WRITTEN QUESTION P-1102/01 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. UK derogations.
Date: 2001-03-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC Directive, United Kingdom, application of EU law, derogation from EU law, legislative period

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/1

I

(Information)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER

(2002/C 160 E/001)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1102/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 March 2001)

Subject: UK derogations

Could the Commission provide details of the UK derogations from Community law that will expire during
the current parliamentary term and the EU directives that will become law during the next year?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(16 October 2001)

The Commission lists below, for the intention of the Honourable Member, the legal acts under which
derogations were granted to the United Kingdom:

2 Commission Decision 98/377/EC of 18 May 1998 adapting Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC)
No 571/88 in view of the organisation of the Community surveys on the structure of agricultural
holdings (1).

2 Council Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom of 31 October 1994 on the system of

the European
Communities’ own resources (2) and Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000
on the system of the European Communities’ own resources (3).

2 Directive 2001/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 amending
Council Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Community’s railways (4), and Directive
2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of
railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and
safety certification (4).

2 Council Decision 2000/435/EC (5) of 29 June 2000 amending Council Decision 97/375/EC of 9 June
1997 authorising the United Kingdom to apply an optional measure derogating from Article 17 of the
sixth Directive (77/388/EEC) on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to
turnover taxes (6) and Council Decision 98/23/EC of 19 December 1997 authorising the United
Kingdom to extend application of a measure derogating from Article 28e(1) of the Sixth Council
Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover
taxes (7).

2 Council Decision 2000/747/EC of 27 November 2000 amending Article 3 of Decision 98/198/EC
authorising the United Kingdom to extend application of a measure derogating from Articles 6 and 17
of the sixth Directive (77/388/EEC) on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to
turnover taxes (8).

C 160 E/2

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

With regard to the second part of the question, the Commission would inform the Honourable Member
that 81 Directives must be transposed between 1 April 2001 and 31 December 2002. This information is
given in an annex which is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat.

(1) OJ L 168, 13.6.1998.
(2) OJ L 293, 12.11.1994.
(3) OJ L 253, 7.10.2000.
(4) OJ L 75, 15.3.2001.
(5) OJ L 172, 12.7.2000.
(6) OJ L 158, 17.6.1991.
(7) OJ L 8, 14.1.1998.
(8) OJ L 302, 1.12.2000.

(2002/C 160 E/002)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1569/01

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(29 May 2001)

Subject: Assessment of the hazards of fireworks materials in the EU

Investigations into the explosion at the Enschede fireworks factory on 13 May 2000 led to the conclusion
that:

2 ADR Classes 1,1 to 1,4 were devised for the assessment of hazards which might arise during the
transport of explosive materials and are applicable only to a limited extent to the storage thereof,

2 classification of fireworks materials in the various ADR classes is carried out in the country of

manufacture and checks showed that the materials had been wrongly classified,

2 accordingly, only a few Member States verify the classification of fireworks materials on import.

1. What possibilities does the Commission see for the tests to assess fireworks materials to be reviewed
at Community, OECD or UN level and, where appropriate, supplemented by a test whereby the materials
would be exposed to fire in an enclosed environment in order to take account of the fact that most
fireworks materials are not only transported in containers but also stored in them?

Given that classification of fireworks materials in the various ADR classes is carried out in the
2.
country of manufacture, with classification in Classes 1,3 and 1,4 being in part obligatory for the
marketing thereof, and given that the extent to which Member States check such classification varies, does
the Commission see any possibility of requiring all the Member States to have the classification of all
materials monitored before import by means of tests carried out by laboratories accredited in the
Community?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 2001)

Centre (JRC) at Ispra/Italy on 28-29 March 2001, as already mentioned in the answer to the Honourable
Member’s Written Question E-1568/01 (1) experts held the view that the classification system operated
under the United Nations European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods
by Road (UN/ADR) better represents the hazards of certain types of explosives, particularly fireworks, than
the risk phrases currently used in At the Workshop on explosive and pyrotechnic substances (2) held at the
Joint Research Council Directive 96/82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards
involving dangerous substances hereafter the Seveso II Directive. The tests performed under these risk
phrases are intended to identify a limited range of hazards applicable to raw substances, but these hazards
are not representative of the full range of hazards associated with explosive or pyrotechnic articles in
transport or storage. In contrast, the UN/ADR classification scheme provides a much broader assessment of
hazards associated with explosive substances and articles alike under different conditions.