WRITTEN QUESTION P-3239/00 by Dorette Corbey (PSE) to the Commission. Legionnaires' disease.
Date: 2000-10-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European social policy, infectious disease

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WRITTEN QUESTION P-3239/00

by Dorette Corbey (PSE) to the Commission

(12 October 2000)

Subject: Legionnaires(cid:146) disease

A Dutch newspaper recently reported that, for several years now, European health authorities had been
aware of the identity of about 100 hotels and apartments which had been connected on a number of
occasions with legionnaires(cid:146) disease but that they would not divulge those names. On 7 September 2000,
the Commission published its (cid:145)Progress report on the network for the epidemiological surveillance and
control of communicable diseases in the Community(cid:146) (COM(2000) 471 final) in which it reported a large
number of new cases of legionnaires(cid:146) disease in, amongst other countries, Belgium, France, Spain and the
United Kingdom.

Does the Commission take the view that the measures taken by the Member States(cid:146) authorities to

1.
control legionnaires(cid:146) disease are adequate?

2. Will the new outbreaks of the disease prompt the Commission to propose Community measures? If,
so, what measures is the Commission considering?

3.
Does the Commission take the view that the failure of the national authorities to publish the names
and addresses of hotels and apartments which have, on several occasions, been connected with legion-
naires(cid:146) disease is in line with the European policy of seeking to increase consumer confidence by means of
complete and conclusive information (see the mission statement of the Commission(cid:146)s DG for Consumer
Health Protection).

4.
Does it take the view that the names and addresses of hotels and other holiday accommodation
which have been connected with legionnaires(cid:146) disease must be published? If so, should this involve
publication of the presence of legionella in a specific location or publication of possible cases of disease?

Is the Commission prepared to play a part in this matter and, for example, to use electronic means of

5.
communication?

6. What other measures is the Commission taking, and what measures will the Commission be
recommending to the Member States in order to provide consumers with information about the threat
posed by legionella to human health in the EU?

Joint answer
to Written Questions P-3211/00, E-3233/00 and P-3239/00
given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(30 November 2000)

The data attributed to the European working group for Legionella infections (EWGLI) surveillance scheme
and mentioned in the Dutch paper were an incorrect extrapolation from information on the EWGLI
website. The actual number of travel related cases of legionnaires(cid:146) disease that the EWGLI surveillance
scheme has ascertained is one tenth of that quoted. The correct
information is available at http://
www.ewgli.org/.

The clusters of travel associated legionnaires(cid:146) disease reported in the progress report (1) on the Community
network through Commission Decision 2000/57/EC of 22 December 1999 on the early warning and
response system for the prevention and control of communicable diseases under Decision no 2119/98/EC
of the Parliament and of the Council (2) in its first year of operation were not a reflection of increasing
outbreaks of legionnaires(cid:146) disease. The EWGLI surveillance scheme has been reporting clusters through its
network since 1987 when it became operational. This surveillance shows that the number of cases
involving European residents associated with clusters of travel associated legionnaires(cid:146) disease has in fact
been declining in recent years.

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The main aim of the EWGLI Legionella surveillance scheme, which is funded by the Commission, is the
surveillance of cases associated with travel. This enables the detection of clusters of disease that would not
necessarily be detected by national surveillance alone,
in order to allow investigation and preventive
measures. The association of cases with a site identified through the surveillance scheme is a starting point
for investigation by local authorities and not an identification of the site as the actual source of infection.

In order to ensure the availability of relevant information as rapidly as possible, the surveillance scheme
provides that information is to be treated as confidential and used by the participants for the purpose of
making risk assessments and prevention. Making the information available to the public could be
misleading given the unavoidably ambiguous, non-validated nature of much of the data. Without the
rules of confidentiality, less information is likely to be made available, limiting the surveillance networks(cid:146)
effectiveness in preventing disease. However, the Commission is sympathetic to improving the information
available to the public.

In the future proposed Community public health programme, one of the main three strands aims to
improve information and knowledge for the development of public health. That includes information to
the general public on health risks. In this context, the Commission will consider how best to reconcile the
two requirements of confidentiality and transparency.

The EWGLI surveillance scheme places summary information on the problem of legionnaires(cid:146) disease and
travel on its public website as well as information on prevention to both the public and hoteliers (http://
www.ewgli.org).

