WRITTEN QUESTION P-1748/00 by Marco Cappato (TDI) to the Council. Assessment of the application of the Joint Action concerning action to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.
Date: 2000-06-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: child protection, joint action, project evaluation, prostitution, sexual violence, trafficking in human beings

C 81 E/86

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.3.2001

In addition, it is worth noting that the promotion of recycling is one of the main objectives of Community
waste policy. The preference for recycling over disposal is stated in the Community waste management
strategy (2) and in Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC of
18 March 1991 on waste (3).

Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste (4)
sets targets for the recycling of packaging waste. Pursuant to Article 6 a minimum of 50 % and a
maximum of 65 % of the packaging waste must be recovered. Within this target between 25 % and 45 %
must be recycled, with a minimum of 15 % for each packaging material, including plastics.

Member States must comply with these targets. They are, however, not obliged to carry out the recycling
on their own territory. Recycling is an industrial activity. Wastes destined for recovery are subject to the
principle of free circulation of goods. Domestic markets must not necessarily exist for the whole amount
of recycled waste.

According to the interim report (5) under Article 6.3(a) of Directive 94/62/EEC and the data submitted by
Member States in the framework of the Commission Decision 97/138/EC of 3 February 1997 establishing
the formats relating to the database system pursuant to Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC on
packaging and packaging waste (6), recycling rate for plastics packaging waste was still in 1997 in several
Member States below the target of 15 % set by this Directive. It was exceeded by Belgium (25 %), Germany
(45 %), and Austria (20 %), while Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden are not far from this rate. It is
not clear, though, to what extent these figures include the so-called feedstock-recycling.

These incentive provisions have produced an increase of the recycling of plastics. Accordingly, the
recycling of plastics has been doubled between 1994 and 1999 (7) in the Community to reach a recycling
rate around 9 % (8).

Following the communication on (cid:145)the competitiveness of the recycling industries(cid:146) (9) the Commission
organised the (cid:145)recycling forum(cid:146) with the participation of all major parties. These discussions have produced
a number of recommendations with a view to improving the framework conditions and the competitive-
ness of the recycling industry (10).

(1) Study on the evaluation of costs and benefits for the achievement of reuse and recycling targets for the different

packaging materials in the frame of the packaging and packaging waste Directive 94/61/EC.

(2) COM(96) 399 final.
(3) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.
(4) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994.
(5) COM(1999) 596 final.
(6) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997.
(7)

according to industrial organisation data, APME report spring 1999 (cid:129) Association of plastics manufacturers in
Europe.

(8) APME, Plastics (cid:129) An analysis of plastics consumption and recovery in Western Europe 1998.
(9) COM(98) 463 final.
(10) http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/events/recycling/recycling.htm.

(2001/C 81 E/104)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1748/00

by Marco Cappato (TDI) to the Council

(5 June 2000)

Subject: Assessment of the application of the Joint Action concerning action to combat trafficking and

sexual exploitation of children

On 24 February 1997 the Council adopted a Joint Action designed to improve judicial cooperation in
combating trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children.

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/87

The Member States were asked to compare and review national legislation with the aim of categorising the
following as offences: the sexual exploitation or sexual abuse of children and trafficking in children with a
view to their sexual exploitation or abuse, participation in such offences or attempts to commit such
offences. It was requested that sanctions should include custodial penalties, possibly involving extradition
(at least in serious cases), confiscation of the instruments and proceeds of the offences and temporary or
permanent closure of establishments which had been used for committing offences. The Joint Action also
provided that (cid:145)Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to ensure that in addition to ordinary
constraining measures such as search and seizure, adequate investigation powers and techniques are
available to enable the [abovementioned] offences
to be investigated and prosecuted effectively(cid:146).
The Member States were asked to make provision for the protection of witnesses and appropriate
assistance for victims and their families and to grant each other the (cid:145)widest possible judicial cooperation
in the investigations and judicial processes relating to the offences(cid:146) mentioned above, be means of specified
procedures. In Title IV, point B, the Joint Action stipulated:
(cid:145)The Council will assess, on the basis of
appropriate information, the fulfilment by Member States of their obligations under this Joint Action, by
the end of 1999(cid:146).

Has the Council fulfilled the obligation placed on it by virtue of the Joint Action it adopted? If so, how far
have the Member States fulfilled their abovementioned obligations, and with what results? In the event that
the Member States have not complied with the Joint Action, what steps does the Council intend to take on
the issue of combating trafficking in children?

Reply

(28 September 2000)

Since the adoption on 24 February 1997 of the Joint Action to which the Honourable Member refers,
different initiatives have been taken at European Union level. These include Article 29 of the Treaty on
European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam, which specifically mentions measures to
combat trafficking in persons and offences against children among the means for creating an area of
freedom, security and justice. In addition, powers in the area of child pornography have been entrusted to
Europol (1).

Lastly, on 29 May 2000 the Council adopted a Decision to combat child pornography on the Internet on
the basis of an initiative of the Republic of Austria.

Article 6 of that Decision, on which the European Parliament has been consulted, provides for an
examination by the Council of the extent to which Member States have fulfilled their obligations pursuant
to Joint Action 97/154/JHA and the extent to which the measures proposed in the Decision have proved
effective. That examination will be carried out in the near future according to the rules laid down in the
Decision. Consequently, the Council is not yet in a position to verify Member States(cid:146) legislation in this
area.

(1) Council Decision of 3 December 1999 (1999/C 26/05 (cid:129) OJ C 26, 30.1.1999, p. 21).

(2001/C 81 E/105)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1749/00

by Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 May 2000)

Subject: Elections in Kosovo

Kosovo(cid:146)s first local elections will be held this autumn.

The success of this enterprise is crucial, since local democracy is the foundation for the region(cid:146)s political
reconstruction, a goal
in which the people of Europe are making considerable moral and material
investment.