WRITTEN QUESTION P-0785/01 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. The importation of fish into the EU.
Date: 2001-03-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: fishery product, health certificate, import (EU), import licence, veterinary inspection

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 261 E/195

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(26 April 2001)

The Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that there is no Community framework
establishing minimum safety requirements for ports infrastructure on the specific issues raised.

Moreover, for such aspects, there is no obligation for Member States to communicate to the Commission
the state of infrastructure equipment, nor of compliance with safety prescriptions (national or interna-
tional) of ports within their territory.

Member States bear full responsibility for ensuring safety in their ports.

However, the Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that the following two pieces of
European legislation will strengthen and enhance safety in port procedures; in general:

(cid:129) Commission Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing
requirements and harmonized procedures for the safe loading and unloading of bulk carriers. This
proposed Directive will translate the IMO Bulk Loading and Unloading Code into Community Law
and currently is in first reading.

(cid:129) In addition, Directive 2000/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on port reception
facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues, ensures that all EU ports will have the necessary
facilities to meet the waste delivery needs of all ships using them. This Directive, which has to be
implemented by December 2002, also provides the foundation for a continuous dialogue between
ports and their users in the context of waste management planning.

The operational programme (OP) (cid:145)Road axes, ports, urban development(cid:146) under the Community support
framework for Greece during the 2000-2006 programming period, provides mainly for interventions to
improve port facilities of Pireaus, Lavrio and Patras. Interventions to other ports to be defined at a later
stage will be co-financed either by the above mentioned OP or other regional OP, or by the cohesion fund.

The precise ports and the characteristics of projects to be co-financed will in any case be decided by the
managing authority of the respective OPs, on the basis of criteria to be defined in the programming
complement. For the cohesion fund, the final co-financing decision is taken by the Commission, on the
basis of the Member States proposals.

(2001/C 261 E/222)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0785/01

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(7 March 2001)

Subject: The importation of fish into the EU

In 2000, 405 000 tonnes of fish were imported into Italy, 56 % of which came from EU countries. The
remaining 44 % came from third countries such as Argentina, Morocco, Thailand and Colombia.

Around a quarter of the fish imported from these countries is farmed. In view of the fact that in the EU
there are regulations in force designed to safeguard the hygiene of the tanks used for fish farming, can the
Commission say:

1. whether quality and hygiene checks are carried out on fish imported from third countries;

2. whether in the fisheries agreements signed with third countries the European Commission has
provided for measures in line with those in force in the EU in order to ensure a high standard of
health protection?

C 261 E/196

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 May 2001)

The import of fishery products from third countries is regulated since 1991 by Council Directive 91/493/
EEC of 22 July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market
of fishery products (1).

1.
This Directive establishes the sanitary conditions and the control checks to be carried out on fishery
products to be marketed in the Community. This concerns both Community production and imports from
third countries. The Directive provides that the health provisions applied to imports of fishery products
from third countries shall be at least equivalent to those governing the Community production.

To lay down the specific import conditions of fishery products from a third country the Commission

2.
is required to verify the above equivalency, taking particular account of the following:

(cid:129) the legislation of the third country;

(cid:129) the organisation of the competent authority of the third country and of its inspection services;

(cid:129) the actual health conditions during the production, storage and dispatch of fishery products intended

for the Community;

(cid:129) the guarantees given by the third country regarding the compliance with the standards laid down in

the Annex to Directive 91/493/EEC.

if all the conditions are
After an evaluation mission by Community inspectors in the third country,
fulfilled, the competent authority of the third country is recognised by a Commission Decision. The
competent authority is thus empowered to inspect fishery products on the basis of Community standards,
and to sign health certificates for the export of such products to the Community.

(1) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991.

(2001/C 261 E/223)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0788/01

by Christoph Konrad (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Subject: Excessive bureaucracy and financial costs when re-registering a motor vehicle in Spain

1.
Does the Commission intend to reduce the cumbersome excess of bureaucratic red-tape that vehicle
owners encounter when trying to re-register a car in Spain? (Required visits to the town hall, the tax office,
the Spanish MOT, the competent transport department, a special engineerings office for a technical
examination of the car and a licensed workshop)

2. What is the Commission(cid:146)s opinion of the resulting high charges of about 100 000 Pesetas (DM 1200)
in total that vehicle owners must pay the bodies listed above?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2001)

In view of the many complaints received in recent years, the Commission has the opportunity to examine
the administrative obstacles encountered by European citizens in Spain when registering a vehicle
previously registered in another Member State.