WRITTEN QUESTION E-0425/97 by Markus Ferber (PPE) to the Commission (19 February 1997)

Subject: Europe-wide exchanges of experiences: division of the secretariat into a single administrative secretariat and separate technical secretariats for individual groups

The Commission is planning to split the secretariat responsible for designated bodies by setting up one administrative secretariat and several technical secretariats for the individual groups. The groups through which exchanges of experiences are pursued at European level have hitherto been served by a single secretariat, greatly facilitating organization.

1. Why is the Commission departing from its promise not to turn ETOC into an administrative secretariat unless the individual groups of registered bodies so desire?

2. How does the Commission propose to ensure that meetings will not be confined solely to Brussels once a central administrative secretariat has been set up there?

3. How will an administrative secretariat with no specialist expertise in technical matters be in a position to supervise the translation of working papers?

4. Why is no competition being organized to staff the central administrative secretariat, assuming that the individual groups of registered bodies are in favour of such an arrangement?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (2 April 1997)

The Council Decision of 22 July 1993 concerning the modules for the various phases of the conformity assessment procedures and the rules for the affixing and use of the CE conformity marking, which are intended to be used in the technical harmonization directives, ((OJ L 220, 30.8.1993. )) lays down that: 'The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, must ensure that close cooperation is organized between the notified bodies in order to ensure consistent technical application of the modules'.

After consulting the Member States and arriving at a broad consensus, the Commission has drawn up a framework for such coordination (document CERTIF 94/6 Rev.) in agreement with the Working Party of Senior Officials on Standardization. This document refers expressly to the need to set up, on the basis of experience gained, a common logistical support system for all the groups and their respective technical secretariats.

1. The Commission has not changed its position on this subject since the abovementioned document CERTIF 94/6 makes express references to the use of the European Organization for Testing and Certification (EOTC) for administrative logistics, for reasons of cost reduction, efficiency and promoting an intersectoral approach in line with the opinion of almost all the Member States.

2. In so far as the meetings of groups of notified bodies are financed from the Community budget administered by the Commission, it is the latter's intention firstly to control the cost over a specified period and secondly to simplify reimbursement procedures. Clearly, it would be very difficult to estimate and control the costs of administrative logistics for meetings organized in different locations in the Community, where economies of scale could not come into play. Moreover, this approach increases the number of reimbursement procedures proportionately whereas they are centralized when the EOTC is used.

3. Another aspect of administrative logistics is optimum preparation of coordination meetings including having translation work carried out by specialists. The Commission has moreover launched an invitation to tender to ensure that the technical secretariats are made up of experts entrusted with the task of drafting working papers in preparation for these coordination meetings, records of meetings and the recommendations drawn up by the group. In the event that the translations of these technical documents had not been carried out properly and did not meet the needs of the groups of notified bodies, the EOTC, as co-contractor, would have to take the necessary measures.

4. The organization of administrative logistics is normally a matter for the Commission. As it does not have the material resources for this task, the framework contract between the Commission and the EOTC is therefore an appropriate means of providing administrative backup to those groups which require it. Organizing competitions between various bodies is not, in the Commission's view, the best means of ensuring consistency of Community policy on conformity assessment and maintaining a balance between the various parties in terms of administrative logistics as well as technical coordination. With such an approach, this balance would have been constantly disrupted by the scheduled rotation of technical secretariats.