WRITTEN QUESTION No. 983/99 by Concepció FERRER Action to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade with the United States
C 348/146 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 3. 12. 1999 Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (29 April 1999) The Commission aims to avoid the use of such terms as ‘mentally handicapped’, ‘handicap’, or ‘handicapped’ in English language texts being aware that people with disabilities consider them to be pejorative terms in English. The preferred usage is, respectively, ‘with learning difficulties’, ‘disability’ and ‘disabled’. (1999/C 348/201) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0975/99 by Eluned Morgan (PSE) to the Commission (7 April 1999) Subject: Ritual slaughter of animals in religious festival Can the Commission clarify the legal situation with regard to the ritual slaughter of animals in religious festivals in the open in Member States and how is this enforced? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (27 April 1999) Council Directive 93/119/EEC of 22 December 1993 on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter and killing (1), requires that ritual slaughter must take place in an abattoir and must comply with other Community public health, animal health and welfare requirements. The Commission is aware that in certain Member States some slaughtering of animals during the religious festival of Eid-el-Kabir may take place outside slaughterhouses. The Commission has raised the matter within the standing veterinary committee. Most Member States have underlined that they have transposed the Directive in such a way to prohibit slaughter outside the slaughterhouses. However, in a minority of Member States ritual slaughter outside slaughterhouses either takes place illegally or is subject to a certain degree of toleration by the competent authorities. The Commission intends to raise the situation in the standing veterinary committee again and then draw its conclusions. (1) OJ L 340, 31. 12. 1993. (1999/C 348/202) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0983/99 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission (15 April 1999) Subject: Action to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade with the United States The customs formalities imposed by the United States are particularly detailed and require a large amount of information, most of which would appear to be irrelevant for customs or statistical purposes. This is prejudicial to European exporters, especially those in the textile sector. Does the United States plan to act to resolve this problem? If not, does the Commission intend to take any action in this area?