WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3737/98 by Amedeo AMADEO Abolition of duty-free sales
C 289/82 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 11. 10. 1999 Joint answer to Written Questions E-3736/98 and E-3955/98 given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (8 February 1999) The Commission attaches great importance to the growing public health issue of osteoporosis. The Community has been able to support the drawing up of a report on osteoporosis by Decision 645/96/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 29 March 1996 (1) within the context of the health promotion programme, and in June 1998, a conference organised by the Parliament in Brussels was held to mark the publishing of this report. The report covers recommendations for professionals, decision makers and the public. It also helps to determine the best actions to be taken at Community level. About a million copies of a summary of this report have been published so far and disseminated in all Member States. The full report will soon be available in all languages of the Community and distributed to all members of the Parliament. Proposals for Council recommendations on osteoporosis will follow. The public health programme on health monitoring set up by Decision 1400/97/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 (2) aims to provide the Community and the Member States with reliable and comparable data on the trends of the health status and risk factors. Osteoporosis as such is not specifically mentioned in the programme but all issues related to osteoporosis are included in the list of areas in which health indicators will be established, such as morbidity functioning and quality of life, diet, physical activity. Finally the 5th framework research programme foresees the possibility of addressing osteoporosis in the chapter ‘An ageing population’ in which osteoporosis is mentioned as one of the age-related diseases which must be tackled. (1) OJ L 95, 16. 4. 1996. (2) OJ L 193, 22. 7. 1997. (1999/C 289/109) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3737/98 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Council (11 December 1998) Subject: Abolition of duty-free sales In anticipation of a review of the entire European tax system, the 1992 directives decreed that duty-free sales in the European Union would come to an end in June 1999. The decision in favour of abolishing duty-free sales, which was taken by the Ministers of Finance, can be changed only by a symbolic use of unanimity, which it is difficult to achieve in this area. In view of the fact that the sector employs 140 000 people, and that the profits made on such sales enable all of Europe’s biggest airports to absorb a range of costs and finance works and investment, and in view of the by now spasmodic quest for job creation: Can the Council indicate the logic behind the decision to abolish a sector which makes such a positive contribution to Community employment? Does it intend to call a halt, as a matter of urgency, to the procedures for abolishing the sector, and initiate a study to examine the results of such abolition and its impact on industrial production and employment?