WRITTEN QUESTION E-0238/04 by Joachim Wuermeling (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Implementation of the directive on the safety of cableways.
Date: 2004-02-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, cable transport, national implementing measure, safety standard, transport safety

C 84 E/178

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

developing countries in the short term. The Commission however also expressed its expectation that with
EU trade-related assistance and capacity building these difficulties can be surmounted. What
to do
specifically should be an element in the dialogue between the EC and its development partners.

The Commission has notified the proposals for the new food safety legislation to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO). From the developing countries only Brazil reacted as regards the hygiene package.
Brazil had no fundamental objections to the approach of this proposal but it expressed technical and
procedural comments and time and financial constraints as regards the implementation of certain aspects.
In the meetings of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee of the WTO no reaction was noted
from the developing countries.

In the meantime discussions in the Council and Parliament continued. The impact of the proposal for a
regulation concerning food and feed control (1) on the developing countries was part of these discussions.
As a result Member States suggested that Article 50 of this proposal oblige the Commission, through the
Community Development and Cooperation Policy, to support developing countries in their general food
safety policy and in building their institutional capacity to meet EC requirements. Member States also
suggested to delete from the text the requirement for a control plan in exporting third countries as a
condition for import into the EU. Instead the Commission could request information from third countries
on their control systems and that on that basis specific measures can be taken. These discussions also
revealed that in certain sectors such as in the horticulture sector some developing countries have not yet
built up control structures. These issues form part of the dialogue between the Institutions with a view to
rapid adoption of the proposal. With the tools that the final text should offer, including the setting of
transitional periods, it is expected that existing trade can continue, even when there is no competent
controlling authority for a certain sector in a third country, whilst efforts can be made to increase the
institutional capacity of these countries.

The Commission is finalizing its internal procedures for launching a study to assess the potential impact of
the proposed regulation on food and feed control on trade with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries and to get recommendations on how trade-related assistance could help the developing countries
to adjust their systems. The Commission is in close contact with ACP countries in connection with the
above-mentioned study.

(1) COM(2003) 52.

(2004/C 84 E/0218)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0238/04

by Joachim Wuermeling (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Implementation of the directive on the safety of cableways

The European Union has recently adopted a directive on the safety of cableways. The Member States are in
the process of transposing it into national law.

In Germany, the rules on cableway requirements are the responsibility of the Länder. The German Länder
include city-states such as Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin and flat, coastal Länder like Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein.

Is it true, as reported in the press, that the Commission intends to oblige even the above Länder to
transpose the directive into a law on cableways or face a penalty, even though, for topographical reasons,
cable cars can never be installed there?

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(3 March 2004)

Article 21 of Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000
relating to cableway installations designed to carry persons (1) specifies that Member States should have
adopted and published the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive by 3 May 2002.

Germany has thus been under an obligation to take the necessary measures to transpose the Directive into
national law within the required time. According to the information available to the Commission, this has
not yet been done in full; only the Länder of Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, North Rhine-
Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have adopted the above provisions.

Consequently, in accordance with Article 226 of the EC Treaty, after first giving Germany the opportunity
to comment (in a letter dated 16 September 2002) and then issuing a reasoned opinion (on 19 December
2002), on 16 October 2003 the Commission referred the matter to the Court of Justice on the grounds
that that Germany had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Directive by not adopting the necessary
provisions to transpose it into national law.

It should be pointed out that this Directive does not cover the actual operation of cableway installations.
It defines the essential safety requirements applying to the design, construction and putting into service of
the installations. The Directive is based on Article 95 of the EC Treaty and is also intended to eliminate
obstacles to the free movement of safety subsystems and components of cableway installations placed on
the internal market
from 3 May 2004 by manufacturers established anywhere in the Community,
including those regions in which there are no cableway installations.

Furthermore, according to the case law of the Court, the fact that an activity referred to in a directive does
not exist in a particular Member State cannot release that State from its obligation to transpose the
directive within the time limit (2).

Finally, the construction of cableway installations cannot automatically be ruled out in any of the Länder,
since this type of installation can be used not only in high-altitude tourist resorts but may also consist of
cableway installations used in urban transport facilities, as mentioned in the first recital of the Directive.

(1) OJ L 106, 3.5.2000.
(2) See the judgments of 15.03.1990, case C-339/87, Commission v. Netherlands, ECR 1990, p. I-851, point 22, and

16.11.2000, case C-214/98, Commission v. Greece, ECR 2000, p. I-9601, point 22.

(2004/C 84 E/0219)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0242/04

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Parkinson’s disease

According to the World Health Organisation, worldwide there are an estimated 4 million people suffering
from Parkinson’s disease. In Europe, the overall prevalence of the disease is estimated to be 1,6 per 100 in
persons over 65 years of age. One person in 500 develops the disease, which already makes it the fourth
most common disorder of the nervous system, after epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s
disease. The situation is worsening as a result of the ageing of the population (cid:1) in 2020 there will be
40 percent more people over the age of 75 in Europe compared to 1990, which is likely to make
Parkinson’s disease a public health priority, with a significant increase in health costs. One of the most
effective surgical treatments available is deep brain stimulation. A medical device similar to a cardiac
pacemaker is implanted and used to transmit electrical stimulation to a specific area of the deep brain to
treat the disabling symptoms of the disease. The degree of stimulation can be regulated and the effects are
is very small.
reversible. The percentage of patients who have access to this innovative treatment