CELEX: 51986PC0499
Language: en
Date: 1986-09-29
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE APPROXIMATION OF THE LAWS OF THE MEMBER STATES CONCERNING PRODUCTS WHICH, APPEARING TO BE OTHER THAN THEY ARE, ENDANGER THE HEALTH OR SAFETY OF CONSUMERS

No C 272/10                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                28.10.86
                                                  COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
             concerning products which, appearing to be other than they are, endanger the health or safety
                                                          of consumers
                                                      (COM(86) 499 final)
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 8 October 1986)
                                                         (86/C 272/10)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            policy and the Council Resolution of 23 June 1986 (3) on
                                                                    a new impetus for consumer protection policy;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community and in particular Article 100                    Whereas to this end the manufacture, importing,
thereof,                                                            marketing and exporting of products appearing to be
                                                                    other than they are and thus endangering the health and
                                                                    safety of consumers must be governed by uniform rules
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  applicable in all the Member States;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                   Whereas the health and safety of consumers cannot be
liament,                                                            made subject to differing levels of protection in the
                                                                    respective Member States;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                   Whereas, because of the diversity and mobility of the
                                                                    market in products which imitate other products, the
                                                                    field of application of this Directive must be sufficiently
Whereas, in several Member States, legal provisions are             broad to cover all new or existing products which
in force concerning certain products which, appearing to            prejudice the health or safety of consumers; whereas
be other than they are, endanger the safety or health of            guidelines regarding the types of product concerned,
consumers; whereas, however, these provisions differ in             their characteristics and the dangers they represent may
content, scope and field of application; whereas, in                be given;
particular, these provisions concern in certain cases all
products which resemble foodstuffs while not being such
and in other cases products likely to be confused with              Whereas, in addition to banning the marketing of these
foodstuffs, especially confectionery;                               products, it is necessary, in view of the danger they
                                                                    present, to provide specifically for a ban on their manu-
                                                                    facture, import and export, and for checks to be carried
Whereas this situation creates significant barriers to the          out by the competent authorities of the Member States;
free movement of goods and unequal competitive
conditions within the Community without ensuring
effective protection for consumers, especially children,            Whereas, in accordance with the principles embodied in
within the common market;                                           the Council resolutions on consumer protection,
                                                                    dangerous products must be withdrawn from the market;
Whereas these obstacles to the establishment and
operation of the common market must be eliminated and               Whereas a procedure for examining the measures taken
 adequate protection        ensured for consumers in                by the Member States to ban such products or withdraw
 accordance with the Council resolutions of 14 April                them from the market should be set up to ensure
 1975 (') and 19 May 1981 (2), respectively, on the first            uniform application throughout the Community of the
and second programmes of the European Economic                      principles embodied in this Directive; whereas to this end
Community for a consumer protection and information                  it is appropriate to set up an advisory committee to assist
                                                                     the Commission,
 (') OJ No C 92, 25. 4. 1975, p. 1.
 O O J N o C 133, 3.6. 1981, p. 1.                                   (3) O J N o C 167, 5. 7. 1986, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- 28.10.86                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 272/11
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                          measures forthwith pursuant to the first sentence of
                                                                     Article 2 and to Article 3. The Commission shall keep up
                                                                     to date annual lists of products which have been the
                           Article 1                                 subject of a Commission decision and make them
                                                                     available to the competent national authorities.
This Directive applies to consumer products which,
appearing to be other than they are, endanger the health
or safety of consumers. These products are, in particular:           3.     When the Commission, after consulting the
                                                                     committee, concludes that the measures notified under
                                                                     paragraph 1 are not justified, it shall immediately
(a) those which, although not being foodstuffs, possess a            forward to the Member State in question a decision
     form, odour, colour, appearance and/or packaging                aimed at the immediate abrogation of these measures.
     and/or labelling, volume or size, in themselves or in           The other Member States shall be informed immediately
     certain of their parts, such that it is likely that certain     of this decision.
     categories of consumers, especially children, will
     confuse them with foodstuffs, and in consequence
     place them in their mouths, or suck or ingest them,             4.     If the measures referred to in Articles 2 and 3 must
     and that such action may entail dangers such as suf-            be notified under Council Decision 84/133/EEC of 2
     focation, poisoning, or the perforation or obstruction          March 1984 introducing a Community system for a
     of the digestive tract;                                         rapid exchange of information on dangers arising from
                                                                     the use of consumer products (x), the first two sentences
                                                                     of paragraph 1 shall not apply.
