CELEX: 51984PC0735
Language: en
Date: 1985-01-07
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION INTRODUCING A COMMUNITY SYSTEM OF INFORMATION ON ACCIDENTS IN WHICH CONSUMER PRODUCTS ARE INVOLVED

No C 117/4                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  11.5.85
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Decision introducing a Community system of information on accidents
                                         in which consumer products are involved
                                                     COM(84) 73 5 final
                             (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 16 January 1985)
                                                       (85/C 117/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          collect information on the various aspects of the safety of
                                                                  products where they are involved in accidents and parti-
                                                                  cularly on the respective roles of the product, the victim
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
                                                                  and their surroundings at the time of the accident and
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235
                                                                  that this information is of major importance for the
thereof,
                                                                  protection of the consumer;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                  Whereas it is appropriate to provide for an obligation on
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                 the Member States to collect and forward information to
liament,                                                          the Commission;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                 Whereas, on the basis of this information, it will be
                                                                  possible to carry out or coordinate detailed studies
                                                                  concerning the most frequent and/or serious accidents
Whereas the preliminary programme of the European                 with a view to promoting improvements in product
Economic Community for a consumer protection and                  features, their standards, their proper use by consumers
information policy annexed to the Council resolution of           and consumer information and education aimed at
14 April 1975 (') stresses that products offered to               preventing accidents;
consumers must be such that, under normal or fore-
seeable conditions of use, they present no risk to their
health or safety; whereas, in the event of their presenting
such risks, there should be special rules or appropriate          Whereas the results of the system would enable the
procedures for informing the consumer thereof,                    Commission to put forward any suitable proposal aimed
improving the conditions of use and the features of the           at achieving the objectives of the system;
products or withdrawing them from the market;
Whereas, pursuant to Council Decision 81/623/EEC of               Whereas information received under the European
23 July 1981 on the implementation of a pilot experiment          Communities' programme of action on toxicology for
relating to a Community system of information on                  health protection (5) could be integrated into the system;
accidents involving products outside the spheres of
occupational activities and road traffic (2), the
Commission and the Member States have carried out a
pilot experiment over a period of 30 months which has             Whereas a documentation and information centre should
shown the feasibility of collecting information primarily         be set up where interested parties will have access to the
from hospital casualty departments and secondarily from           non-confidential documents collected by the system;
other sources;
Whereas it may be concluded from this that it is possible         Whereas in this context it is essential to maintain the
and desirable for the Community to set up a system to             necessary contacts with the various parties able not only
                                                                  to provide information on product safety but also to play
0) OJ No C 92, 25. 4. 1975, p. 1.
O OJNoL229, 13.8. 1981, p. 1.                                     C) OJ No C 156, 16. 6. 1984, p. 6.
 ---pagebreak---  11.5.85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 117/5
 a decisive role in accident prevention, whether public              (a) hospital casualty departments selected by the
 authorities, manufacturers, traders or product users;                   Commission with the agreement of the Member
                                                                         States in which they are situated as being represen-
Whereas it is desirable to designate in each Member                      tative of the national situation.
 State the authority responsible for ensuring the smooth
functioning of the system and the necessary coordination             (b) national systems for accident data collection, where
 at Community level;                                                     they exist,
Whereas it is necessary under the system to ensure                   (c) the victims themselves, through detailed interviews or
observance of the basic rights and principles set out in                 visits to their homes by employees of the competent
the Joint Declaration of 5 April 1977, the basic rights                  national authorities designated pursuant to Article 5.
and principles laid down in the Council of Europe
Convention of 28 January 1981 for the protection of
individuals with regard to automatic processing of                   2.    Information may also be obtained, where appro-
personal data and the confidentiality of data relating to            priate, from:
the firms concerned;
                                                                     (a) family doctors,
Whereas a Community information system appears
necessary in order to achieve one of the objectives of the           (b) poison antidote centres,
Community in the field of consumer protection and the
provision of information to consumers; whereas the                   (c) the national authorities responsible for registering
Treaty has not made provision for the specific powers                    death certificates,
which are required to attain these objectives,
                                                                     (d) fire brigades outside of places of work,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
                                                                     (e) insurance bodies and companies,
                          Article 1
                                                                     (f) consumer associations,
 1.   A Community system of information on accidents
in which consumer products are involved, hereinafter                 (g) manufacturers and associations thereof,
referred to as 'the system', shall be set up with the
objectives of collecting data on consumer accidents with             (h) research bodies or scientific associations,
a view to promoting accident prevention, improving the
safety of consumer products and informing and                        (i) any other source of information.
educating consumers so that they make better use of
products.
