WRITTEN QUESTION P-2298/99

by Elisa Damião (PSE) to the Commission

(29 November 1999)

Subject: Future of the textile industry in the European Union

The textile industry, which employs some 2,5 million people in Member States, is the EU's main export sector, accounting for ECU 180 bn. In the last ten years its volume of production has dropped by around 10 % and, according to Euratex, approximately one million jobs were lost in the same period. This has been caused by cheap imports.

The sector has been going through a serious crisis since 1997, with annual output shrinking by as much as 3,3 % in 1999. It is estimated that it will make a slow recovery, with an increase in output of 2,7 % in 2000.

Given that Commissioner Pascal Lamy has examined the possibility of EU action to support other sectors such as agriculture, will the Commission state what measures it intends to take to help this sector which is vitally important to the EU, in particular with regard to the following:

- in the context of the WTO negotiations, the decisions of the Uruguay Round, whose incorrect application has been to the detriment of regions exclusively dependent on the textile industry;

- promotion of a label to guarantee consumer protection and certify that products have been manufactured in compliance with labour laws, thereby ensuring that the WTO members' economies develop on a fair and sustainable basis and safeguarding intellectual property rights, which implies taking action to combat fraud in this as in other areas.

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 1999)

The Commission is fully aware of the difficulties experienced by the Community's textile and clothing sector. With the entry into force of the World trade organisation (WTO) agreement on textiles and clothing (ATC), a process of staged liberalisation has begun that will lead to the complete removal of quantitative import restrictions with WTO members by 1 January 2005.

The Commission is convinced that in preparation for this date the creation of a level playing field, allowing the Community's industry equal access in third country markets, will be indispensable for the sector. Therefore, it will be necessary to attack the numerous tariff and non-tariff trade barriers which Community exports face in many trading partners' markets. In its communication(1) to the Council on the new round of trade talks, the Commission presented a comprehensive tariff approach, aiming notably at harmonising tariff structures and removing tariff peaks. It further underlined the necessity to attack non-tariff trade barriers.

The Commission believes that voluntary schemes which promote labelling of textile products, in order to identify products produced respecting social and labour rights, can be helpful to raise awareness in the general public and facilitate consumers' choice. The Commission takes a hard line on cases of textile fraud and circumvention. The textiles anti-fraud initiative (TAFI) was created to deal with this serious issue and cases where malpractice is suspected are rigorously investigated by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF). As far as the protection of intellectual property rights in the sector is concerned, the Commission has commissioned a handbook to help Community producers achieve adequate protection against counterfeit. Furthermore, the Commission presented on 22 June 1999 an amended proposal for a Council regulation on the European Community design(2). This would encourage innovation and help to prevent counterfeiting and piracy by providing for protection of industrial designs, including textile designs, throughout the Community single market.

The Commission considers the policies and measures described above to be necessary in order to provide for the European textiles and clothing industry a fair and equitable trading environment in which it can fully unfold its comparative advantages and bring to bear its competitive potential.

(1) COM(1999) 331 final.

(2) COM(1999) 310 final.