WRITTEN QUESTION E-2380/01 by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission. Authorisations for the use of veterinary medicinal products.
Date: 2001-08-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: approximation of laws, food safety, veterinary drug, veterinary legislation

C 81 E/166

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

(2002/C 81 E/194)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2454/01

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(11 September 2001)

Subject: The Berlusconi Government and Italian police behaviour in Genoa at the G-7 Summit

Silvio Berlusconi(cid:146)s electoral campaign rested on the mendacious idea that he was defending (cid:145)liberty(cid:146) against
(cid:145)Communism(cid:146), which he claimed was the defining ideology of the electoral lists headed by the Presidential
candidate, Francesco Rutelli, a member of the Liberal Group within the EP. Amongst other legislative
decisions precipitous to protecting his own private interests and preventing any legal action against
himself, Berlusconi began his term of office as Italian Prime Minister by describing those demonstrating
against ultraliberal capitalist globalisation as Communists, and allowing and exonerating violent anti-
democratic action by the Italian police, which left the young Carlo Giuliani dead and the arrest, while
peacefully meeting on private property, of hundreds of people, of various European nationalities, who
were then jailed and subjected to ill treatment. Several European governments, including some of those
represented within the G-8, protested to the Italian Government. What collective attitude is the Council
going to take towards the violent and anti-democratic behaviour of Berlusconi(cid:146)s police and government? Is
the Presidency of the Council at least going to encourage the taking of a collective decision on the part of
the other 14 Member State governments condemning this behaviour?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2379/01 and E-2454/01

(6 December 2001)

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that the responsibility for maintaining law and order
and safeguarding the internal security of the Member States of the Union rests with the authorities of each
Member State. It is not for the Council to comment on an issue which does not fall within its sphere of
competence.

The Council does not envisage any discussion of the other matters raised by the Honourable Member.

(2002/C 81 E/195)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2380/01

by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 August 2001)

Subject: Authorisations for the use of veterinary medicinal products

Pursuant to Council Directive 93/40/EEC (1), authorisations may be granted for the use of veterinary
medicinal products in the EU. Such authorisations include conditions,
throughout the EU,
imposed on the use of veterinary medicinal products.

identical

In addition, a large number of veterinary medicinal products are registered in the Member States. However,
in this instance, the conditions imposed on the use of identical veterinary medicinal products vary from
one Member State to another. That concerns in particular the withdrawal period applicable between the
administration of a veterinary medicinal product and the time when an animal may be slaughtered and/or
products from that animal consumed.

Does the Commission feel that, in the interests of food safety and consumer protection, withdrawal

1.
periods applicable to identical veterinary medicinal products should be uniform throughout the EU?

Does it agree that an action plan for the harmonisation, at European level, of withdrawal periods

2.
applicable to veterinary medicinal products should be introduced as rapidly as possible?

3.

By what date does the Commission think that such harmonisation might be introduced?

(1) OJ L 214, 24.8.1993, p. 31.

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Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(24 October 2001)

Veterinary medicinal products covered by a (cid:145)centralised(cid:146) marketing authorisation, granted under Council
Regulation No 2309/93 (1), are subject to a harmonised withdrawal period in the Community.

Likewise, veterinary medicinal products marketed in several Member States according to the (cid:145)mutual
recognition(cid:146) procedure put in place by Council Directive 93/40/EEC (2) also have to be subject to an
identical withdrawal period in all the Member States concerned.

However, very many veterinary medicinal products in the Member States were authorised for the first time
before the above-mentioned Regulation and Directive came into force. Consequently, certain medicinal
products are likely to have formulations and compositions which are exactly the same in qualitative and
quantitative terms in several Member States and to have been authorised for identical conditions of use
(same dosage, same method of administration, same species), while being subject to different withdrawal
periods depending on the Member State.

1.
However, the Commission does not consider that it is essential to harmonise the withdrawal periods
of these medicinal products in order to ensure food safety and consumer protection. This objective is
already met by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2377/90 laying down a Community procedure for the
establishment of maximum residue limits of veterinary medicinal products in foodstuffs of animal
origin (3); it is on the basis of these limits that the withdrawal periods are established.

Nevertheless, the Commission acknowledges that,

2.
if identical medicinal products are available in
several Member States with different conditions of use, a more coherent approach is required. In order to
complete the single market and tackle the problem of the availability of veterinary medicinal products, the
Commission has decided to proposed to the Council and to the Parliament the putting in place of a
process aimed at gradually harmonising the summary product characteristics of these (cid:145)older(cid:146) medicinal
products, including the withdrawal periods. This measure comes under the more general framework of
legislation, the material content of which was
proposals aimed at revising veterinary pharmaceutical
adopted by the Commission in July 2001.

However, the Commission is not in a position to assess the times necessary for this harmonisation.

3.
These times will be directly dependent on the number and type of any products concerned.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2309/93 of 22 July 1993 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation
and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Agency for the
Evaluation of Medicinal Products, OJ L 214, 24.8.1993.

(2) Council Directive 93/40/EEC of 14 June 1993, amending Directives 81/851/EEC and 81/852/EEC on the

approx;imation of the laws of the Member States relating to veterinary medicinal products, OJ L 214, 24.8.1993.

(3) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2377/90 of 26 June 1990 laying down a Community procedure for the establishment

of maximum residue limits of veterinary medicinal products in foodstuffs of animal origin, OJ L 224, 18.8.1990.

(2002/C 81 E/196)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2382/01

by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 August 2001)

Subject: Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities: violation of the principles of equality

and freedom of establishment and infringement of pension provisions governing establishment

In view of the fact that Article 83(2) of the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities and
the corresponding article of the rules applicable to other servants of the European Communities specify a
(cid:145)contribution(cid:146) by all officials to the pension scheme amounting to 8,25 % of their basic salary (cid:145)(cid:133), the
weightings provided for in Article 64 not being taken into account(cid:146); and bearing in mind also that, despite
the fact that all officials are required to pay a uniform contribution, Article 82(1) of the Staff Regulations