(Amendment 12)
Article 15(4a) (new)
4a. No data shall be transferred or made accessible to
the authorities of any third country, nor to any agencyor authority in a Member State other than that which col-lects the original data referred to in Articles 4 and 8,
except with the express written agreement of the joint
supervisory authorities.
European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation concerning theestablishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of the fingerprints of applicants for asylum and
certain other aliens (COM(1999) 260 5dash C5-0082/1999 5dash 1999/0116(CNS))
(Consultation procedure)
The European Parliament,
Jdash having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(1999) 260),
Jdash having been consulted bythe Council pursuant to Article 63(1)(a) of the EC Treaty(C5-0082/1999),
Jdash having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,Jdash having regard to the report of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home
Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (A5-0059/1999);
1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;
2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC
Treaty;
3. Calls on the Council to notifyParliament should it intend to depart from the text approved byParlia-
ment;
4. Asks to be consulted again should the Council intend to make substantial modifications to the Com-
mission proposal;
5. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.
6. Millennium bug: military, civilian and nuclear sectors
B5-0268, 0279, 0292 and 0303/1999
European Parliament resolution on the Year 2000 Bug in the civil and military sectors
The European Parliament,
Jdash having regard to the responsibilities of the EU in the areas of major accidents and their consequences,
relating to radioactive and chemical pollution, and its role in nuclear safetyunder the Euratom Treaty ,7.7.2000 EN C 189/229 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 November 1999
TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSIONAMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT
Jdash having regard to its resolution of 25 February1999 on the Year 2000 computer problem(1), which
requested a three-monthlyupdate from the Commission, as well as various reports from the Commi-ssion (COM(1998) 102; SEC(1998) 2100; COM(1999) 275), and the Council conclusions(
2) and reso-
lution of 28 June 1999(3), as well as the work of the G8 and the IAEA,
Jdash having regard to the update given bythe Commission on 8 November 1999 to Parliament’s Commit-
tee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy;
A. noting growing concern worldwide that the failure of computers to recognise the year 2000 date
change could affect control systems at nuclear and other environmentally sensitive plants, as well asoff-site electrical supplies from the networks to such plant, in addition to command, control, commu-nications and intelligence systems of nuclear forces,
B. whereas nuclear power plant safety systems are not generally digitally based, though monitoring sys-
tems normallyare, and while the Commission has recognised that enormous progress has been made,there is also increasing acceptance that it is not feasible to make all such computerised systems year2000-compliant, resulting in some risk of infrastructure disruption, and a lack of preparednessamongst SMEs,
C. noting that as a result, according to respected analysts, there exists a small but unacceptable risk of
serious nuclear or other accidents, especiallyin Central and Eastern Europe, and the NIS, especiallywhere nuclear plants use plutonium fuel, and a similar risk of an accidental nuclear war,
D. whereas there are hundreds of operating nuclear plants and research reactors and thousands of other
environment-sensitive plants around the globe, and whereas there are such installations in all EU
Member States, and whereas data errors have caused mishaps and near accidents at nuclear powerstations in the past,
E. whereas date errors and false signals mayalso affect the nuclear armed forces, with potentiallydisas-
trous consequences, notablywhere nuclear weapons are on ‘hair-trigger’ alert, such as in the UnitedStates of America and the Russian Federation, and whereas two EU Member States have nuclear armedforces which maybe affected byYear 2000 computer problems,
F. welcoming the UK Government’s announcement that it has relaxed the notice to fire of its nuclear
forces from minutes to days,
G. noting that in 1996 the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons recommended
that all nuclear forces be taken off hair-trigger alert, preferablybyphy sical separation of the warheadsfrom deliveryvehicles,
H. noting that a number of resolutions in the UN General Assembly, notably Resolution 53/77Y
‘Towards a nuclear weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda’, have called for nuclear forces tobe de-alerted;
1. Calls on the governments of the states having a nuclear weapon capabilityto take all the necessary
steps to avoid Year 2000 computer problems leading to the accidental or unintended firing of nuclearweapons by‘de-alerting’ those weapons;
2. Calls on all Member States of the European Union without nuclear weapon capabilityto make vigor-
ous representations to that effect;
(1) OJ C 153, 1.6.1999, p. 52.
(2) Cardiff, 15/16 June 1998, Items 44 and 45; Vienna, 11/12 December 1998, Items 52 and 53; Cologne, 3/4 June
1999, Item 36.
(3) OJ C 200, 15.7.1999, p. 2.C 189/230 EN 7.7.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 November 1999
3. Calls on all governments to instruct the operators of all nuclear or other environment-sensitive plant
not able to verifiablydemonstrate their complete Y2K compliance, that such plant must be at least tem-porarilyshut down at the Millennium, and that in anycase stand-byelectrical power should be availablefor up to 60 days at all nuclear plant to operate cooling pumps and safety systems, and longer term back-up must be provided for spent fuel cooling ponds; suggests that the Council and Commission press allgovernments accordingly, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the NIS, and Turkey;
4. Reaffirms its abovementioned resolution of 25 February1999, and notes that in the meantime two
particular problems seem to persist:
Jdash the degree of progress in some Member States is not sufficient, which maylead to consequences in
view of existing cross-border global and sectoral levels of integration;
Jdash SMEs are more exposed to possible disruption than big international companies and a certain number
of them maybe liable to suffer heavyfinancial consequences if theydo not adjust in time, requiringurgent action bythe Commission and national and regional administrations;
5. Stronglyrecommends that the Helsinki European Council, to be held just a couple of weeks before
the turn of the century, adopt appropriate measures, and make an awareness statement to European citi-zens on the precise state of the problem and the potential risks;
6. Calls on the OECD Members urgentlyto provide specific resources to Central and Eastern European
countries and the NIS for the purpose of financing alternatives to their nuclear power plants at the Millen-nium and, in the medium term, to close down those nuclear power plants no longer fulfilling internation-allyrecognised safetystandards and to fund alternative sources of energy ;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the UN Security
Council, the IAEA and the governments of the Member States, the applicant states and the member statesof the OECD.
7. East Timor
B5-0271, 0273, 0280, 0289, 0299 and 0307/1999
European Parliament resolution on the situation in East Timor
The European Parliament,
Jdash having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in East Timor,Jdash having regard to UN SecurityCouncil resolution 1264/99,Jdash having regard to the Declaration bythe Presidencyon behalf of the European Union of 21 September
1999,
Jdash recalling the Agreement between Indonesia and Portugal on the question of East Timor of 5 May
1999 and the Agreements between the United Nations and the Governments of Indonesia and Portu-gal of the same date regarding the arrangements for consulting the population of East Timor througha direct ballot, and the securityarrangements agreed in connection therewith,
A. whereas the result of the referendum clearlyexpressed the wish of the Timorese people for indepen-
dence, with 78,5% voting in favour,
B. whereas Unamet and the international observers, including the European Parliament and Council dele-
gations, recognized the legalityand validityof the referendum,7.7.2000 EN C 189/231 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 November 1999