WRITTEN QUESTION E-2387/00 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Language use in the provision of information to consumers.
Date: 2000-07-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, consumer information, national law

3.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 103 E/143

(2001/C 103 E/159)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2387/00

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(13 July 2000)

Subject: Language use in the provision of information to consumers

It appears from the answer to question E-0614/00 (1) that (cid:145)the Member States can adopt measures laying
down that the labels of imported items be in the language of the region where the goods are to be sold or
in any other language easily understandable by consumers of the area concerned(cid:146).

Which Member States have statutory measures regulating language use in the provision of information to
consumers? Which languages are compulsory in those Member States for the provision of information to
consumers?

(1) OJ C 46 E, 13.2.2001, p. 19.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(17 October 2000)

In the answer to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s written question E-614/00 (1), the Commission explained the
principles ruling the use of languages for information to consumers.

The Commission is aware that measures regulating language use are in force in several Member States.
However, according to information available, such provisions are usually included in a great number of
texts, each one related to a specific product, category of products or consumer issue.

The Commission receives information about the scope of these regulations only when a citizen or an
economic operator complains about the functioning of the national law or the behaviour of the national
administration. Therefore, Member States are better placed to provide an exhaustive list of their laws
concerning labelling and language use and, if necessary or requested, a justification for their rules.

In any event, citizens and economic operators can always apply to the Commission for a clarification or
complain about a specific problem concerning language provisions in a Member State.

(1) OJ C 46 E, 13.2.2001, p. 19.

(2001/C 103 E/160)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2396/00

by Lucio Manisco (GUE/NGL), Patricia McKenna (Verts/ALE),
Elena Paciotti (PSE) and Giovanni Fava (PSE) to the Council

(24 July 2000)

Subject: Trade in human organs removed from persons sentenced to death in the People(cid:146)s Republic of

China

In a report from Malaysia published on 15 June 2000 in the International Herald Tribune, the respected
journalist Thomas Fuller describes how in the People(cid:146)s Republic of China trade in organs removed from
young persons sentenced to death and summarily executed is continuing under the most inhuman
conditions and in Malaysia alone more than a thousand patients have travelled to Chinese state clinics
and obtained kidney transplants at prices ranging from USD 10 000 to 12 000. According to Fuller, the
methods used for the executions (cid:129) a pistol shot to the back of the neck (cid:129) makes these transplants
particularly desirable as the organs removed are not damaged. These barbaric practices, which apparently
include choosing the victim and date of an execution to meet the (cid:145)demand(cid:146) for organs, have previously