WRITTEN QUESTION E-3387/02 by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Mobile telephone antennae.
Date: 2002-11-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European standard, Greece, mobile phone, non-ionising radiation, public health, standardisation

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WRITTEN QUESTION E-3363/02

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(27 November 2002)

Subject: Correcting future situations in Portugal

According to the Diário de Noticias of 11 November 2002, under the heading ‘Deficit to exceed 3 %’,
notice is given of a circular from the State Secretariat for the Budget instructing its services that spending
needs to be held over to 2003, ‘given the current budgetary restrictions’.

The same paper says that ‘some items for previous years are being used to pay 2002 bills, which affects
the deficit from the point of view of the national accounts. This is already visible in the statements of
budgetary expenditure, and could lead to requests for the Banco de Portugal (Central Bank) and the
[Portuguese] Court of Auditors to intervene’.

Are these the procedures which merited such praise from the Commission as a way of fighting the deficit
in Portugal? Does the Commission believe that this is the right way to follow up its guidelines on
budgetary discipline?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(8 January 2003)

is,

that

‘when economic value is created,

The figures relevant for budgetary surveillance purposes,
in particular for the implementation of the
Stability and Growth Pact are those calculated on a national accounts basis. The rules and procedures
adopted to compile national accounts are laid down in the European system of national and regional
accounts in the Community (ESA 95). As a general principle, all transactions are recorded on an accrual
basis;
transformed or extinguished, or when claims and
obligations arise, are transformed or cancelled’ (1). As an example, government expenditure is recorded
when the commitment is made, and a corresponding liability is incurred, and not necessarily when the
actual payment takes place, irrespectively of the procedure followed on a public accounts basis for the time
of recording of a transaction. The latter is perhaps what the quote from the newspaper article published in
‘Diário de Notícias’ on 9 November 2002, mentioned by the Honourable Member, refers to. Moreover, the
Commission does not as a rule comment on opinion articles published by the press, mentioning other
institutions than the Commission, in particular when they are only partly quoted, as in this case.

In the framework of budgetary surveillance in general, and in particular, of the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 3605/93 (2), which provides for the notification of semi-annual deficit and debt data,
the Commission is entrusted with the checking of the data notified by Member States, as regards their
compliance with the recording rules and procedures laid down in the ESA 95 system. The data have to be
validated by the Commission before it can be used for the purposes of budgetary surveillance, according to
the relevant Community legislation.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in

the Community (cid:1) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 3605/93 of 22 November 1993 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive

deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community (cid:1) OJ L 332, 31.12.1993.

(2003/C 192 E/106)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3387/02

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 November 2002)

Subject: Mobile telephone antennae

There is great concern in Greece at the huge number of mobile telephone antennae being set up on high
buildings in urban areas. Protests focus on the fact that these antennae are placed on top of blocks of flats
in which scores or even hundreds of people live, in the immediate vicinity of nurseries, primary and

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intermediate schools, and gymnasia. Very often, these antennae are covered to disguise the fact that they
are in fact mobile telephone antennae.

Has any study been carried out by the Commission to assess the risk to public health from setting up
mobile telephone antennae in densely populated urban areas? Are there any provisions in Community law
concerning the terms and conditions to be observed in order not to endanger public health by setting up
such antennae?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2003)

The Commission responded to various earlier questions on this topic (e.g. E-2821/02 (1) by M. Maaten,
E-2900/02 (2) and E-2901/02 by Mrs Breyer (3).

On 12 July 1999 the Council adopted Recommendation 1999/519/EEC if 12 July 1999, to Member States
limiting the exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (EMF) (0Hz to 300Ghz) (4). The full
adherence to the basic restrictions and reference levels included in the Recommendation ensures users a
high level of protection against acute and long-term effects of non-ionising radiation for the whole
spectrum. The limits recommended include a safety factor of 50 to cover possible long-term effects in the
whole frequency range and also aims to protect against as yet undocumented non-thermal effects.

Measurements performed in various Member States have demonstrated that the level to which the public is
exposed is (normally a factor 100 to 100 000) below the values recommended by the Council. In general
the safety zone around masts is in the order of 4 (typical low power urban area base station) to 10 (rural
area high power) meters in the horizontal direction and less than a meter in the vertical direction. Under
normal circumstances the distance to the public is however much larger. Since exposure drops with the
square of the distance, this explains the low exposure levels measured in practice.