Following the two outbreaks in 1999 at a Netherlands flower show and at a trade fair in Belgium, the
Commission has been working with experts in Member States and the Community network established by
Decision 2119/98/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 setting up a network for
the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community (3) to identify the
need for future preventive action for legionellosis at a European level. legionnaires(cid:146) disease is already a
priority under Commission Decision 2000/96/EC of 22 December 1999 on the communicable diseases to
be progressively covered by the Community network under Decision no 2119/98/EC of the Parliament and
of the Council (4) within the Community network for epidemiological surveillance. The Commission has
supported improvements in European surveillance of legionnaires(cid:146) disease by extending this to non-travel
related Community outbreaks and has supported European initiatives to develop technical guidance on
prevention and control of legionellosis. The Commission will discuss this further with the Community
network committee in December 2000 and will propose any further action.

Concerning the Community(cid:146)s drinking water legislation, Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980
relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption (5) applies. This stipulates that (cid:145)water
intended for human consumption should not contain pathogenic organisms(cid:146). The new drinking water
Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consump-
tion (6) has to be transposed into national laws by 25 December 2000 and has to be implemented by
25 December 2003. Article 4.1(a) of this Directive puts an obligation on Member States to ensure that
water intended for human consumption is free from any micro-organisms and parasites and from any
substances which,
in numbers or concentrations, constitute a potential danger to human health. The
Commission considers that the Community legislation on drinking water quality is sufficiently protective.
It is recalled that the source of the Legionella outbreak in the Netherlands was not bad drinking water
quality, but a contaminated fire hose used to transport the water for use by the exhibition displays.

As far as the draft best available techniques (BAT) reference document (7) is concerned, in the context of
the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996
concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (8),
it identifies five measures that operators of
industrial wet cooling systems should take in order to reduce biological growth in these systems. These
measures are strongly recommended for the licensing authorities that issue permits for all installations
falling within the scope of the IPPC Directive. However, no universally applicable treatment has as yet been
identified that at the same time takes into account the environmental and health requirements, and more
research is needed. Nor is it currently possible to propose a specific level of colony forming units (the unit

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in which the quantity of bacteria is measured) associated with a certain risk level. In the light of this, the
Commission considers that it should remain the responsibility of the competent authority to discuss this
problem with the plant operator, and to specify in more detail how the above-mentioned measures should
be implemented, taking into account local factors such as site location and climate conditions.

(1) Progress Report on the Network for the Epidemiological Surveillance and Control of Communicable Diseases in the

Community. COM(2000) 471 final. http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph/others/network/net03_en.pdf.

(2) OJ L 21, 26.1.2000.
(3) OJ L 268, 3.10.1998.
(4) OJ L 28, 3.2.2000.
(5) OJ L 229, 30.8.1980.
(6) OJ L 330, 5.12.1998.
(7) http://eippcb.jrc.es/.
(8) OJ L 257, 10.10.1996.

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WRITTEN QUESTION P-3212/00

by Hans Kronberger (NI) to the Commission

(10 October 2000)

Subject: Take-off campaign on renewable energy

The Commission has issued a (cid:145)Take-off Campaign(cid:146) to accompany its White Paper entitled (cid:145)Energy for the
Future: Renewable Sources of Energy(cid:146).

What measures have been taken to implement this take-off campaign?

What progress has been made in putting the take-off campaign into practice?

Is there any ongoing supervision of its implementation?

Has a system been devised and applied for monitoring implementation of the campaign?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(20 November 2000)

The Commission(cid:146)s white paper on Energy for the future: renewable sources of energy (1) included an
outline for a campaign for take-off, aiming to promote and accelerate the implementation of large projects
in the different renewable energy sources (RES) sectors, as well as to send clear signals for the greater use
of RES.

The campaign will run from 2000 to 2003 and is focussed on quantitative objectives in different key
sectors of RES. It also seeks to identify (cid:145)100 communities(cid:146) aiming at 100 % of RES supply. The key sector
objectives of the campaign to be reached by 2003 were set at between 15 % and 25 % of the overall white
paper objectives for 2010. The intermediate objectives for 2003 will provide a good short or medium term
picture of the progress made.

As for the objectives of the campaign, the Commision can confirm that the wind objective has already
been achieved; that solar applications (both photovoltaic and thermal) are peaking in some areas with
appropriate regulatory and promotional measures, mainly at regional and local level; while the biomass
objectives, which need a specific survey in order to complete statistical data, have to be closely monitored.
Biogas is clearly increasing. In space heating, biomass has to compete with natural gas, while in transport,
biofuels have to compete with conventional
the
production of raw materials to produce energy is very well possible, also by allowing such production
on land set-aside. The success of biofuels will depend on specific legislation as regards their use and fiscal
treatment. Finally the specific objective of 100 communities aimed at 100 % of RES supply will definitely

In the context of agricultural policy,

fuels.

fossil