WRITTEN QUESTION E-3657/01 by Elisa Damião (PSE) to the Council. State support for ship-building.
Date: 2002-01-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, State aid, competition policy, maritime transport, restriction on competition, shipbuilding

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/159

The main problems include:

(cid:18) the average number of passengers carried each day, which stands at around 450 000, thus exceeding

the system’s capacity by 200 000;

(cid:18) inadequate fire extinguishing facilities and procedures and evacuation routes and a lack of proper
facilities and adequate staff to provide first aid treatment to the injured prior to the arrival of the
emergency services.

Given that the main problem identified during the inspections is that of evacuating passengers sufficiently
quickly in the event of an emergency, and in view of the risk of further terrorist attacks following the
events of 11 September, would the Commission state:

1. whether there are any directives covering this area;

2. whether it intends to make representations to or take action vis-à-vis the relevant authorities;

3. what view it takes of this matter?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(20 February 2002)

1.

There are no Community directives covering the area of safety and security management for metros.

2. Metro systems in different cities are normally subject to local safety and security requirements and
the design, engineering principles, extension of the network and the traffic intensity vary a lot between
Member States and cities. For these reasons safety measures and emergency plans to assure the security of
the users must be adapted to the local situation and elaborated in cooperation with the local rescue
services and other relevant authorities. All these measures are best taken at Member State level,
in
accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

For the moment, and for this reason, the Commission does not plan to propose Community legislation
with detailed safety and security requirements on metro systems and has no intention to intervene in the
situation in Rome, which has to be handled by the competent national or local authorities.

3.

For above-mentioned reasons the Commission has no possibility to take a view on the matter.

(2002/C 160 E/200)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3657/01

by Elisa Damião (PSE) to the Council

(15 January 2002)

Subject: State support for ship-building

The specialised press has reported that the German Government is willing to subsidise sea transport and
the ship-building industry, and has submitted a proposal to this effect to Parliament.

In view of the distortion of competition this may cause and the fact that it is an example of a Member
State directly or indirectly protecting the ship-building and maritime transport sectors, can the Council
supply information about the context of these practices and assess the consequences for the industries of
other Member States?

C 160 E/160

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

Reply

(25/26 March 2002)

The Honourable Member will certainly understand that it is not for the Council to comment on allegations
in the press concerning the intention of a Government to support sea transport and the shipbuilding
industry.

In any case, the Honourable Member will not be unaware that any national measures likely to cause
distortion of competition are systematically analysed by the Commission’s specialised departments and that
it therefore falls to that Institution to assess the situation and take the necessary steps, where appropriate,
to deal with any unfair practices.

(2002/C 160 E/201)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3660/01

by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(9 January 2002)

Subject: Waste Management Regulation (cid:18) Ireland (Environmental Levy)

Could the Commission please comment on whether it finds the Irish Draft Waste Management regulations
acceptable. If adopted in their current form they would have the net effect of restricting the imports of
biodegradable packaging and would contravene Directive 94/62/EC (1) and Articles 28 and 30 of the EC
Treaty.

This assessment is based on the requirements contained in the Directive and the EC Treaty as interpreted
by the European Commission and recently confirmed in the opinion of the Advocate General Mr Damaso
Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer in C-246/99 Commission v Denmark.

The draft regulations as they stand do not draw any destination between biodegradable and non-
biodegradable packaging, specifically in relation to the imposition of a flat levy on both, and this policy if
adopted would have the effect of imposing a burden on biodegradable plastic bags which must contradict
the aim of the regulation viz. to reduce waste.

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2002)

The Irish Draft Waste Management (Environmental Levy) (Plastic Bags) Regulations were notified to the
Commission in September 2001 under the auspices of Directive 94/62/EC (1) and Directive 98/34/EC (2).
The draft regulations propose, as a means of reducing the generation of waste arising from plastic bag
consumption, a tax of 15 cent (c) be levied on certain types of plastic bags at point of sale. A number of
bags are to be exempted from the proposed tax, including those plastic bags designed for reuse, used to
contain goods and which are sold for a sum not less than 70c.

The Commission completed the assessment of the draft fiscal measure in November 2001. On current
information and analysis, the Commission has not found any reason to conclude that the provisions of the
Draft Regulations contravene Community law, specifically either Directive 94/62/EC or Article 90
(ex Article 95) of the EC Treaty. Article 4 of the Directive requires Member States to undertake measures
designed to prevent the formation of packaging waste. Article 15 of the Directive enables Member States to
adopt economic instruments in accordance with principles governing the Community environmental
policy to implement
the Directive, which include aiming to prevent and reduce
environmental impact arising through packaging and packaging waste. Given that the proposed measure is

the objectives of