The Commission mandated the European Standardisation Organisations to draft Harmonised European
standards ensuring that products don’t expose the public beyond the limits recommended by the Council.
The first of these standards (EN 50385) has already been given legal effect within the framework of the
Directive 1999/5/EC which obliges manufacturers to ensure that their products do not give rise to adverse
effects on health when used for their intended purpose. Further standards are under development and will
standardise methods to determine the zone around base stations, within which the recommended limits
would be exceeded and will standardise in-situ measurement methods.

The Commission is following closely any new scientific results in the domain to react if necessary to any
new scientific evidence not taken to date into consideration. So far it has not been established that
exposure to electromagnetic fields for cordless and mobile telephones is potentially harmful to the nervous
and hormone system below the recommended exposure levels. As regards mobile phones, it is important
to note that the Interphone project (supported by the Community under the 5th Framework Programme
for Research (cid:1) 5FP) is a large-scale epidemiological project involving 13 countries. The objective of the
study is to determine whether mobile telephone use increases the risk of cancer and, specifically, whether
the radio frequency (RF) radiation emitted by mobile telephones is carcinogenic. When the project results
become available in 2004-2005, consolidated conclusions can be drawn.

The Commission further supports a four-year study called ‘In vivo Research on Possible Health Effects
Related to Mobile Telephones and Base Stations (Carcinogenicity Studies in Rodents)’ (cid:1) Perform-A. The
objective of the project is to provide research results on possible carcinogenic and co-carcinogenic effects
of radiofrequency (RF) in animal models. These results should, when combined with current and past
studies of the effects of RF, support an adequate database for health risk evaluation (cid:1) on long-term cellular
telephone use and base station exposure (cid:1) by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2004.

Altogether eight research projects related to potential health impacts of EMF are being partly funded by the
Community under 5FP.

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it is proposed to establish a co-ordinating action
Within the 6th Framework Programme for research,
which will bring together the various stakeholders (researchers, industry, policy makers, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and civil society) to consider potentail policy implications of research outcomes (This
activity is subject to a call for proposals published on 17 December 2002).

In the context of the European Research Area, support from the Commission is also being provided to
COST Action 281 which coordinates nationally funded research teams from currently 19 European
countries regarding Electromagnetic Fields and Health.

The opinion of the Commission Scientific Committee on Toxicology-Ecotoxicity and the Environment on
health effects associated to the exposure to electromagnetic fields published on 30 October 2001 has
confirmed for radio frequencies and microwaves the validity of the Council Recommendation limits. This
opinion is in line with other national and international evaluation of the scientific literature in this area.

Therefore one can conclude that, based on the best scientific advice available, GSM antennas, when
installed to meet the safety levels provided in the Council Recommendation, should not give rise to health
problems.

(1) See page 77.
(2) OJ C 110 E, 8.5.2003, p. 121.
(3) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 52.
(4) OJ L 199, 30.7.1999.

(2003/C 192 E/107)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3407/02

by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 November 2002)

Subject: Transparency and access to information in the field of public procurement

Transparency in the workings of the Community institutions and easy and immediate access to EU
information in its sectors of economic activity are two basic components in the development of the
information society envisaged by the Lisbon European Council of March 2000.

Given that this is the case, it is not sufficiently easy in practice to access information in the field of public
procurement in the EU. On the basis of numerous tests conducted, simply accessing the link to the ‘public
procurement’ supplement to the Official Journal of the European Communities takes an average of three
hours, when under ideal conditions it should be possible to obtain the required information in less than
10 minutes.

In the light of these difficulties, and considering that many of the web pages on the EU site, including the
guide on how to use certain links, only exist in English, can the Commission indicate:

1. whether it considers that there is a need for all EU web pages to be available in translation, so that
everyone can benefit from all the telematics services available even if they do not have an excellent
command of English, thereby preventing ‘information exclusion’, which would limit the transparency
of use of the Internet as a means of development;

2. whether it

feels that sectors which present opportunities for the direct

involvement of private
individuals and undertakings should provide for improved access via IT links that are as user-friendly
as possible?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(31 January 2003)

The Commission attaches great importance to transparency and the accessibility of information in the field
of public procurement taken directly from the public procurement Directives (1).