COMVIISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
COM(95) 005 final 
Brussels, 13.01.1995 
PROPOSAL FOR A 
COUNCIL DFXISION 
AMENDING DECISION 94/3092/EC 
INTRODUCING A COMMUNITY SYSTEM OF INFORMATION 
ON HOME AND LEISURE ACCIDENTS 
(presented by the Commission) 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
The aim of this proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 94/3092/EC 
introducing a Community system of information on home and leisure accidents, is to 
make the adjustments required by the accession of new Member States to the Community. 
These adjustments are designed to ensure that, from 1995 onwards, the new Member 
States have the appropriate instruments for conducting an accident prevention policy. This 
will involve collecting and disseminating information on home and leisure accidents to 
the relevant authorities and organisations at national and Community level. 
The method of collecting data from hospital casualty departments has been chosen for the 
new Member States, since it corresponds to the collection methods currently used by these 
States. 
The number of hospitals varies between 2 and 5 for existing Member States whose 
population is less than or equal to 10 million. The number of hospitals for each new 
Member State has been set in accordance with the size of its population and the 
distribution thereof over its territory. Accordingly, 3 hospitals will be selected for the new 
Member States with a population of approximately 5 million inhabitants, and 4 for those 
with a population of between 5 and 10 million inhabitants. 
These figures do not prejudge the content of the report and any amending proposals, 
which the Commission will have to submit in 1995, in particular as regards the allocation 
to the Member States of the hospitals which are to participate in the system from 1996 
onwards, the aim being to ensure a homogeneous sample. 
PvorecAL FOU A 
COUNCIL DECISION 
AMCNMNC DlCWON *4£t*2/£C 
INTRODUCING A COMMUNITY SYSTEM OF INFORMATION 
ON HOME AND LEISURE ACCIDENTS 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Norway, Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in 
particular Article 169 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission1, 
Whereas European Parliament and Council Decision 94/3092/EC2 introduced a 
Community system of information on home and leisure accidents for a period of four 
years; 
Whereas the above-mentioned Decision has to be adapted to take account of the accession 
of three new Member States to the Community, 
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: 
OJN° L 331, 21.12.1994, p. 1 
1 
Article 1 
Decision 94/3092/EC is amended as follows: 
1 Article 5 shall be replaced by the following text: 
"The budget authority shall determine the appropriations available for each 
financial year". 
2 In point 5 of Annex I, the following shall be added to the table: 
Member State Number of hospitals 
Austria 
Finland 
Sweden 
The total number "54" shall be replaced by the number "65". 
Article 2 
This Decision shall apply from the date of entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of 
Norway, Austria, Finland and Sweden. 
Article 3 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 
Done at For the Council 
lie President 
FÏNAM:iAL STATEMENT 
1. Title of operation 
Introduction of a Community information system on home and leisure accidents 
2. Bvdget heading involved 
B5-105 
3. Legal basis 
Article 129 A (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community 
4. Description of opera tien 
4.1 General objective 
In developing Community consumer protection polky, 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 ©f expenditure ©r revenue 
5.1 DO/DNO 
mo 
5.2 CDiCND 
CD 
$.3 Type of revenue involved 
None 
6. Type of expenditure or revenue 
Subsidy for joint financing with other sources in the public and/or private sector 
100% subsidy 
No. 80% 
Subsidy for joint financing with other sources in the public and/or private 
sector 
Yes 
Interest subsidy 
No 
Other 
. No 
Should the operation prove an economic success, is there provision for all 
or part of the Community contribution to be reimbursed? 
No 
Will the proposed operation cause any change in the level of revenue? If 
so, what sort of change and what type of revenue is involved? 
Not relevant 
7. Financial Impact 
7.1 Method of calculating total cost of operation (definition of unit costs) 
Part B o( the budget 
1. Work done by the Commission: ECU 0.2 million 
methodology and data collection 
dissemination and exploitation at Community level of the national results 
and of specific analyses. Annual report (Art. 3,3). 
2. Finances allocated to the Member States for collecting, processing and exploiting 
the data: ECU 2.608 million (ECU 2.3 million, in 1994) 
support for the hospitals participating in data collection on the basis of 65 
hospitals (54 hospitals in 1994), with the breakdown shown in Annex 1 of 
the proposal for a decision (80% of costs, with a maximum of ECU 28 
000 per hospital for each year), as well as a contribution to Germany, 
Spain and Luxembourg using household surveys (80 % of the expenses as 
mentioned above with a ceiling as described in Annex II, point 2). 
support for the least developed national infrastructures, notably by 
strengthening appropriate data networks. 
support for bilateral technical assistance provided to other Member States 
by the Member States that have an operating data collection system. 
Total of Part B: ECU 2.808 million ( ECU 2,5 million in 1994). 
7.2. Itemized breakdown of cost 
Breakdown 
1. Work done by the Commission ECU 200 000 
2. 65 hospitals x ECU 2$ 000 ECU 1 820 000 
(54 hospitals = ECU 1 5t2 000, in 1994) 
household surveys 
Germany : 
Spain: 
Lux: 
+ support for the least developped countries 
+ support for bilateral technical assistance ECU 
ECU 
ECU 
ECU 
ECU 380 000 
225 000 
95 000 
88 000 
2 808 000 
(ECU 2 500000 in 1994) 
7.3.2 Indicative Schedule 
period: 1994-1997 
Budget 1994 n+ 1 n-f 2 n + 3 TOTAL 
2,5 Mill Ecu 2,808 Mill Ecu 2,S08 Mill Ecu 2,808 Mill Ecu 
The appropriations availible will be decided in the context of the annual budgetary procedure 
and in accordance with prospective financial strcngh, 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 anti-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. 
9. 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. 
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 eollected 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 decision will be significantly 
enhanced. 
The safety of consumers in the Community must be ensured in the framework of the 
functioning 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. 
9.3 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 
Al 110 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 F'CU 0.23 million 
Studies ECU 0.205 million 
Costs of meeting ECU 0.045 million 
Total of post A ECU 0.48 million 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(95) 005 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 16 05 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-95-008-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-84828-6 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
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