Newsletter January 2003

January 2003 newsletter

The EPHA Newsletter for January 2003 is now available online. You can download the newsletter below, as a PDF or as a RTF file, or consult the main articles online by clicking here.
Here is the table of the main contents :
EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS NEWS
THE PARLIAMENT
Parliament votes against cosmetic tests on animals
Parliament Committee opposes advertising for breast implants
Parliament discussed health care and care for the elderly
Public Hearing on The Quality and Safety of Human (...)

ENSP - Eurocare Letter to the Convention

The ENSP (European Network for Smoking Prevention) in collaboration with Eurocare (against alcohol harm), have written a letter to individuals within the Social Europe Working Group of the Convention for the Future of Europe, on behalf of ENSP members. The letter outlines :
The need for a firm legal base for tobacco legislation in the new EU
Constitutional Treaty
Requests that health be included as a fundamental right in the Values and
Objectives of the Union
Demands that health remain (...)

PCN warns : Polish nursing training lower than EU standards

The Standing Committee of Nurses of the EU (PCN) is concerned about the directives on Recognition of Professional Qualifications in the EU and more specifically the Polish situation.
In a letter sent to DG Internal Market - Commissioner Bolkestein, to DG Enlargement - Commissioner Verheugen and to DG Sanco - Commissioner Byrne, the PCN expressed its concerns about nursing qualifications in Poland and their potential recognition under the accession arrangements.
The expert "peer review" of (...)

EP prolongs ecopoint dispute

The Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament did not accept a deal agreed in the Council on 31 December 2002 on transit of heavy goods vehicles through Austria, the so-called "ecopoints" system.
A large majority of members across the political landscape of the EP approved four compromise amendments, which are in conflict with the Council decision in December.
The committee wants environmentally-friendly lorries to be promoted and older lorries (...)

EP Committee Votes for a Powerful Polluter Pays Principle

In January 2002, the Commission issued a proposal for a directive on environmental liability. The proposal aims to ensure that future environmental damage is paid by the polluter, and preferably prevented. The proposed directive covers three types of environmental damage : biodiversity, water and damage which causes serious potential or actual harm to public health via soil or sub-soil contamination. On 22 January 2003, the EP Environment Committee adopted its opinion on the draft directive (...)

EU Loan for Chernobyl Type Reactor Considered

A Chernobyl-style nuclear reactor could be financed by European Union funds, environmental groups warn. A non-paper from the EU-Commission, leaked to EU Enlargement Watch and Greenpeace reveals that the Commission’s plans to raise loans are not so much about security, but in fact about more nuclear power in Russia and Eastern Europe.
http://www.eu-energy.com/pdfs/euratomloanfin.pdf

Parliament Votes against Cosmetic Tests on Animals

The European Parliament in Strasbourg approved a new law on 15 January to ban the sale of virtually all animal-tested cosmetic products in the European Union from 2009. Following ten years of delicate negotiations and strong lobbying from the cosmetics industry, animal testing, currently only forbidden in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, will be outlawed in all fifteen member states. The new legislation will also close a loophole which allows the sale of beauty and (...)

Parliament Committee Opposes Advertising for Breast Implants

The European Parliament’s Public Health Committee, in its vote on 22 January, urged EU Member States to ban direct advertising to the public for breast implants and opt for balanced information instead, including potential risks. On 22 January the Parliament’s Public Health Committee unanimously adopted a report by rapporteur Catherine Stihler (PSE, UK) on the Commission Communication on Community and national measures in relation to breast implants.
European Parliament, News Report (...)

Election of the European Ombudsman

Mr. Nikiforos Diamandouros was duly elected European Ombudsman by the Members of the European Parliament in plenary session in Strasbourg on 15 January 2003, he will take office on 1 April 2003 after Mr Söderman retires and will serve until the end of the current parliamentary term in 2004. Mr Jacob Söderman was elected the first European Ombudsman in June 1995 and re-elected in 1999. Amongst Mr Söderman ’s work, his participation in the European Convention on the Future of Europe has been (...)

Greek Presidency : Priorities for Environment, Sustainable Development and Health

Environment and Sustainable Development : Greece has committed to further implement the EU strategy for sustainable development while promoting EU Competitiveness and pushing forward important environment legislative proposals. The implementation by candidate countries of the "aquis communautaire" within the time limints, the package on new chemicals legislation, the directive on Environmental Liability, regulation on labelling of GMOs and a directive on emission trading are the main (...)

Implementation of EU Environmental Laws by Candidate Countries

On 21 January, Margot Wallström, Environment Commissioner, Günther Verheugen, Enlargement Commissioner and Vasso Papandreou, Greek Environment Minister met environment ministers from the 13 candidate countries to discuss the implementation challenges of the 149 EU environmental laws.
According to the Commission, 80% of transposition of the environmental acquis has been completed. Candidate countries must now make efforts to implement this acquis within the deadlines agreed for the (...)

