions 
10.2 Indicate the amount of staff and administrative expenditure 
involved in the proposed operation. Explain the method of 
calculation. 
Part A of the budget 
1. Personnel and management costs: ECU 0.23 million. 
- Secretariat of meetings of national experts responsible for 
collecting and transmitting the data on home and leisure 
accidents (three per year) 
A 1178 Logistic, methodological and financial coordination. 
Assistance from an external organisation in defining 
methodology concerning determination of product codes, 
presentation and methods of analysis. 
Estimated costs: ECU 30 000 
These credits are subject to the allocation of the resources 
which are to be decided by the Commission. 
Personnel: 1 A official (100%) + 1 B official (100%) + 1 C 
auxiliaire (50%). 
1 A official (100%) titre A8/A4 ECU 90 000 per year 
1 B official (100%) titre B4/B1 ECU 90 000 per year 
A1110 1 C auxiliaire (50%) ECU 17 750 per year 
The personnel and management costs will be necessary from March 
1994 for the C official and from September 1994 for the A and B 
official. 
The proposed operation is set up for a period of four years. 
2. Art A/260 Studies : ECU 0.205 million 
Complementary studies necessary for specific analysis of national 
and Community data are required. 
These credits are subject to the allocation of the resources which 
are to be decided by the Commission. 
3. Art A/250 Costs of meetings : ECU 0.045 million 
Meetings of the national experts at the initiative of the 
Commission, with two or three experts, from every Member State: 
three meetings per year. 
Total of Part A: ECU 0.50 million. 
Personnal and management costs 
Studies 
Costs of meeting 
Total of post A ECU 0.23 million 
ECU 0.205 million 
ECU 0.045 million 
ECU 0.48 million 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(94) 192 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 16 10 05 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-94-205-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-68574-3 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg