WRITTEN QUESTION E-1743/99 by Hanja Maij-Weggen (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Enforcement of CITES Regulation.
Date: 1999-10-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, airport, application of EU law, bird, protected species, transport of animals, veterinary inspection, wild mammal

C 203 E/36

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2000

to conduct checks and maintain surveillance along external borders; finally, the Member States concerned
have undertaken to assist each other and maintain constant, close cooperation with a view to the effective
exercise of checks and surveillance.

From the data supplied by the Honourable Member the Commission cannot conclude that Italy is failing to
meet these commitments entered into under the Schengen agreement and now incorporated into the
Union framework.

(2000/C 203 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1743/99

by Hanja Maij-Weggen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Enforcement of CITES Regulation

(1 October 1999)

On 2 June 1999 a shipment of 35 Fennec foxes and 10 Demoiselle cranes (both in Appendix II of CITES)
were flown by Lufthansa Cargo from Sudan to Frankfurt and from there to Johannesburg. On arrival at
Johannesburg, three foxes were dead, one was dying and the others were in distress. Owing to the
condition of the animals and a lack of proper health certification, the remaining 31 foxes were sent back
to the Sudan, again via Frankfurt. The suffering of the foxes would have been alleviated if the proper
obligatory veterinary checks had been carried out at Frankfurt airport.

Would the Commission say what steps it has taken to ensure that the conditions of the CITES Regulation
are being enforced at airports in the EU, particularly Frankfurt, through which many millions of animals
pass every year?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 1999)

The Commission regrets that
the terms of Article 9(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of
9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein (1)
appear not to have been respected in the case mentioned by the Honourable Member. The Commission
intends to draw the attention of the enforcement group, as set up by Article 14 of the Regulation, to this
particular incident as well as to the control of transport of live animal specimens under International air
transport association (IATA) live animal regulations and the necessity of appropriate controls at airports
and other places of import for transit or transhipment purposes in the Community.

(1) OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1.

(2000/C 203 E/045)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1755/99

by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff

(1 October 1999)

On 10 June 1999 EU foreign ministers appointed Mr Bodo Hombach Coordinator of the Stability Pact for
South-Eastern Europe.

This gives rise to the following questions:

1. Which persons are on Mr Hombach(cid:146)s staff, and by which Member States have they been sent?

2. What are the staffing costs for employing Mr Hombach and his staff?

3. What proportion of the costs of employing Mr Hombach and his team comes from the EU budget?