WRITTEN QUESTION E-2369/02 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Directive 1999/74/EC on the protection of laying hens.
Date: 2002-08-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU statistics, European Commission, European standard, application of EU law, costing, laying poultry, livestock farming, protection of animals, report

C 78 E/2

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(24 April 2001)

Article 12 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of
wild fauna and flora (1) states that Member States shall take the requisite measures to establish a system of
strict protection for the animal species listed in Annex IV(a), prohibiting deliberate disturbance of these
species, particularly during the period of breeding, rearing, hibernation and migration as well as
deterioration or destruction of breeding sites or resting places.

The Commission initiated legal proceedings before the Court of Justice on 17 March 2000 in view of the
Greek authorities’
failure to take the measures they had declared necessary in order to protect the
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Caretta caretta, namely the adoption of two Presidential Decrees on, firstly, the
establishment of the Zakinthos marine park and, secondly, compensatory measures. The Greek authorities
adopted the Presidential Decree establishing the marine park in December 1999.

The Commission considers that, in addition to adopting the second Presidential Decree on compensatory
measures, the Greek authorities should take the measures needed to ensure the smooth running of the
marine park and should make provision for the long-term implementation of a package of practical
measures to protect the Lagana beaches which are nesting sites for the species.

Directive 92/43/EEC leaves it to Member State to specify the measures needed to establish a system of
strict protection for the animal species concerned. The Greek authorities must therefore define the practical
measures needed to ensure the protection of Caretta caretta on Zakinthos.

The projects co-funded by both the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund cover
the cost of the projects plus, where necessary and within certain limits, the cost of related expropriations.
The cost of any compensatory measures and costs relating to the exchange of land, etc., must normally be
covered by national funding without any Community contribution.

The type of project to which the Honourable Members refer (a biotope management plan) may be eligible
under the future ‘Environment’ Operational Programme (OP) for Greece for the programming period
2000-2006.

In order to be eligible, a project must comply with the objective and transparent selection criteria
authorised in advance by the authority responsible for managing each OP. These criteria are listed in the
framework for the abovementioned period and, amongst other considerations,
Community support
stipulate that
the project promoters must be capable of
completing it successfully. It is however the task of the Monitoring Committee for each OP to determine
the details of the specific criteria adopted and subsequently to check that they are properly implemented
by the relevant authority.

the project must be operational and that

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2004/C 78 E/0002)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2369/02

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 August 2002)

Subject: Directive 1999/74/EC on the protection of laying hens

What is the estimated cost to business of compliance with Directive 1999/74/EC (1) laying down minimum
standards for the protection of laying hens?

How many keepers are there in the EU who hold less than 350 hens?

(1) OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 53.

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/3

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(1 October 2002)

The Commission has currently no available figures to estimate this cost. When making its proposal for the
Directive in question laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens, it took account of
the economic estimations presented in its Communication of 11 March 1998 on the protection of laying
hens kept in various systems of rearing (1). However, the provisions of Council Directive 1999/74/EC of
19 July 1999, as finally adopted by the Council, include new technical elements which were not fully
considered in the economic analysis of the Commission. For this reason article 10 of Directive 1999/74/EC
includes the requirement for a report, to be presented by the Commission not later than 1 January 2005.
An obligation for a further evaluation of the socio-economic implications of the various systems is also
foreseen in the Directive. The cost to producers of implementation will play a key role in the socio-
economic chapter of the report.

There are presently no recent statistics available to the Commission concerning the number of producers
having less than 350 hens. However, in 1997 (2) there were 542 500 farms with less than 100 hens and
2 200 farms with between 100 and 499 hens, out of a total number of 549 250 laying hen farms
accounted for in the whole EU.

(1) OJ C 123, 22.4.1998.
(2) Eurostat: Results of the farm structure survey 1997.

(2004/C 78 E/0003)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3463/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 December 2002)

Subject: Economic integration

Will the Commission state the value of profits and dividends paid to non-residents in each Member State
for each year of the last five years, and will it further express that figure as a percentage of total business
profits in each Member State, excluding profits remitted outside the Member State?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2003)

The Commission has calculated the value of profits and dividends paid to non-residents for the years/
Member States that enough information was available to perform such calculations.

The Commission has also calculated, when feasible, the percentage they represent in total business profits,
excluding profits remitted outside the Member States.

All data available are given in the table sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s
secretariat.

(2004/C 78 E/0004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3509/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 December 2002)

Subject: Abolition of the arrangement whereby small-scale, occasional trading can be carried out on a

cross-border basis using the cash-on-delivery system

1.
Is the Commission aware that the cash-on-delivery system, under which packages are sent through
the post to a firm or individual who must pay the cost of the items concerned on receipt of the package,
with the sum in question being transferred to the sender by means of a postal order, has hitherto been
available on a cross-border basis, but that the Netherlands firm Koninkliijke TPG Post BV (Netherlands Post
Office) is abolishing cross-border dispatches as from 1 January 2003?