WRITTEN QUESTION No. 815/98 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Sewage treatment plant: San Juan De Los Terreros (Pulpi)
C 354/26 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 11. 98 On 30 April 1997, the Commission adopted an Action plan for transit in Europe - A new customs policyí (1). In this action plan, the Commission describes the computerisation of the transit procedures as the key to transit reform. Under the New computerised transit system (NCTS), the return copy of the transit documents will be replaced by an electronic message, allowing a faster discharge of the transit operations and increasing the operational security. Pending the introduction of the computerised system, the Commission has launched a series of operational measures to speed up the return of the transit documents to the offices of departure. A network of national transit coordinators and local contact points was established and Member States were required to adopt national transit management plans following a commonly agreed structure. On the legislative side, the Commission proposed to clarify the deadlines for sending back the return copy of the transit documents and to reorganise the centralised offices. (1) COM(97) 188 final. (98/C 354/55) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0814/98 by Shaun Spiers (PSE) to the Commission (26 March 1998) Subject: Use of porous asphalt in road-building Does the Commission have any data on the use of porous asphalt as a road surface › particularly for motorways and trunk roads › across the EU? Has it carried out any research into the efficacy of porous asphalt in reducing noise pollution and increasing road safety (by better drainage)? Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (30 April 1998) The Commission has no information regarding the use across the Community of porous asphalt as a road surface material. There is some research work which relates indirectly to the subject raised by the Honourable Member: COST Action 324 concerns the development of methods to measure road pavement performance. The final report, now available (1), describes the work carried out to integrate national studies on long term pavement performance for use at European level. COST 324 was succeeded by the still ongoing fourth framework programme project PARIS (performance analysis of road infrastructure). COST action 333 looks at the development of new bituminous pavement design methods, and is planned to be finalised by February 1999. Research within the Brite/Euram 1 programme, finalised in 1993, compared various types of road surfaces, including porous asphalt, with concrete roads, in accordance with environmental acceptance and traffic safety. (1) EUR 17546, No ISBN 92-828-0308-2, 1997. (98/C 354/56) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0815/98 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (26 March 1998) Subject: Sewage treatment plant: San Juan De Los Terreros (Pulpi) My constituent, Mr Howard, owns a villa in San Juan De Los Terreros, Pulpi, Almeria in Spain. The sewage treatment plant is some 400 metres away from his property, and is the source of extremely foul smells, which my