Call for Proposals Published for FP6

Parliament and Council are now finalising discussions on the Rules for Participation and Specific Programmes. The European Council in Seville (21-22 June 2002) called for the "earliest possible adoption of the decisions implementing the Sixth Framework Programme for Research (participation rules and specific programmes)".
The first call for tender was issued 17 December 2002, these legal texts define the necessary specifications to prepare and submit a proposal. Calls have been published (...)

January 2003, Member States raise the stakes in the Convention

The Slovenian foreign Minister, Dimitrij Rupel, will join the Convention on the Future of Europe. He will replace the current government representative for Slovenia, Matjaz Nahtigal. He is the latest in a series of Foreign Ministers who have been nominated as Convention Members to ensure that national interests are being upheld. France and Germany have appointed their foreign ministers to the Convention, Dominique de Villepin and Joschka Fischer, respectively. The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr (...)

January 2003, Health is addressed by the Convention

The Social Europe Working Group has changed its position regarding public health.
While in the Preliminary Draft Report of the Working Group (dated 21 January 2003) there was no consensus on the role of Health in the Future of Europe, the Revised Draft Final Report (dated 24 January 2003) reflects the change of mind of the Working Group, supporting Health as one of the basic objectives of the Union.
EU level competencies should be broadened specifically because of communicable diseases, (...)

EU insists on day in court for Tobacco industry

On the 15 January, the Court of First Instance rejected initiatives brought against the European Commission’s decision to take cigarette producers to court in the United States. The Court’s decision comes after tobacco producers Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco had earlier questioned the European Commission’s right to take them to court in the United States.

New European Food Safety Authority Executive Director

Mr Geoffrey Podger has been appointed as Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority. He will take up the position on 1 February 2003. The Executive Director was appointed by the Management Board, on the basis of a list of candidates proposed by the Commission after an open competition. The Executive Director is responsible for the day to day management of the Authority and is answerable to the Management Board. (...)

Council Agreement on Hygiene Rules for Food of Animal Origin

Following the Commission’s proposal, the Council has finally adopted a political agreement to set hygiene rules for food of animal origin. The legislation focuses on setting objectives while leaving business flexibility in deciding which safety measures to take. Mr Byrne welcomed the Council’s political agreement as a key aspect of achieving food safety while respecting the diversity of European food. Following the principle of flexibility, exemptions can be made for food produced according (...)

Salmon Food Colouring Cut Down

The EU has cut the allowed levels of Canthaxanthin, a pigment used to colour the feed of farmed salmon and chickens following an EU scientific committee which established a link between the colorant and retinal problems in 1997. The pigment gives farmed salmon a more pinkish colour and makes egg yokes more golden. Under the new EU rule, the maximum levels of the colourant will be cut by at least two thirds. This Directive was agreed recently by the Member States in a vote in the Standing (...)

Controversial CAP Reform

The Commission proposed on the 22 January the new reforms to its contentious CAP, characterised by the single payments based on the size of their farm - not their production levels.
Subsidies will also be linked to farms meeting standards for food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare. Direct payments to big farms will be gradually scaled down from 2007, with the aim of freeing up more money for rural development in the EU’s poorest farming regions.
Cuts will also be made in (...)

Parliament Discussed Health Care and Care for the Elderly

On 15 January, the Parliament adopted a position on the Commission Communication discussing future trends and costs for health care in light of an ageing EU population.
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2 ?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+DN-20030115-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S#SECTION8
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2 ?L=EN&OBJID=10259&LEVEL=2&MODE=SIP&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N

Public hearing on the quality and safety of human tissues and cells

Eucomed, the medical technology industry association co-sponsored a public hearing on the quality and safety of human tissues and cells hsted by Dr Peter Liese MEP and that took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday 29 January.
The European Commission - DG Sanco published on 19 June 2002 its proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on setting standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, storage, and (...)

EU Commission Criticised for Position on Worldwide Medicine Agreement

US and Europe have still not reached an agreement on the access to cheap medicines for the world’s poorest nations. During the negotiations, the US, home to the world’s largest pharma industry, insisted that any deal must be limited both in scope and duration. On this basis, the US has been acting unilaterally and using temporary and non-binding measures, while Europe has criticised this move and has issued an alternative proposal : multilateral and permanent.
As with the original DOHA (...)

Pharmaceutical Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

Pharmaceutical companies in the European Union are currently prohibited from advertising prescription drugs directly to the public, however Article 88 of DG Enterprise’s proposed draft of the EU Pharmaceuticals relaxes the ban for three diseases : diabetes, asthma and respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS.
Opponents of the proposal argue that direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) leads to unsustainable health care spending and may have other negative effects for patients.
In contrast, its (...)