WRITTEN QUESTION E-0752/00 by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Rome Convention.
Date: 2000-03-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: drafting of EU law, law of obligations

28.12.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 374 E/149

(2000/C 374 E/175)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0752/00

by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 March 2000)

Subject: Rome Convention

What meetings have taken place in the Commission relating to the proposed legislation on non-
contractual obligations (Projet de communication sur la loi applicable aux obligations non-contractuelles
(Rome II)) to replace the Rome Convention in the last six months? Where did these meetings take place?
Have discussions on this proposal taken place with the Council during the last six months? If so, on what
occasions and what were the conclusions of the meeting? What level of civil servant attended the
meetings? Which Commission officials attended the meetings?

Which Commission officials and/or department have overall charge of negotiations on Rome II? Is the
inter-service consultation document (DG JAI D (99) 495 (cid:129) Communication de la Commission sur la loi
applicable aux obligations non-contractuelles), which is in circulation at the present time, available in
English? If the answer is no, why is no copy available in English? What is the content of the inter-service
consultation document and when is the outcome of the inter-service consultation expected?

Are any outside bodies being consulted on this proposal? If so, which groups are being consulted and how
are these groups selected?

When is publication of a formal legislative proposal expected in this area and when is the legislative
process expected to be completed?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(14 April 2000)

The Rome II project on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations is not intended to replace but to
complement the existing Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations.

A number of discussions on the project took place in a Council working group between July 1998
and October 1999. These discussions have been temporarily suspended to allow the Commission to come
forward with an initiative.

inter-service consultation on a
The document to which the Honourable Member refers is an internal
document to launch a public consultation. The Commission does not intend to put forward legislation
until this process of public consultation has been concluded.

The Commission will shortly take a decision as to if and when this document will be adopted.

(2000/C 374 E/176)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0763/00

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(15 March 2000)

Subject: Production of Agent Orange by the European chemicals industry

On Tuesday, 22 February Belgium(cid:146)s Deputy Minister of Overseas Development stated in Vietnam that his
country bore a responsibility towards the Vietnamese people for the large-scale use of Agent Orange as a
chemical weapon by the American army. He said that the Belgian chemicals industry had been involved in
producing the defoliant in Belgium. On Friday, 25 February, however, Fedichem (the federation of the
chemicals-processing industry) formally denied the involvement of the Belgium chemicals industry in
manufacturing Agent Orange,