WRITTEN QUESTION P-1372/00 by Marianne Thyssen (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Proposal for a directive on food supplements.
28. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 E/217 The Commission is convinced that solutions can still be found which will be satisfactory to everyone. In the coming discussions, it will emphasise the importance for the French authorities of consulting the interested parties, including the complainants. The discussions are specifically aimed at finding proportionate responses which are consistent with Community law and the public health objectives of the regulations in question. The Commission is aware of the consequences of these regulations, particularly for medium-sized producers such as wine producers. The effects of the legislation will be at the heart of the discussions. A code of conduct is likely to offer quick and satisfactory solutions to the problems, providing that certain conditions are met in terms of consulting the interested parties and in terms of content, transparency and dissemination. In order to maximise legal certainty, the Commission considers in particular that all interested parties (advertisers, broadcasters) should be able to obtain quick, clear and precise information from the French authorities regarding the status of any given sports event in relation to the distinctions made by the code. (2000/C 374 E/257) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1339/00 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission (4 May 2000) Subject: Employee consultation legislation Does the Commission feel that the announcement made by Commercial Hydraulics Ultra Division on 6 March that their factory in Cheltenham (UK) would close with the loss of 252 jobs and that they would commence consultation after the announcement had been made, fits with the spirit of the law on employee consultation legislation? Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (5 June 2000) The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to his Written Question E-0883/00 (1). (1) See page 178. (2000/C 374 E/258) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1372/00 by Marianne Thyssen (PPE-DE) to the Commission Subject: Proposal for a directive on food supplements (26 April 2000) At present there is no harmonised legislation on food supplements in the European Union. This has serious and persistent effects on the free movement of such goods in the European Union. In its White Paper on food safety, the Commission announced that it would submit a proposal for a directive on food supplements to the Council and Parliament in about March 2000. A harmonisation measure of this kind could solve the above problem. How is the drafting of the proposal for a directive going, and when will the Commission submit it to the Council and Parliament? C 374 E/218 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (26 May 2000) The Proposal for a Parliament and Council Directive on food supplements which had been announced in paragraph 105 of the White Paper on Food Safety was adopted by the Commission on 8 May 2000. It will soon be transmitted to Council and Parliament, and published in the Official Journal. (2000/C 374 E/259) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1378/00 by Reinhold Messner (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (27 April 2000) Subject: Asti-Cuneo motorway The Italian government appears to intend to begin to work on the Asti-Cuneo motorway in the Piedmont region, on the basis of renewal of the concession granted to SATAP (SocietÆ Autostrada Torino-Piacenza). This company will thus be responsible for both the Turin-Piacenza link and the Asti-Cuneo link. No call for tenders has been made. The government has also, by ministerial decree, approved 19 agreements made with concessionaires (in 19 separate ministerial decrees). The Italian Court of Auditors, which has unblocked seven of the 19 conventions between ANAS (the Italian national roads authority) and the 19 concessionaires, has not yet given an opinion on the extension of the concession to SATAP. However, in September 1999 the Counsellor-Delegate of the Court of Auditors responsible for monitoring ANAS wrote to the Italian government expressing the view that the concession granted by the government to SATAP in 1991 is not in conformity with the law, since it took the form of a private transaction, despite the fact that Directive 89/440/EEC (1), under which a public call for tenders is mandatory, was already in force. Furthermore, in 1993 the Asti-Cuneo project was refused approval by the environmental impact assess- ment committee of the Italian environment ministry; this decision was reversed by the Italian cabinet, in votes in 1994 and 1999, on the basis of changes to the project which, however, entailed neither a fresh environmental impact assessment nor the republication of the project (which would have allowed the citizens affected by the proposed route to submit their comments). In the specific case of the Asti-Cuneo link, an appeal is pending before the Administrative Tribunal of the Lazio region concerning the Massimimi-Cuneo stretch. In addition, a judicial inquiry is in progress into SATAPís accounts, following 33 calls for legal investigation of alleged cases of accounting fraud by the companyís administrators. In view of the above, does the Commission not consider that the extension of the motorway concession by the Italian government to SATAP, without a call for tenders, in particular, to Directives 92/50/EEC (2), 93/36/EEC (3) and 93/37/EEC (4), and that this extension is undesir- able, given that several legal inquiries are under way into the Italian concessionaireís affairs? Does the Commission not also consider that there should be an environmental impact assessment of the new project? is contrary to Community law, and, (1) OJ L 210, 21. 7. 1989. p. 1. (2) OJ L 209, 24. 7. 1992, p. 1. (3) OJ L 199, 9. 8. 1993, p. 1. (4) OJ L 199, 9. 8. 1993, p. 54. Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (29 May 2000) The Commission intends to ask the Italian authorities for all the information needed to assess the compatibility with Community law of the contracts for the construction of the new stretch of the Asti- Cuneo motorway, and of the extension of the concession to the SATAP company, as raised by the Honourable Member. Should the examination of that information reveal that the procedures followed were incompatible with the above-mentioned Community law, the Commission could initiate infringement proceedings pursuant to Article 226 (ex Article 169) of the EC Treaty