WRITTEN QUESTION E-0611/04 by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission. Terrorism: drawing up a European directive providing for the presence of air marshals on board aircraft.
Date: 2004-03-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC Directive, air safety, air transport, crew, piracy, police, terrorism, transport company

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/819

conventional seed lots does not have to be labelled. Such thresholds will take account of the 0,9 %
threshold in place for food and feed products arising from the harvested products of the seed lots in
question and should also be workable and enforceable. Identical thresholds will then be adopted under the
seed legislation under the Management Committee Procedure.

In the context of co-existence measures, the Commission believes its role should be limited to guidance
and it is not its intention to establish uniform and binding rules for co-existence at the Community level.
This is because the proportionality, effectiveness and cost-efficiency of measures for co-existence tend to be
dependent upon national and regional (or even local) environmental, topographical and climatic conditions
as well as farming practices, which vary greatly both between and within Member States. The Commission
considers, therefore, that the ‘subsidiarity approach’
is the most appropriate for the development and
implementation of co-existence measures and the new Article 26a of Directive 2001/18/EC provides a legal
basis for such measures. It should be noted that any draft proposed measure that has the potential to
create a technical barrier to trade, or conflict with a full harmonisation method, must be notified to the
Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC (2).

Liability rules will be conditioned by the overall approach to co-existence taken by Member States and
should therefore be addressed as an integral part of the package of co-existence measures. The Commission
has, therefore, also decided to apply the subsidiarity principle to liability rules for co-existence. The
Commission policy has always been that civil liability would be better dealt with at a national level and has
asked Member States to assess whether their existing civil liability law would be appropriate to deal with
co-existence issues. It will re-examine this issue in 2005, as part of a report on co-existence, which will
include the measures taken by the different Member States.

The Commission, as guardian of the EC Treaty, has an obligation to ensure that Community legislation is
fully implemented across the Community. Directive 2001/18/EC and the recently adopted Regulation (EC)
No 1829/2003 (3) establish rules for the authorisation of GMOs and the Commission intends to ensure
that this legislation is fully enforced.

(1) Directive 2001/18/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the
environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC (cid:1) Commission
Declaration, OJ L 106, 17.4.2001.

(2) Directive 98/34/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the

provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, OJ L 204, 21.7.1998.

(3) Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 on genetically modified

food and feed, OJ L 268, 18.10.2003.

(2004/C 84 E/0914)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0611/04

by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission

(1 March 2004)

Subject: Terrorism: drawing up a European directive providing for the presence of air marshals on board

aircraft

Knowing that:

(cid:1) the development of international terrorism has led to the need for specialised personnel on board

aircraft to anticipate or prevent terrorist attacks and hijacking;

(cid:1) it is advisable that such personnel (air marshals) have some kind of preparation for working unarmed;

(cid:1) such personnel could be used on the ground in cooperation with the police;

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3.4.2004

(cid:1) the USA is urging European airlines to employ air marshals on transatlantic flights;

(cid:1) the first training course for air marshals has been set up in Milan, a course which provides for training

exercises to be carried out at an airport near the city from 1 March 2004.

Does the Commission intend to draw up a European directive laying down rules for the aforementioned
sector, providing for, in particular, the presence of such security personnel on transatlantic flights?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(6 April 2004)

At the end of December 2003 and more recently in February 2004, the US authorities, acting on the basis
of information regarding potential terrorist threats, asked a number of European airlines to step up their
security measures on certain flights judged to be at risk. Some countries agreed to deploy police officers on
these flights, while others preferred simply to cancel the flights in question.

As things stand, Germany and Austria are the only two EU Member States to have had a Sky Marshal-type
programme in place for a number of years. Under the pressure of recent events, a number of other
Member States, including from among the new Member States, are considering deploying police officers on
sensitive flights or have already taken the decision to do so. A third group of countries continues to have
reservations about measures of this type, citing the risks associated with the presence of arms on board
and/or the greater effectiveness of pre-boarding controls on the ground.

The Commission has looked at the different positions adopted by the Member States. It would like to see
Sky Marshals included in an overall package of enhanced security measures that could be taken in the
event of terrorist threats on certain flights. It is in favour of joint discussions bringing together national
authorities responsible for national security and those responsible for civil aviation. With this in mind, at
the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 19 February 2004, the responsible Member of the Commission
proposed that the Council take an overall look at the flight security issue in order to arrive at a common
position.

Part of this work has already started with Austria’s organisation of a seminar on Sky Marshals, which was
held on 1/2 March 2004.

On the basis of the work carried out by the Commission in conjunction with the heads of the civil
aviation authorities in the Member States, the Council Presidency, acting on behalf of the Community and
its Member States, has written to the International Civil Aviation Organisation inviting it to address this
issue and provide the signatory States with advice.

(2004/C 84 E/0915)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0615/04

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(24 February 2004)

Subject: Role of certificates in rules of origin

In answer to my written question of 8 May 2003 (E-1590/03 (1)), the Commission says that it ‘(…)
1.
does not have any information about problems encountered by business as a result of errors by Member
State authorities which issue certificates of origin (…)’.

Is the Commission aware of the van der Rijken/Hoogerwerff case (application REM 4/2002)?