CELEX: 51988PC0357
Language: en
Date: 1988-06-17
Title: RE-EXAMINED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ( EEC ) ON A RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY IN THE FIELD OF APPLIED METROLOGY AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS ( 1988-1992 ) THE COMMUNITY BUREAU OF REFERENCE - BCR

16. 7. 88                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 186/9
                                                                  II
                                                          (Preparatory Acts)
                                                    COMMISSION
                 Re-examined proposal for a Council Decision (EEC) on a research and development
                 programme for the European Economic Community in the field of applied metrology and
                         chemical analysis (1988 to 1992) — Community Bureau of Reference — BCR
                                                  COM(88) 357 final — SYN 100
                 (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 149 (2) (d) of the EEC Treaty on 23 June 1988)
                                                            (88/C 186/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES:                              Whereas, to achieve this aim, it is important that the
                                                                      Community supports collaborative activities having as
                                                                      objective the harmonization of the measurements and
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
                                                                      chemical analyses in the Member States so as to ensure
Economic Community and, in particular, Article 130
                                                                      concordance of the results of tests and controls;
q(2) thereof,
                                                                      Whereas, to maximize the effect of this work, the results
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('),'               achieved should be widely disseminated and publicized in
                                                                      the appropriate circles;
In co-operation with the European Parliament,
                                                                      Whereas work on metrology and chemical analysis in
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and1                     progress in some European Free Trade Association
Social Committee (2),                                                 (EFTA) States could usefully be coordinated with
                                                                      Community work under the present programme;
Whereas the Community has assigned itself the objective
of completing the internal market by 1992 for which iti               Whereas the Scientific and Technical Research
has the task of eliminating technical trade barriers mainlyr          Committee (CREST) has expressed its opinion,
through the harmonisation of norms and technical regu-
lations;
                                                                      HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Whereas the terms of Article 130 K of               the Treatyr
provide that implementation of the                  Framework;                                 Article 1
programme be carried out by means                   of specific       1.    A research and development programme for the
programmes developed within each of its            action lines;'     European Economic Community in the field of applied
                                                                      metrology and chemical analyses as defined in Annex I,
Whereas the framework programme of Community ac-                      is hereby adopted for a period of five years with effect
tivities in the field of research and technological devel-            from 1 January 1988.
opment adopted by the Council for the period 1987 to
1991 includes support to the application of technical'                2.     Experimental work shall be carried out under
nofms (3);                                                            contract. The participants may be industrial organiz-
                                                                      ations, research institutes, laboratories and universities
Whereas the elimination of supplementary technical1                    established in the Community.
barriers requires that the laboratories of the Memberr
States have the technical means necessary to ensure thej                                       Article 2
uniform application of norms, technical regulations and
directives;                                                           The funds estimated as necessary for the execution of
                                                                      the programme amount to 59 200 000 ECU, including
                                                                      expenditure on a staff of 32.
(') OJ No C 304/87, 14. 11. 1987, p. 4, and C 66/88, 11. 3.                                    Article 3
     1988, p. 5.
(2) OJ No C 35/88, 8. 2. 1988, p. 3.                                  The Commission shall be responsible for the execution
(J) OJ No L 302, 24. 10. 1987.                                        of the programme. It shall be assisted in its function of
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 186/10                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                        16. 7. 88
programme management by the Management and Coor-                                                    Article 5
dination Advisory Committee (CGC) (scientific and
technological standards) created by Council Decision                    The Commission shall address a report to the Council
84/338/Euratom, ECSC, EEC (»).                                          and to the European Parliament at the end of the third
                                                                        year on the basis of an evaluation of the results so far
                                                                        achieved. This report shall be accompanied by
                          Article 4                                     suggestions for changes which may be necessary in the
1.    The Commission is authorized to negotiate, in                     light of these results.
accordance with Article 130N of the EEC Tretay,
agreements with non-Member States and international                     At the end of the programme, the Commission shall send
organizations, in particular with those countries partici-              to Member States and the European Parliament a report
pating in European Cooperation in the field of Scientific               on the performance and results of the programme.
and Technological Research (COST) and those having
concluded framework agreements in S/T cooperation                      The abovementioned reports will be carried out having
with the Community with a view to associating them                      regard to the evaluation criteria set out in Annex II to
wholly or partly with the programme.                                    this Decision and in conformity with the provisions of
                                                                       Article 2 (2) of the framework programme.
2.    These agreements, which are founded on the
criterion of mutual advantage, are concluded by the                                                 Article 6
Council, deciding by qualified majority, in cooperation
                                                                       This Decision shall apply from 1 January 1988.
with the European Parliament.
