Council resolution of 18 November 1999 on ensuring health protection in all Community policies and activities
Date: 1999-11-18
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, action programme, health policy, public health

24.3.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 86/3

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 18 November 1999

on ensuring health protection in all Community policies and activities

(2000/C 86/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. EMPHASISES that Article 152 of the Treaty establishing the
European Community stipulates that a high level of human
health protection shall be ensured in the definition and
implementation of all Community policies and activities;

2. RECALLS that the Council resolution of 8 June 1999 on the
future Community action in the field of public health (1)
underlined the concerns of the Community’s citizens about
risks to their health and their expectations for a high level
of health, the need for a high degree of visibility and
transparency on health-related activities in the Community,
as well as the health challenges faced by the Member States
and the European Union at the start of the new Millenium;

3. CONSIDERS

that

therefore

a high level of political
commitment is necessary in order to secure that health
protection is ensured in the definition and implementation
of all Community policies and activities;

4. WELCOMES the initial reorganisation of the Commission’s
internal structures that reflects the significance of public
health in the Community;

5. TAKES NOTE of the Commission’s fourth report on the
in

requirements

protection

health

integration
Community policies;

of

6. TAKES NOTE of

the work on health impact assessment
which has been done at national and international
level
as well as the experience gained in the field of environ-
mental impact assessment;

7. REAFFIRMS that a high level of health protection in the
Community needs coordination, consistency and comple-
mentarity within the Member States and the Community
Institutions;

(cid:151) to carry out early and transparent evaluation of the
impact of Community policies on human health,

(cid:151) to identify in its annual working programme all
proposals which may have an impact on health
protection,

(cid:151) to follow a problem-oriented approach and focus on
issues of imminent importance in future reports, while
taking into account the priorities of the new public
health programme;

9. FURTHER INVITES the Commission:

(cid:151) to draw up a strategy and include appropriate elements
into the proposal for the action programme on public
health as well as provide for appropriate structures, in
order to implement the obligation on health protection
in all Community policies,

(cid:151) to develop further the assessment of the health impact
of Community policies and activities and to set up a
network of experts, with a view to advancing methods,
at
and
skills
Community level,

terminology

applicable

common

(cid:151) to identify, with a problem-oriented approach in mind,
their
appropriate Community measures
impact on health and use them as pilots for wider
application across Community policies;

to assess

10. URGES Member States:

(cid:151) to take health impact into account in the coordination
of their own policies and in their input to the devel-
opment of Community policies,

8. REAFFIRMS the previous invitations to the Commission
regarding the protection of health in Community policies
and activities, in particular:

(cid:151) to contribute

to the Community-wide work by
assessing the health impact of Community policies
and activities at national level, and

(cid:151) to draw up appropriate methods and criteria and a
effects of

formal mechanism for
Community policies on human health,

evaluating the

(cid:151) to inform the Commission about the development of
including the

intersectoral policy at national
impact of Community policies and activities.

level,

(1) OJ C 200, 15.7.1999, p. 1.