WRITTEN QUESTION No. 198/98 by Kirsten JENSEN to the Commission. Cosmetics
C 223/136 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 98 Thus the Protocol to the Strasbourg Convention has, for example, made the agreements between Italy and France and Italy and the Netherlands, which allow dual citizenship, operational. In order to remove the obstacles to freedom of movement and ensure the free movement of citizens, can the Commission introduce the appropriate measures to extend the Strasbourg Protocol to cover the European countries in which there are large numbers of Italians? Can it also, in view of the sizeable Italian community in Belgium, extend the Strasbourg Protocol, as a matter of urgency, to relations between Belgium and Italy, so as to allow the Italians living in Belgium who want to complete the formalities for reacquisition of their original citizenship, to do so, whilst keeping the Belgian citizenship which they acquired by means of voluntary naturalization? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998) As stipulated in Article 8 of the EC Treaty, every person holding the nationality of a Member State is a citizen of the Union. In accordance with Declaration No 2 on nationality of a Member State, annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty on European Union, wherever in the Treaty reference is made to nationals of the Member States, the question whether an individual possesses the nationality of a Member State is to be settled solely by reference to the national law of the Member State concerned. Consequently, it is the Member State concerned which is competent to define the conditions for acquiring and giving up its nationality. The Member States are also competent to conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements on the conditions for acquiring and giving up nationality. The Commission is therefore not entitled to intervene in the way the Honourable Member would like. (98/C 223/177) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0198/98 by Kirsten Jensen (PSE) to the Commission (11 February 1998) Subject: Cosmetics In view of the increasing number of persons with allergies in Europe, will the Commission revise the Cosmetics Directive (76/768/EEC) (1) and include a full declaration of the composition of perfumes? Alternatively, will the Commission propose that an indication of the ten most allergenic substances in perfumes be required? (1) OJ L 262, 27. 9. 1976, p. 169. Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (23 March 1998) The Scientific Committee for Cosmetics and Non-Food Products has set up a Working Party on Perfumes and Preservatives to examine the entire question of the risks of allergies which may be due to perfumes in cosmetics. As soon as the Scientific Committee has concluded its work on this subject, the Commission will consider the general or specific conclusions to be drawn with regard to those perfumes for which the Committee believes that an indication or a precaution to users should appear on products containing them. Such indications and precautions for users are already provided for a series of substances llisted in Annex III to Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States on cosmetic products