WRITTEN QUESTION E-0926/04 by Claude Turmes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Health and safety in the European institutions.
Date: 2004-03-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU institution, EU law, EU statistics, building safety, environmental risk prevention, health risk, occupational accident, occupational health, occupational safety

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/915

In principle, the Commission does not see a particular reason for concern in relation to the accessibility to
medicinal products for the treatment of this disease after enlargement. On the contrary, in accordance with
the European centralised system for the authorisation of medicinal products, as established by Council
Regulation (EEC) No 2309/93 of 22 July 1993 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation
and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Agency
for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (1), medicinal products authorised on this basis will be accessible
to the market in the new Member States under the same conditions of use as in the rest of the EU. The
way in which haemophilia is treated in the Member States is a national responsibility and therefore there
could be variations in treatment practice.

(1) OJ L 214, 24.8.1993.

(2004/C 84 E/1012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0926/04

by Claude Turmes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Health and safety in the European institutions

(26 March 2004)

In his reply to Written Question E-2641/99 (1), Mr Kinnock said that ‘national health and safety legislation
does not apply to European institutions’ but that ‘European institutions respect Community law in this
area’.

Would the Commission indicate if a formal decision was taken by the Commission to apply Community
health and safety law to its staff and buildings?

Has the Commission had carried out an assessment of the risks to safety and health at work, as provided
for by Article 9(1)(a) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC (2)? What were the principal findings of that risk
assessment?

Has the Commission developed a coherent overall prevention policy, as provided for by Article 6(2)(g) of
Council Directive 89/391/EEC? What is the principal thrust of that policy?

Does the Commission keep a register of occupational accidents which have resulted in a worker being
unfit for work for more than three working days, as provided for by Article 9(1)(c) of Council Directive 89/
391/EEC?

What are the occupational accident statistics for the last three years? Could the Commission also give
separate statistics for Luxembourg and Brussels?

(1) OJ C 330 E, 21.11.2000, p. 32.
(2) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

As the Commission reported in its reply to written question E-2641/99 by Mrs Lynne, the European
Institutions, as employers, respect the safety and health requirements as they are laid down in Directive 89/
391/EEC (1) and in various subsequent Directives.

As a result of the administrative reforms undertaken by the Commission the new Staff Regulations, which
enter into force on 1 May 2004, establish in Article 1(e) (2):
‘Officials in active employment shall be
accorded working conditions complying with appropriate health and safety standards at least equivalent to
the minimum requirements applicable under measures adopted in these areas pursuant to the Treaties.’

In line with, and consequent to, this explicit obligation the Commission is drawing up new internal health
and safety arrangements to ensure protection from hazards at work as a basic element in an overall policy
which includes clear emphasis on risk prevention.

C 84 E/916

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

An action plan will follow which will develop this policy that is based on evaluation and risk assessment of
the work place. A pilot exercise was carried out in 2002 and analysis of results indicates the need to focus
on ergonomic issues.

The Commission keeps a list of occupational accidents which result in a worker being unfit for work for
more, as well as for less, than three working days. For the years 2001-2003 there were respectively 93,
142 and 144 recorded accidents at work in the Commission in Brussels and 22, 29 and 34 in
Luxembourg.

(1) Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the

safety and health of workers at work.

(2004/C 84 E/1013)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0927/04

by Claude Turmes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(26 March 2004)

Subject: Practice of ‘prototypes’ at Eur-OP

the Office for Official Publications of

Throughout the Eurostat affair the Commission has repeatedly stated that the offending activities dated
from earlier mandates. However, a certain practice the result of which is, at best, that competition is
artificially limited or, at worst, that it is the Publications Office which awards the contracts is still current
the
at
reputation of which also happens to have been sullied by the Eurostat affair. It is the ‘prototype’ practice,
whereby, in the context of a large-scale project with a major IT component, a firm is chosen to design a
prototype which lays down the choice of technology, thus restricting the number of firms able to respond
to the call for tender.

the European Communities (Eur-OP)

in Luxembourg,

This raises many questions:

1.

Is this practice in line with the financial regulation and the directives on public contracts?

2. Who chooses the firm that designs the prototype and what procedures are used?

3. Can the Commission state the number and scale of the projects that have been subject to this practice

since 1999?

4. Can the Commission say which firms and technologies were involved?

5. Can the Commission say whether these firms include companies that already have long-term contracts

with Eur-OP?

6. Does the Commission intend to refer this practice to OLAF for investigation?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

The Commission can provide the following answers to the Honourable Member’s questions:

1. and 2. The development of prototypes is an approach used in the building of certain IT applications in

order to analyse:

(cid:1) the feasibility of the organisational solutions to be applied;

(cid:1) the suitability of a technical solution, in particular in the case of new technologies not yet used by

the institutions;

(cid:1) the acceptability of the IT application recommended by the users.