WRITTEN QUESTION E-2627/01 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council. Council meeting of 20 July 2001.
Date: 2001-09-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community budget, EU statistics, European Council, decision-making, drafting of EU law, qualified majority

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/63

(2002/C 134 E/063)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2623/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(27 September 2001)

Subject: Council meeting of 10 July 2001

Will the Council state whether any votes were taken in the Ecofin Council on 10 July 2001 and if so, how
many and on what matters?

Will it further record the votes of all those who voted on each issue during the meeting?

(2002/C 134 E/064)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2625/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(27 September 2001)

Subject: Council meeting of 16/17 July 2001

Will the Council state whether any votes were taken in the General Affairs Council on 16/17 July 2001
and if so, how many and on what matters?

Will it further record the votes of all those who voted on each issue during the meeting?

(2002/C 134 E/065)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2627/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(27 September 2001)

Subject: Council meeting of 20 July 2001

Will the Council state whether any votes were taken in the Budget Council on 20 July 2001 and if so, how
many and on what matters?

Will it further record the votes of all those who voted on each issue during the meeting?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2625/01 and E-2627/01

(12 February 2002)

As a preliminary remark, the Council should like to draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the replies
given to his questions E-3938/00 and E-3939/00, in which it is stated that the General Secretariat of the
Council draws up monthly summaries of Council acts which contain lists of legislative and non-legislative
acts of the Council, including the results of votes, explanations of voting and statements for the minutes
when the Council is acting in its capacity as legislator. As from January 2001 they also include references
to the voting procedure followed for the adoption of the acts by the Council (unanimity, qualified or
simple majority). These monthly summaries can be obtained directly from the Council’s website (http://ue.
eu. int, under ‘Transparency’ and ‘Summary of Council acts’). Furthermore, the results of the votes on
legislative acts are published in the press releases which are issued after the Council meetings.

C 134 E/64

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

As for the Honourable Member’s specific questions concerning the votes taken in several Council meetings
held in June and July 2001, the following answers can be given:

< 2362nd Council meeting of 25/26 June 2001:

< No votes were taken.

< 2364th Council meeting of 27/28 June 2001:

< Adoption

of

the

Council

Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of
origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, with
three votes against (DK, FIN, S) and one abstention (A).

supplementing

the Annex

Regulation

to

< Adoption of a Common Position on the directive amending for the 20th time the Directive
substances and

relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous
preparations, with three votes against (B, DK, NL).

< 2365th Council meeting of 10 July 2001:

< No votes were taken.

< 2367th Council meeting of 16 July 2001:

< No votes were taken.

< 2368th Council meeting of 20 July 2001:

< No votes were taken.

(2002/C 134 E/066)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2630/01

by Elly Plooij-van Gorsel (ELDR)
and Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 September 2001)

Subject: Internet domain names

1.
Is the Commission aware that SIDN (Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie), the umbrella organisation
for the registration and release of Internet domain names in the Netherlands, refuses to register domain
names consisting only of numbers (e.g. www.001. nl)?

2.
It is, however, possible to register numbers-only domain names in other European countries, e.g.
Switzerland and Italy. Furthermore, there are now the necessary domain extensions (. com,. net,. org,. tv)
with which numbers-only names can in fact be used, and these can be registered by private individuals and
businesses themselves. What is more, the rules of various RFCs quite often appear to be contradictory or
vague. This results in a lack of clarity and in uncertainty. Does the Commission take the view that this
could lead to distortion of competition within the European Union?

3.

If so, how does the Commission propose to prevent it?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2001)

Individual registries in the Member States primarily deal with registry policies for country-code Top Level
Domains (ccTLDs), including naming policies. Internet management generally is based on the principles of
self-management and self-regulation. In this respect, the Commission recalls Parliament’s resolution of
2001 on the Commission communication to the Council and Parliament on ‘The Organisation and
Management of the Internet < International and European Policy Issues 1998-2000’ (1).