WRITTEN QUESTION E-3169/00 by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission. Labelling on blister strips containing medicines.
Date: 2000-10-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, consumer information, labelling, marketing, marketing standard, medicinal product, official language, preparation for market

C 113 E/250

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

(2001/C 113 E/273)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3169/00

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 October 2000)

Subject: Labelling on blister strips containing medicines

There is a requirement that all medicines marketed in the UK, whether imported or not, comply with the
UK labelling legislation, which means that certain particulars must be in the English language. However,
instructions on the blister strip, for example days of the week, are not covered by this legislation.

What are the Commission(cid:146)s views on making it compulsory that all instructions relevant to taking a course
of medicine are clearly set out in the language of the country in which they are dispensed?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2000)

Council Directive 92/27/EEC of 31 March 1992, on the labelling of medicinal products for human use and
on package leaflets (1), provides for the obligation to label the medicinal product in the official language or
languages of the Member State where the product is placed on the market (Article 4.2). This provision
covers both the outer packaging and the immediate packaging of medicinal products. The same obligation
applies to the information contained on the package leaflet (Article 8).

The instructions on the blister strip should therefore be covered by this Directive and by the British
labelling legislation, transposing this Directive and providing for the instructions to be in the English
language.

These provisions are justified by the need to provide the patients with clear and understandable
information.

(1) OJ L 113, 30.4.1992.

(2001/C 113 E/274)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3174/00

by Carlos Coelho (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 October 2000)

Subject: Socrates/Erasmus mobility grants

The Erasmus programme is intended to encourage student mobility, by enabling students to carry out part
of their studies in another Member State, and thus develop the European dimension of education. By
encouraging transnational mobility between universities, Erasmus contributes to greater transparency and
the recognition of academic qualifications and diplomas within the Community.

I have been contacted by a Portuguese student who is in his fifth year of civil engineering at the Instituto
Superior TØcnico, and applied for the Socrates II/Erasmus programme. He was accepted for the second
semester of the current session at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby. He obtained a Socrates
mobility grant of € 1 230, which is supposed to cover his travel expenses as well. Given that his stays in
Denmark will never last less than five months, and that the cost of the flight amounts to almost a third of
the total grant, the student cannot move to Denmark unless further financial support is forthcoming.

Does the Commission agree that these mobility programmes are basically designed for the children of the
better-off?

Or does the Commission think it might be possible to consider other,
forms of support,
e.g. reduced ticket prices for travel, accommodation subsidies, etc., which would be supplementary to the
Erasmus grant?

indirect