                                                                    In so far as the Commission administers other infor-
2.    This Decision shall apply to all products intended            mation programmes under other Community instru-
                                                                    ments, the system will, should the need arise, use data
for use by consumers except:
                                                                    from them.
(a) products intended for professional use at places of
     work;
                                                                                               Article 4
(b) products used in the sphere of road traffic.
                                                                    The Commission shall be responsible for the use made of
                                                                    the information compiled pursuant to Article 1. Such use
                          Article 2                                 may include carrying out detailed studies concerning the
                                                                    most serious and/or most frequent accidents.
1.    Under the system the Commission shall compile
information on the various aspects of the safety of
products where they are involved in accidents, and par-                                        Article 5
ticularly on the respective roles of the product, the victim
and their surroundings at the time of the accident.                 Each Member State shall designate and inform the
                                                                    Commission of the name(s) and address(es) of the
2.    Member States shall be required to supply the                 national authority responsible for collecting and
Commission with the information it requests them to                 transmitting information pursuant to Article 2 and 3.
collect pursuant to Article 3(1).
                                                                                              Article 6
                          Article 3
                                                                    The Commission and the Member States shall ensure
1.    Information shall be obtained from the following              that, during the process of collecting and forwarding
sources on the basis of common criteria set by the                  information, any identifying details shall be removed so
Commission in cooperation with the Member States :                  that the identity of the victims shall remain confidential.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 117/6                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                   11.5.85
                          Article 7                                                             Article 9
A documentation and information centre shall be set up               The Commission shall, where appropriate, exchange
where interested parties will have access to the non-                statistical information with the authorities responsible for
confidential documents collected by the system.                      information systems in other non-member countries.
                          Article 8
The Commission shall submit an annual report to the
Council, to the European Parliament and to the                                                 Article 10
Economic and Social Committee on the functioning of
the system.                                                          This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
              Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 3599/82 on temporary
                             importation arrangements, as regards the date of its implementation
                                                        COM(85) 173 final
                                 (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 25 April 1985)
                                                          (85/C 117/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             arrangements introduced by Regulation (EEC) No
                                                                     3599/82; whereas it is essential that this Regulation be
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                implemented as smoothly as possible and it is therefore
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28, 43                necessary to postpone the date of implementation of
and 235 thereof,                                                     Regulation (EEC) N o 3599/82 to 1 January 1986,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                     HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,                                                                                        Article 1
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                     Article 34 of Regulation (EEC) No 3599/82 is hereby
Social Committee,                                                    replaced by the following:
Whereas Article 34 of Council Regulation (EEC) No                         Article 34
3599/82 (') stipulates that the Regulation shall be
implemented one year after the adoption of the                           This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
implementing provisions which will be adopted for                         1983. It shall be implemented on 1 January 1986.
Articles 7 (2), 10 (2), 20 (d), 21 (3) and 24 (2); whereas               Authorizations      granted    pursuant    to  national
the implementing provisions were                adopted     by           provisions before 1 January 1986 shall be revoked no
Commission Regulation (EEC) N o 1751/84 (2) on 13                        later than two years after that date if they cannot be
June 1984; whereas, in consequence, Regulation (EEC)
                                                                         retained on the basis of this Regulation.'
No 3599/82 should be implemented from 13 June 1985;
Whereas numerous difficulties have been encountered in                                          Article 2
connection with the establishment of the new
                                                                     This Regulation shall enter into force on 13 June 1985.
0) OJ No L 376, 31. 12. 1982, p. 1.                                  This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
(2) OJ No L 171, 29. 6. 1984, p. 1.                                  directly applicable in all Member States.