WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1563/98 by Antoni GUTIÉRREZ DÍAZ to the Commission. Projects under the URB-AL programme
Date: 1998-05-20
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU programme, Latin America, confidentiality, democracy, eligibility criteria, local government, project evaluation, shareholding, technical committee (EU), town

C 402/144

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.12.98

(98/C 402/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1555/98

by Susan Waddington (PSE) to the Commission

(19 May 1998)

Subject: Harmonization of safety standards for bicycles

It has been brought to my attention that the application for safety standards to bicycles differs widely from
Member State to Member State. In certain Member States, lights must be fitted to a bicycle as a standard pre-sale
fitment while in others, a front brake is not mandatory. In many Member States, bicycles are marketed as toys
rather than transport.

Given that the use of the bicycle is being encouraged as an (cid:145)environmentally friendly(cid:146) mode of transport, and
given, therefore, that the number of bicycles in use in the EU will increase, what measures is the Commission
considering to harmonize product-safety standards in the growing internal bicycle market, in order to ensure that
consumers are guaranteed the same minimum safety standards in all Member States?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 1998)

In contrast to two or three-wheel motor vehicles there are no Commission regulations that are intended to remove
technical barriers to the trade in bicycles.

The trade circles directly involved are currently examining the suitability of sending a file to the Commission
which clearly shows that such barriers actually do exist and that they prevent the free movement of bicycles
within the Community. The Commission will examine that file with particular attention and, if appropriate, will
not fail to put forward those measures that it feels to be most appropriate.

However, the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention is drawn to Council Directive 92/59/EEC of 29 June 1992 on
general product safety (1) which applies to products for which there are no specific Community safety
requirements. That directive lays down, inter alia, safety criteria to be met by products placed on the market
by manufacturers. It also enables the Member States to take specific action where a product constitutes a hazard to
health or consumer safety.

(1) OJ L 228, 11.8.1992.

(98/C 402/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1563/98

by Antoni GutiØrrez D(cid:237)az (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 May 1998)

Subject: Projects under the URB-AL programme

It appears that four local authorities were nominated as candidates to act as head-city for Telematics Network
No 3, (cid:145)Democracy in the City(cid:146), as part of the URB-AL programme co-financed by the Commission. These four
candidates were: Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Salt (Spain) and Villa Mar(cid:237)a (Argentina).

Of these four cities, only the first two met the criteria for eligibility and were retained for the purposes of a
technical proposal.

The city of Porto Alegre has received international recognition as a model of civic participation through the
(cid:145)participative budget(cid:146) experiment, which has attracted the attention of the main international cooperation
organizations (World Bank, IDB, UNDP and others). The network of local authorities submitted by Porto
Alegre also included some of the most outstanding experiments in civic participation in Latin America, such as
Villa Salvador in Peru.