WRITTEN QUESTION E-0035/04 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Unavailability for commercial reasons of information on insufficient airline safety standards.
Date: 2004-01-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Civil Aviation Conference, access to information, air safety, air transport, confidentiality, consumer information, transport company, transport user

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/297

(2004/C 84 E/0344)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0035/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Unavailability for commercial reasons of information on insufficient airline safety standards

1. When and in what way was it made known outside Switzerland that that country had prohibited the
Egyptian airline Flash Airlines, one of whose aircraft crashed into the Red Sea on 3 January 2004 with
French passengers on board, from flying over Switzerland or landing there because of the unsafe nature of
the company’s aircraft?

How is such information on airline safety standards that is gathered by Member States’ institutions

2.
exchanged and made public within the EU and the EEA?

3. What can individual Member States or the EU do on the basis of such information to prevent
overflying and landing by unsafe aircraft?

4. Were information on safety checks and the names of unsafe airlines kept from the public and
consumer associations by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) for commercial reasons?

5.
Does the Commission think it acceptable that airline passengers do not, when booking a flight, have
access to information that may enable them to weigh up the potentially tempting price against the danger
to their lives?

6. What can now be done to prevent passengers from again using dangerous airlines unwittingly or to
prevent dangerous airlines from choosing the EU Member States that operate the least strict standards
before landing and attracting passengers?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 2004)

According to the information available to the Commission, the Swiss authorities informed the Joint
Aviation Authorities (JAA) of their decision to refuse access to Swiss airspace to Flash Airlines on
15 October 2002. The JAA manage the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) database on behalf
of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). The database contains reports of inspections carried
out by the 38 member States of the ECAC. On 16 October 2002, the JAA forwarded the information thus
received to all SAFA national coordinators, asking them to take account of it in their own inspection
programmes.

The EU Member States are participating in the SAFA programme until the entry into force of the Directive
of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of third countries aircraft using Community
airports. The information in the database is not public.

Until the Directive enters into force, each Member State has to decide whether to grant access to its own
airspace on the basis of the information available.

The Civil Aviation Conference’s SAFA database is a technical programme aimed at accident prevention,
and does not provide for the publication of detailed information on the checks carried out by the
participating States.

The Commission has already begun consultations with a view to improving the transparency of airline
identification, and intends to present measures at the earliest opportunity to address the shortcomings
brought to light by the aviation disaster of 3 January 2004.

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to Written Question P-0158/04 by
Mr Hortefeux (1) explaining the provisions of the Directive which should correct the failings of the current

C 84 E/298

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

system of inspecting third countries’ aircraft, particularly with regard to public information. It will also
ensure a more rigorous application of the most stringent standards.

(1) OJ C 78 E, 27.3.2004.

(2004/C 84 E/0345)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0039/04

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Amount of EU legislative acts

Can the Commission provide a breakdown of the number of legislative acts adopted by the institutions of
the European Union in 2003, broken down by institution (Commission, Council and EP/Council) and by
nature of the acts (Recommendation, Decision, Directive, Regulation, etc.)?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(6 February 2004)

A table giving the number of legislative instruments which were adopted, repealed or expired in 2003,
listed by type of instrument and institution concerned, is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and
to Parliament’s Secretariat.

The data is taken from the General Report on the Activities of the European Union for 2003, which each
year, is transmitted to Parliament on the second Tuesday of February under Article 212 of the EC Treaty.

(2004/C 84 E/0346)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0043/04

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Trade impact of the euro

In the answer to Written Question E-1883/03 (1) by Chris Huhne, Commissioner Solbes made a number of
comments regarding the trade impact of the euro. Is the Commission now able to provide any additional
information based on economic developments over the last six months?

(Original Question by Chris Huhne: Will the Commission summarise the conclusions of any major studies,
including its own, on the impact of the euro on trade within the euro-area? Will it estimate the size of any
increase in trade as a result of the introduction of the euro?)

(1) OJ C 58 E, 6.3.2004, p. 106.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(23 February 2004)

In its reply to Written Question E-1883/03 by the Honourable Member Mr Huhne (1), the Commission
gave an overview of the results of several academic studies assessing the euro’s impact on trade within the
euro-area. In the Quarterly Report on the Euro Area published on 30 September 2003, the Commission