WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1748/97 by Susan WADDINGTON to the Commission. Eurostat - Household report
C 45/96 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 2. 98 Standards are drawn up by private bodies and are not legally enforceable. In some cases, the European and 2. national legislators attach legal consequences to the use of standards. 3. - 4. The internal rules of procedure of CEN and Cenelec require their members to include European Standards, once they have been adopted, in the body of national standards. Any conflicting national standards in the same field must be withdrawn and no further standards may be issued. The language in which CEN and Cenelec members issue the European Standard as a national standard is at their discretion and subject to national legislation. Standards except those relating to information and communications technology are normally made available by the national standards institutes in the relevant national languages. The fact that CEN and Cenelec members are obliged to adopt European Standards nationally does not necessarily mean that users are obliged to apply them. (1) OJ L 109, 26. 4. 1983. (2) OJ L 100, 19. 4. 1994. (98/C 45/116) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1748/97 by Susan Waddington (PSE) to the Commission (11 May 1997) Subject: Eurostat › Household report In view of the Guardian newspaperís allegation that the Eurostat report on households has been withheld by the Commission until after the UK elections (1), does the Commission deny that this is the case; does the Commission agree that such behaviour would be contrary to its role as defined in the Treaties and its Decision 97/281/EC (2) of 21 April 1997 regarding the role of Eurostat, (in particular Articles 3 and 11) and, in view of the regular occurrence of elections in the Member States, that such action would set a dangerous precedent for the future work and transparency of the institution? (1) The Guardian, pages 1 and 7, 28. 4. 1997. (2) OJ L 112, 29. 4. 1997, p. 56. Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (13 June 1997) Eurostat statistics in focus, population and social conditions No 6/1997, Income distribution and poverty in EU12 › 1993 was published on 14 May 1997 following normal procedures for the publication of Eurostatís reports. This means the report was issued as soon as all three language versions (French, English and German) of the report were ready, i. e. translated, formatted and printed. This process was by no means influenced by the election in the United Kingdom. Community statistics are produced according to the principles of impartiality which means free from any pressures. Thus elections in Member States never influence the timing of the publication of statistics. (98/C 45/117) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1751/97 by Arthur Newens (PSE) to the Commission (27 May 1997) Subject: Comparative value of state pensions in European Union countries Further to the answers given by the Commission to Written Questions Nos 2620/88 (1) and 792/92 (2) on the relative value of state pensions in European Union Member States, which provided a wealth of highly