WRITTEN QUESTION E-0925/04 by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Commission. Medical treatment for haemophilia sufferers.
Date: 2004-03-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: blood disease, congenital disease, enlargement of the Union, equal treatment, health care, medicinal product, right to health

C 84 E/914

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

(2004/C 84 E/1010)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0923/04

by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 March 2004)

Subject: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowance Trading Scheme

Can the Commission indicate why the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowance Trading Scheme has been
designed in such a way that substitution of primary carbon fuels by non-biomass alternatives derived from
waste materials are not accorded either credit or neutrality within the terms of the scheme but are instead
treated as though they are primary carbon fuels, thereby restricting their potential use and the likelihood
that they will be moved up the waste hierarchy so as to facilitate energy recovery from them?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(28 April 2004)

The atmosphere makes no distinction how carbon emissions arise. When installations covered by Directive
2003/87/EC of
the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for
greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/
EC (1) burn forms of waste, the resulting emissions are treated in the same way as emissions from a fossil
fuel.

the Parliament and of

However, the incentive for operators to switch to fuels with low carbon content is inherent to any Carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions trading scheme. Therefore, as long as a waste fuel has a lower carbon content than
a primary carbon fuel there will be an incentive to fuel-switch, and thus such waste fuels will move up the
waste hierarchy.

(1) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003.

(2004/C 84 E/1011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0925/04

by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Commission

(26 March 2004)

Subject: Medical treatment for haemophilia sufferers

Haemophilia, a hereditary and congenital disease characterised by uncontrolled bleeding, is still incurable
despite the enormous progress of genetic engineering and biotechnology. Tailored drugs for alleviating its
effects on sufferers are extremely expensive, and the conditions of those drugs’ use are not the same across
the EU Member States.

This disease causes severe physical pain from the first year of age, and leads to irreversible paralysis if it is
no treated at a tender age with the above-mentioned drugs.

Can the Commission state whether, after enlargement, the new Member States will have sufficient stocks of
the drugs concerned to meet needs, or whether there will be significant variations in their use?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2004)

Advances in genetic engineering and biotechnology are helping to improve the treatment of many diseases
and the latest progress is encouraging. This is the case for medicinal products used in the treatment of
haemophilia.

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.