WRITTEN QUESTION E-1472/02 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. Amendment of the rules on tomato derivatives.
Date: 2002-05-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: consumer protection, marketing standard, product quality, vegetable product

C 301 E/154

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

(2002/C 301 E/165)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1470/02

by Theresa Zabell (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 May 2002)

Subject: Actions connected with sport

In its answer to my written question E-0512/02 (1) the Commission does not in fact respond to my
request, which I therefore repeat:

(cid:1) Will the Commission provide a detailed list of all measures and actions connected with sport or with

sportsmen and women during the current term of office?

(1) OJ C 172 E, 18.7.2002, p. 206.

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(15 July 2002)

Since the beginning of the current legislative period, the Commission has earmarked EUR 10 million for
projects relating to the fight against doping in sport. It also funded a project entitled ‘Sport: promoting
Olympic values at school’ to the tune of EUR 0,2 million and earmarked EUR 2,5 million for the ‘Special
Olympics’ planned for June 2003 in Dublin.
In the 2002 budget, EUR 5 million was allocated to
preparatory measures for a Community policy in the field of sport.

the Commission has not performed a general survey of all

the sport-related initiatives
However,
undertaken during the current legislative period. This would be difficult to do, given the wide range of
policies and initiatives concerned.

As the Commission stated in its answer to the Honourable Member’s written question E-0512/02, many
Community policies have had a direct impact on the organisation and development of sport and have
therefore affected the sports world and sportsmen and women.

Most of the regulatory activity concerned the application of competition rules to the sports sector.
A Commission press release (1) described the situation in detail.

Other activities came under the application of internal market rules, in particular those pertaining to the
free movement of workers and the freedom to provide services.

(1)

IP 02/806 of 3.6.2002 on ‘The application of the EU’s competition rules to sports’.

(2002/C 301 E/166)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1472/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Amendment of the rules on tomato derivatives

(27 May 2002)

The Mediterranean Member States are the largest producers of processed tomato products.

Under the Commission’s proposal for a regulation amending the existing rules on tomato derivatives, there
would be a considerable reduction in the minimum level of tomato content in processed products
marketed in Europe, and the provisions laying down requirements for peel, pulp and paste would be
abolished.

This proposal for a regulation,
products, with less dry matter and more water in tomato concentrates.

if adopted, would open up the gates to the marketing of low-quality

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/155

The Commission:

1. Can it explain the reasoning behind its proposal for a regulation, which, if adopted, would encourage

the production of low-quality food products?

2. Does it not consider that this undesirable legislative change would visibly contradict the objective of
preserving the quality and specific characteristics of those typically European products which are a
source of great social, economic and cultural benefit, such as the Mediterranean tomato?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2002)

The Commission has not prepared (cid:1) and does not plan to prepare (cid:1) a draft Regulation amending
Community marketing standards for products derived from tomatoes, quite simply because no such
standards exist.

Only in the context of the aid scheme for tomatoes intended for processing (Council Regulation (EC)
No 2201/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the markets in processed fruit and
vegetable products (1)) does Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 449/2001 (2) laying down detailed
rules for applying Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 define the main products processed from tomatoes. These
are in no way trade names or marketing standards but definitions of products or groups of products used
solely for managing and monitoring the aid scheme at the processing stage.

Peeled tomatoes and concentrates are subject to marketing standards in Italy, however, under national
Regulation No 96 of 10 March 1969.

A regulatory approach specifically defining finished products was justifiable while Community aid was
being paid for processed products. It was logical to define precisely which products were eligible for that
aid. Since the reform of the sector in 2000, however, Community aid has no longer been granted for
processed products but for the raw material (cid:1) i.e. for tomatoes supplied to the processing industry. The
question is therefore whether the old rules, derived from obsolete regulations, still have to be upheld.

The draft Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 449/01 concerns inter alia some of the definitions
referred to above. In any case, as explained above, any amendment of that Regulation would not affect
trade names or marketing standards and guarantees in force.

The draft was issued at the end of April 2002 for finalisation after consulting the trade and Member States,
in accordance with the Commission’s commitment to transparency.

Any interpretation whereby the Commission was intending to amend the standards in force on products
derived from tomatoes is therefore completely unfounded.

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996.
(2) OJ L 64, 6.3.2001.

(2002/C 301 E/167)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1473/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(27 May 2002)

Subject: Preservation of the Sicilian puppet opera and popular theatre

The Sicilian puppet opera, which is an art form of great originality and cultural value, has long been in
severe crisis.