Council Conclusions of 5 June 2001 on a Community strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm
Date: 2001-06-05
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, alcoholism, consumer protection, cooperation policy, exchange of information, public health

20.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 175/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 5 June 2001

on a Community strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm

(2001/C 175/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

1. EMPHASISES that a high level of human health protection
should be ensured in the definition and implementation of
all Community policies and activities;

2. RECALLS the Resolution of 29 May 1986 on alcohol

abuse (1);

3. TAKES NOTE of the results of the European Conference on
Health Determinants held in Evora on 15 and 16 March,
2000, which placed emphasis on, among other things,
alcohol and recommended a series of practical and
targeted steps to address the challenges in this area at
Community level;

4. RECALLS initiatives taken under the auspices of the WHO
framework to reduce the adverse health effects from the
consumption of,
in this
connection a European Alcohol action plan 2000 to
2005 was endorsed by the WHO Regional Committee
for Europe;

inter alia, alcohol and that

8. TAKES NOTE of the findings of the European comparative
the Alcohol and other drug use
alcohol study (ECAS),
among students (ESPAD) report as well as the WHO
Global burden of disease 2000 study;

9. EMPHASISES that alcohol

is one of the key health deter-

minants in the European Community;

10. STATES that scientific work has clearly shown that high
consumption of alcohol
in the population substantially
increases the risk of all-cause mortality, especially liver
cirrhosis, alcoholism, alcohol psychosis, alcohol poisoning,
alcoholic gastritis, alcoholic cardiomyopathy and alcoholic
alcohol
polyneuropathy,
syndrome (FAS) and the level of other alcohol-related
morbidity;

haemorrhagic

stroke,

foetal

11.

IS CONCERNED by the fact
is a major
contributory factor in accidents with a fatal outcome on
European roads, and alcohol
is also the direct cause of
many accidents both in workplaces and at home;

that alcohol

5. RECALLS in this connection that

the Memorandum of
Understanding between the WHO and the Commission
commits both bodies to cooperate, exchange information
and share experience;

12. UNDERLINES the close link between alcohol abuse and
reduced productivity at work, unemployment, social margi-
nalisation and exclusion, domestic violence and disruption
of the family unit, criminality, homelessness and mental
illness;

6. TAKES NOTE of the declaration of the WHO Ministerial
and Alcohol held in
Conference on Young People
Stockholm on 19 to 21 February 2001, which stresses,
inter alia, that alcohol policies directed at young people
should be part of a broader societal response;

7. RECALLS that

the Commission’s communication on a
Community health strategy,
for a
future programme of Community action in the field of
public health (2), foresees,
inter alia, the preparation and
lifestyle-
implementation of strategies and measures of
related health determinants, such as alcohol;

including a proposal

13.

IS CONCERNED by the reported increasing regular drinking
habits as well as increasing binge drinking habits among
young people in some Member States, particularly since
there are strong links between an early start with regard
to heavy alcohol consumption, substance abuse and crimi-
nality;

14. RECALLS the European Union Drugs Strategy 2000 to
2004 which emphasises the need for measures addressing
addiction in general, including alcohol and tobacco;

(1) OJ C 184 of 23.7.1986, p. 3.
(2) OJ C 337 E of 28.11.2000, p. 122.

15.

IS AWARE of the fact that alcohol-related problems are also
significant in the candidate countries;

C 175/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

20.6.2001

16. RECOGNISES the fact that, while national differences are
narrowing in terms of beverage preferences, alcohol
there are
consumption and alcohol policy measures,
cultural,
between
differences
social
Member States;

economic

and

consumer protection, transport, advertising, marketing,
sponsoring, excise duties and other internal market
issues, while
States’
competencies,

respecting Member

fully

17. CONSIDERS that any Community action should focus on
measures with a European added value, taking full account
of possibilities offered by the future action programme in
the field of public health, but also including measures in
policy areas other than public health;

(cid:151) strengthened cooperation and exchange of knowledge

between Member States,

(cid:151) international cooperation, in particular with and within

the World Health Organisation;

18. UNDERLINES therefore the desirability of developing a
reducing
the

comprehensive Community strategy aimed at
alcohol-related
following elements:

harm comprising

particular

in

(cid:151) further development of comparative and compre-
hensive information together with relevant high-quality
research, and an effective monitoring system on alcohol
consumption,
policy
measures and their effects in the European Community,

alcohol-related

harm,

and

19. WELCOMES the adoption by the Council of a recommen-
dation on the drinking of alcohol by children and
adolescents as a first step in the development towards a
more comprehensive approach across the Community;

20. RECOGNISES the need for cooperation with the candidate
countries to include work on an alcohol strategy, notably
in the framework of the future action programme in the
field of public health, and for the Phare programme to
include actions concerning alcohol-related problems;

(cid:151) a co-ordinated range of Community activities in all
relevant policy areas; a high level of health protection
shall be ensured in the definition and implementation
in fields such as research,
of Community activities,

21.

INVITES the Commission to put forward proposals for a
comprehensive Community strategy aimed at reducing
alcohol-related harm which shall complement national
policies and set out a timetable for the different actions.

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 5 June 2001

on the epidemiological situation of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) and a proactive strategy on
zoonoses, in particular transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)

(2001/C 175/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

1. CONSIDERING that a significant

reported
including both
food-borne diseases of zoonotic origin,
emerging and re-emerging diseases, has been recorded in
most Member States during the last decades;

increase of

the need to properly link actions in the framework of
public health with health-related initiatives
in other
policy areas is emphasised, and in which the Commission
declares its intention to establish mechanisms to ensure
that policies and activities contribute to health protection,
as well as the Commission proposal for a public health
programme;

2. CONSIDERING that vCJD is a disease that is always fatal and

also affects younger people;

3. STRESSING that a high level of human health protection is
to be ensured in the definition and implementation of all
Community policies and activities;

4. RECALLING the communication from the Commission on
the health strategy of the European Community, in which

5. RECALLING the conclusions of the European Council

in
Nice on 7 to 9 December 2000, which take note of the
to combat BSE and
measures already taken in order
in the field of
emphasise that more intense efforts
human medicine and veterinary research are essential
if
the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
this disease
are to be guaranteed;