WRITTEN QUESTION E-0096/02 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Child car seats.
Date: 2002-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC conformity marking, EU law, child, motor vehicle, safety device, technical standard

20.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 147 E/241

(cid:1) The use of flat rates had led to overstatement of expenditure

North Rhine-Westphalia has as all Länder its own Integra Guidelines (Förderrichtlinie). There the use
of flat rates for expenditure items is foreseen without the need to justify of the expenditure incurred
for the project. This method makes administration and control easier and prevents increased costs, but
it is against the principle of real costs. The Court checked the real costs for the projects and found in
some cases an overfinancing. In most cases the real costs were at least as high as the flat rates. The
overfinanced part was correctly treated as an error by the Court and will be corrected by the
Commission at the closure of the programme by a reduction in the 1999 final claim.

(cid:1) Parts of the public co-financing had not been identified

This problem of lack of documentation and justification of the so-called passive public cofinancing
was already identified by the Commission as a general weakness in ESF administration. In a recent
interpretation note (1) the need for this documentation was emphasized. In the case controlled by the
Court, the co-financing consisted of social allowances paid to the participants by the municipalities or
allowances paid by the Bundesanstalt für Arbeit. In many cases the payment proofs were not in the
files and confirmations could not even be found at the co-financing administrations involved (e.g. for
documentation on social allowances, the retention period was already over). The non-justification of
expenditure renders it ineligible. This type of error forms the greatest part of the irregularities and will
be corrected at the closure of the federal programme. Only then can the financial impact of the error
on the Community Budget be definitively quantified.

The Commission made her last control visit to North Rhine-Westphalia in 2000. The audit of the
administration of mainstream programmes by the ‘Versorgungsämter’ came to a quite positive judgement.
The use of flat rates and the lack of justification were not detected as audit findings.

(1) Ref.: Council Regulation 1260/1999 (cid:1) Article 32 (1) Subparagraph 3.

(2002/C 147 E/258)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0096/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Child car seats

1. Will the Commission state what EU provisions if any currently apply to the standards set for
children’s detachable car seats?

Do such standards aim for the objective that such seats should be readily attachable in every make of

2.
car?

3. What efforts if any have been made to ensure the widespread standardisation of such child car seat
fixings?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2002)

Commission Directive 2000/3/EC of 22 February 2000, adapting to technical progress Council Directive
77/541/EEC relating to safety belts and restraint systems of motor vehicles (1), lays down the technical
requirements concerning child restraint systems, in particular ‘removable’ seats intended for children.

Annex XVII of Directive 2000/3/EC refers explicitly to Regulation 44 of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), as regards the technical requirements necessary to approve child
restraint systems. It is worth noting that the Community has acceded to Regulation 44 including the 03
series of amendments, by virtue of Council Decision 97/836/EC of 27 November 1997 with a view to
accession by the Community to the Agreement of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

C 147 E/242

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

concerning the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts
which can be fitted to and/or be used on wheeled vehicles and the conditions for reciprocal recognition of
approvals granted on the basis of these prescriptions (’Revised 1958 Agreement’) (2).

Regulation 44 permits a child seat to be secured to the vehicle by using the safety belts for adult
occupants.

In concrete terms, every child restraint system has to be approved according to either Directive 2000/3/EC
or Regulation 44 before being allowed to be put on the Community market. The proof of conformity is
given by the approval sticker affixed to the seat.

The Commission is participating actively in the works of the ‘Groupe de Rapporteurs sur la Sécurité
Passive (GRSP)’, within the UN/ECE, which is currently setting up technical requirements for a simpler
fixing method, called the Isofix system. Once adopted, the Isofix system will ease the fitting of child
restrain systems in any vehicle. As soon as the relevant UN/ECE regulations have been amended, the
Commission will adopt appropriate measures for the insertion of the new requirements in the Community
legislation.

(1) OJ L 53, 25.2.2000.
(2) OJ L 346, 17.12.1997.

(2002/C 147 E/259)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0097/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Disability benefits

Will the Commission provide a comparison of the benefits and other entitlements of disabled people in
each of the Member States?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2002)

Data on disability benefits in each Member State may be found in the Missoc data base (Mutual
Information System on Social Protection in the Member States), available at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/
employment_social/missoc2000/index_en.htm.

Since disability benefits may take the form of various types of allowances, it would be advisable to consult
the following chapters:

(cid:1) Chapter III: Sickness (cid:1) Cash Benefits,

(cid:1) Chapter V: Invalidity,

(cid:1) Chapter VIII: Employment injuries and occupational diseases,

(cid:1) Chapter XI: Guaranteeing sufficient resources.

(2002/C 147 E/260)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0163/02

by Werner Langen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Sparkling wine production in Italy and Austria

’Prosecco’ semi-sparkling wines sold by Italian firms exceed the maximum limit in respect of pressure of
semi-sparkling wine clearly laid down in EU wine legislation (maximum 2,5 bar). This infringement was