WRITTEN QUESTION E-2350/99 by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Grant funding.
C 280 E/30 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 3. 10. 2000 Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission (25 January 2000) The assessment of the Hellenic Register of Shipping (HRS) was carried out from 17 to 20 March 1997 in order to verify whether the Greek classification society met the criteria laid down in the Annex to Council Directive 94/57/EC of 22 November 1994 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations and for the relevant activities of maritime administrations. The assessment proved that HRS did not fulfil the so-called quantitative criteria (1 000 ocean-going vessels over 100 gross tonnage (GT) in its class and 100 exclusive surveyors). As far as the qualitative criteria are concerned, it was assessed that the Greek organisation met them with the exception of some non-conformities which the Commission requested HRS to remedy. HRS implemented all the recommendations put forward by the Commission immediately after the assessment. Therefore the Commission was satisfied that HRS met the qualitative criteria. At the time of the inspection, HRS had only 941 ocean-going vessels over 100 GT in its class and 60 exclusive surveyors. Following a different calculation method suggested by HRS, the number of exclusive surveyors would be 86, still not meeting the figure of 100 required by the Directive. In March 1997 a complaint alleging HRS did not meet some of the criteria of the Directive was lodged with the Commission. The non-conformities alleged in the complaint coincided to a large extent with the non-conformities noted during the Commissionís assessment. As mentioned above, all the non-conformi- ties were remedied by HRS immediately after the assessment and therefore the Commission decided to close the complaint. On 22 April 1998 HRS was recognised pursuant to Article 4 (3) of the Directive for a period of three years during which HRS can only work on behalf of the Greek administration. At present HRS is ü and will continue to be ü monitored by the committee set up under the Directive with a view to taking the final decision on its full recognition. the classification societies recognised at Community level are continuously monitored by the All committee to ensure that they maintain high quality standards. (2000/C 280 E/029) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2350/99 by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Grant funding What is the total cost of auditing all EU grant funding (Structural Funds and direct funding projects), including: ü internal audit costs, and ü costs incurred by outside contractors employed to audit EU funds? I understand that, where funds have been obtained fraudulently or have been known to be misused, the European Commission reclaims them. What percentage of total grant funding does the European Commission identify as misapplied and require to be reimbursed? Is there a timeframe within which fund recipients must reimburse misused and/or wrongly allocated money? What is the average percentage never recovered and/or written off? Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission (23 February 2000) The accounting for the Commissionís administrative expenditure is organised by the nature of the expenditure and not by fund, policy objective, or type of administrative cost. Thus, the total cost of auditing all Community grant funding is not known precisely. The audit of expenditure by the managing 3. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 280 E/31 directorates general is organised by those directorates general and may even be funded from part B of the budget. No consolidation procedure is currently undertaken, which could give an indication of the total cost of the auditing activity. The introduction of activity based Management (ABM) which has been agreed by the Commission in November 1999, should enable the Commission to provide this type of information in due course. If funds are identified as incorrectly applied, the Commission undertakes the procedure of debt recovery as provided by articles 28 and 29 of the Financial Regulation (1). The competent authorising officers establish recovery orders, which are sent to the Financial controller for approval and registered by the accounting officer. The latter is in charge of issuing the debit note and exercises all due diligence to ensure that the amounts due to the Commission are recovered. He initiates the recovery procedure, if the amounts are not paid by the due date. As the main purpose of the reporting system is the efficient recovery of individual debts, no general percentages of recovery on grant funding can be given at this stage. The further development of reporting within the Sincom2 accounting system should enable the Commission to establish more general statistics of this type in the future. (1) OJ L 356, 31. 12. 1977. (2000/C 280 E/030) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2359/99 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) and Brian Crowley (UEN) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Synthetic drugs ü The use of synthetic drugs is spreading at an alarming rate and is causing deaths in all the EU Member States, ü according to press reports, detailed instructions for concocting such substances are available on the Internet and the users of synthetic drugs are thus able to make their own supplies at home, ü many ü too many ü young people are unaware of the irreversible damage which such substances can do, as is clearly illustrated by the fact that a liver transplant has had to be carried out on a 17-year-old girl in Lombardy (Italy). In view of the above, would the Commission prepare, as a matter of urgency, a brief television broadcast to be shown on all national television channels (both public and commercial) in the Member States in order to inform young people and their families of the risks involved in drug-taking, to warn them not to use such substances and to ask them to assist the appropriate authorities in identifying and halting the activities of anyone who supplies or otherwise promotes such substances? Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (21 January 2000) The Commission shares the concern of the Honourable Member about the problems caused by synthetic drugs. In its communication on a European action plan to combat drugs (2000-2004) (1), the Commission has highlighted that the problem could be reduced using appropriate legislation; actions against production and trafficking, including improved co-operation between national authorities and the chemical industry, in particular concerning precursors; international co-operation; and action on demand reduction through information and other preventive approaches