(b) consumer products which imitate others, with the
     exception of the imitation foodstuffs referred to
     under (a), the probable erroneous utilization of                Upon receiving information provided pursuant to
     which may entail mechanical, chemical or electrical             Decision 84/133/EEC, the Commission, in addition to
     dangers, or involve a risk of fire such as to endanger          the obligations devolving upon it under that Decision,
     the health or safety of consumers.                              shall follow the procedure set out in paragraphs 1, 2
                                                                     and 3.
                           Article 2
                                                                                               Article 5
Member States shall take all the measures necessary to
prohibit the manufacture, import and marketing on their              Member States shall designate the competent authorities
territory of the products referred to in Article 1 and the           relerred to in Article 4 (2) and notify the Commission
export of such products therefrom. They shall, in                    thereof.
particular, ensure that checks are carried out on products
on the market to ascertain that those falling within the
                                                                                               Article 6
scope of this Directive are not being marketed.
                                                                      1.    An advisory committee shall be set up to assist the
                                                                      Commission; it shall be composed of two representatives
                            Article 3                                per Member State and shall be chaired by a rep-
                                                                      resentative of the committee.
Member States shall take all necessary measures to
ensure that their competent authorities withdraw, or
cause to be withdrawn, from their markets any product                 2.    The committee shall examine the information
covered by this Directive.                                            transmitted to it by the Commission pursuant to
                                                                     Article 4 (1). It may also examine any question relating
                                                                      to the implementation and management of the Directive
                            Article 4                                 which is raised by its chairman, either on his own
                                                                      initiative or at the request of a representative of a
 1.    Member States shall inform the Commission of the               Member State.
 specific measures referred to in Articles 2 and 3 and
 provide an adequate description of the product in
 question. They shall give the reasons for their decision.            3.     In requesting the Committee's opinion, the
 The Commission shall forward this information to the                 Commission may set the time limit within which the
 advisory committee referred to in Article 6 for an                   opinion must be given. The committee's discussions shall
 opinion, convene an urgent meeting of the committee                  not be followed by a vote. However, each member of the
 and set the time limit within which the opinion must be              committee may demand that his opinion be recorded in
 issued.                                                              the minutes.
                                                                      4.     The committee secretariat shall be provided by the
 2.    When the Commission, after consulting the
                                                                       Commission.
 committee, concludes that the measures notified under
 paragraph 1 are justified, it shall immediately forward to
 the Member States a decision obliging them to take                    O OJ No L 70, 13. 3. 1984, p. 16.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 272/12                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              28.10.86
                         Article 7                                2. Member States shall forward to the Commission
                                                                  the text of all provisions of national law which they
                                                                  adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
 1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to                                     Article 8
comply with this Directive by 1 July 1987 at the latest.
They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.             This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
             Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonization of the
             laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes in respect of the common value added tax
                                   scheme applicable to small and medium-sized businesses
                                                     COM(86) 444 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 9 October 1986)
                                                       (86/C 272/11)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                              Article 24
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 99
thereof,                                                             Special scheme for small and medium-sized under-
                                                                                              takings
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                     1. (a) Member States shall apply a tax exemption to
                                                                             taxable persons whose annual turnover is less
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                            than the equivalent in national currency of
liament,                                                                     10 000 ECU.
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                        (b) Member States may apply a tax exemption to
                                                                             taxable persons whose annual turnover is less
Whereas, in accordance with Article 24 of the Sixth                          than the equivalent in national currency of
Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the                           35 000 ECU.
harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating
to turnover taxes — common system of value added tax:
uniform basis of assessment ('), as last amended by the
Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, Member States
                                                                     2. The exemption shall apply to the supply of
apply exemptions and special schemes for charging and
                                                                     goods and services by small and medium-sized under-
collecting VAT in the case of small businesses other than
                                                                     takings.
those covered by the common flat-rate scheme for
farmers;
Whereas, the Commission has reported to the Council                  3. Turnover for the purposes of paragraph 1 shall
on the application of these various schemes and has                  consist of the amount, exclusive of value added tax,
suggested improvements which would ensure greater                    of goods and services supplied as defined in Articles
convergence in the application of VAT in this area and               5 and 6, to the extent that they are taxed, including
achieve greater simplification in handling VAT in small              transactions exempted with refund of tax previously
and medium-sized business,                                           paid in accordance with Article 28 (2), and the
                                                                     amount of the transactions exempted pursuant to
                                                                     Article 15, the amount of real property transactions,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                          the financial transactions referred to in Article 13
                                                                     B (d), and insurance services, unless these
                         Article 1                                   transactions are ancillary transactions.
Article 24 of Directive 77/388/EEC is hereby replaced
by the following:
                                                                     However, disposals of tangible or intangible capital
                                                                     assets of a business shall not be taken into account
0) OJNoL 145, 13.6. 1977, p. 1.                                      for the purposes of calculating turnover.