WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3458/98 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Date: 1998-11-24
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: EU financing, application of EU law, directive (EU), environmental protection, international negotiations, organic pollution, pollutant, pollution control measures, technical regulations, waste incineration

21.7.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 207/71

Once formally adopted this measure will become part of the ‘acquis’ with the resulting obligations for
countries applying for membership of the European Union.

(1) OJ L 76, 23.3.1992.

(1999/C 207/093)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3450/98

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(24 November 1998)

Subject: Removal of obstacles to trade

With reference to the proposal for a Council regulation (EC) creating a mechanism whereby the Commission
can intervene in order to remove certain obstacles to trade (COM(97) 619 final . 97/0330 CNS) (1), will the
Commission say why the proposal should be restricted to the free movement of goods instead of also including
the other three freedoms which are features of the internal market, i.e. the free movement of services, capital
and persons?

(1) OJ C 10, 15.1.1998, p. 14.

Answer by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 1999)

The honourable Member is certainly aware that the Community has had to deal with serious disruptions to the
free movement of goods. These disruptions have been pointed out by Parliament on numerous occasions .
the honourable Member is referred to the Commission’s answers to Written Questions E-2254/93 by
Mrs Domingo Segarra (1), E-1477/95 by Mr Cabezon Alonso and others (2), E-2023/97 by Mr Gasoliba i Böhm
and others (3) and E-3592/97 by Mr Macartney (4) . and were the subject of a Court of Justice ruling on
9 December 1997 in case C-265/95.

Against this background, the Amsterdam European Council of 16 and 17 June 1997 requested the
Commission ‘to examine ways and means of guaranteeing in an effective manner the free movement of
goods, including the possibility of imposing sanctions on Member States’ and asked it to submit relevant
proposals. The Commission provided a prompt response to this specific request from the European Council
with its proposal for a Council Regulation creating a mechanism whereby the Commission can intervene in
order to remove certain obstacles to trade (5).

(1) OJ C 300, 27.10.1994.
(2) OJ C 230, 4.9.1995.
(3) OJ C 76, 11.3.1998.
(4) OJ C 187, 16.6.1998.
(5) OJ C 10, 15.1.1998.

(1999/C 207/094)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3458/98

by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission

(24 November 1998)

Subject: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

1.

Does the Commission know to what extent EU citizens and the environment are exposed to POPs?

2. What measures has the Commission taken to ensure that the level of POPs in the environment and to
which citizens in the EU are exposed continues to be reduced?

Is the Commission aware of any national legislation concerning POPs and of how such legislation is

3.
implemented in the 15 Member States?

4. Who will lead the negotiations in the INC and in the Group of Experts, the Council or the Commission?