                                                                                                    Article 7
(') OJ No L 177, 4. 7. 1984.                                           This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
                                                               ANNEX I
                                                         Programme summary
             The objective of the programme is to improve the reliability of chemical analyses and physical
             measurements (applied metrology) so as to achieve agreement of results in all Member States.
             The projets will be chosen from those fields which are of priority importance for the Community as judged
             from an economic, environmental or public health view point.
             The priority fields are the following:
             (a) analyses for food and agriculture, in particular:
                    analyses in livestock (foodstuffs, hormones, antibiotics, etc.) and of the quality of cereals, fruit and
                    vegetables,
                     analyses of the quality of processed food (nutritional properties, presence of dangerous substances,
                     bacterial contamination);
             (b) analyses related to the environment, in particular:
                     determination of traces of dangerous compounds in various matrices),
                 — determination of air pollutants at the workplace,
                 — mutagenicity of chemical substances;
 ---pagebreak--- 16. 7. 88                              Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s             N o C 186/11
          (c) biomedical analyses, with priority to:
              — the determination of enzymes and hormones (in human serum),
              — haematological tests (e.g. blood coagulation),
              — analyses related to cardiovascular diseases,
              — analysis of tumour markers and drugs in the human body;
          (d) analyses of (essentially non-ferrous) metals and surface analysis of materials;
          (e) applied metrology. The emphasis will be placed on the measurement and calibration of the most
              important parameters for test laboratories and industrial laboratories, in particular for quality control.
              The subjects covered will include in particular:
              — dimensional and mechanical metrology (in particular, measurements that are becoming increasingly
                 necessary for the verification of automatic machines) and the characterization of surface states,
              — mechanical parameters, such as force and pressure,
              — study of the performance and accuracy of new temperature measuring devices,
              — improvement of optical metrology in the visible, ultraviolet and infra-red ranges and in the field of
                 fibre optics and lasers,
              — measurements of electrical magnitudes, in particular at high frequency,
              — acoustic measurements, in particular as regards sound-proofing,
              — measurements relating to ultrasonics,
              — liquid and gas flow measurements,
              — methods of measurement of physical and material properties, such as thermal conductivity,
                 viscosity, etc.,
              — methods of determination of the mechanical properties of metals (the work will cover only the
                  methods required for the accurate determination of these properties and not the characterization of
                 the materials),
              — improvement of technological measurements in industry.
              The activities include in particular:
              — execution of measurement programmes involving the cooperation of laboratories in several Member
                  States (intercomparisons),
              — improvement of methods of analysis and measurement,
              — improvement of instruments necessary for high precision measurements,
              — development of transfer standards,
              — preparation and certification of reference materials,
              — storage and distribution of reference materials,
              — support for the setting-up at Community level of interlaboratory circuits for quality assurance,
              — research grants in subjects covered by the programme,
              — exchange and training of scientists in subjects covered by the programme, taking into account the
                  needs of the Member States that wish to improve their capabilities in these fields,
              — dissemination of the results of the projects,
              — well-targeted advertising of the reference materials and promotion of their sale.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 186/12                             Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s          16. 7. 88
                                                                  ANNEX      II
                                                               Evaluation criteria
           The programme will be evaluated in relation to the following criteria:
           1. The extent to which the programme contributes to the development of the internal market, especially by
              providing support for:
              — the setting-up of directives or norms,
              — the application of directives or norms,
              — removing difficulties in relation to the application of commercial specifications;
           2. The extent to which the participants benefit from their collaboration on projects (the acquisition of
              know-how, the diffusion of information and improvement of methods, etc.). Any additional benefits,
              apart from the results obtained, will also be assessed;
           3. The extent to which the programme contributes to the development of collaboration between Member
              States, especially in the areas of metrology and standardization (harmonization, coordination, colla-
              boration in the development of new methods, etc.);
           4. The extent to which the programme contributes effectively to the improvement of concordance in the
              results of clinical chemistry and leads to closer interlaboratory cooperation.
                                                   ADDITIONAL DECLARATION
                             Amendment of the European Parliament not accepted by the Commission
                                                               Amendment No 1
           Article 2
                The funds estimated as necessary for the execution of the programme (1988 to 1991) amount to
                 59 200 000 ECU which includes expenditure on a staff of 32. The total amount of appropriations shall
                 be calculated definitively on the basis of the appropriations allocated annually by the budgetary
                 authority in the light of actual requirements.
           The Commission rejects this amendment because its substance is already contained in Article 130P of the
            EEC Treaty which states that 'the amount of the Community's annual contribution shall be laid down
            under the budgetary procedure'.