WRITTEN QUESTION E-4087/03 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Data Protection Supervisor.
Date: 2004-01-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Data Protection Supervisor, appointment of staff, disclosure of information, supervisory power

C 78 E/912

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

The Commission takes note of the information which the Honourable Member submitted concerning
possible aid in favour of the company Eftec. According to this information, the company is receiving
grants of SEK 30 million over a six-year period for an expansion of its factory in Rhigos, Aberdare.
The Honourable Member indicated that this aid is granted in connection with the company’s relocation
from Hässleholm (Sweden) to Wales.

The Directorate-General for Competition of the Commission will carry out the necessary investigations in
connection with the information that the Honourable Member has provided in order to establish whether
the project in question involves any State aid incompatible with the competition rules of the EC Treaty.
It will inform the Honourable Member of the outcome as soon as possible.

(2004/C 78 E/0964)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4087/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(14 January 2004)

Subject: Data Protection Supervisor

When will the Commission appoint a Data Protection Supervisor, when will he/she take office, and when
will the Commission expect this person to provide an independent assessment regarding the release of
information relevant to the dispute between the Commission, the European Ombudsman and Parliament
in the matter of the Bavarian Lager Company?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 2004)

In accordance with Article 42 of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 (1), the Parliament and the Council appoint
by common accord the European Data Protection Supervisor and the Assistant Supervisor. That
appointment took place on 22 December 2003 (2), and as a result, Mr Peter Hustinx and Mr Joaquím
Bayo Delgado have been nominated repectively as European Data Protection Supervisor and Assistant
Supervisor. They have taken office in early February 2004.

According to Article 41 of the above-mentioned Regulation, the European Data Protection Supervisor is a
fully independent supervisory authority. It is, therefore, not for the Commission to determine which
activities that authority should conduct or the timeframe to address them.

(1) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies
and on the free movement of such data, OJ L 8, 12.1.2001.

(2) Decision 2004/55/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 December 2003 appointing the independent
supervisory body provided for in Article 286 of the EC Treaty (European Data Protection Supervisor), OJ L 12,
17.1.2004.

(2004/C 78 E/0965)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0005/04

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(16 January 2004)

Subject: Persecution of Uighur Organisations based in the European Union

The Government of the People’s Republic of China has just published a wanted list of ethnic Uighur
‘terrorists’ abroad, and has called for their arrest and extradition in a renewed attempt to curb the political
activities of Uighur activists outside China by branding their political activities as ‘terrorism’, thus garnering