WRITTEN QUESTION E-2328/99 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Health problems arising from the operation of an olive kernel oil plant in Iraklion (Crete).
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 225 E/103 steel for concrete (1). For its part, the Commission will continue to support the work of the European Committee for Iron and Steel Standardisation (ECISS) within the context of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to establish harmonised standards. However, when it comes to product quality, and in particular the possibility of products being misused, it falls to the parties involved, both buyers and sellers, to ensure that all the proper provisions are included in the contract. Since the use of steel products is subject, within the Community, to technical monitoring systems and controls which exclude the use of materials which fail to comply with standards in sensitive sectors, the falsification of quality certificates would fall within the area of private law. (1) OJ L 240, 2. 9. 1997. (2000/C 225 E/104) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2328/99 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Health problems arising from the operation of an olive kernel oil plant in Iraklion (Crete) In Iraklion in Crete, a particularly pollutant olive kernel processing plant is producing an extremely unpleasant odour, affecting the local residents and the city hospital, the colleges of technology and many schools and day nurseries. Despite complaints by the local and prefectural authorities and the unfavourable findings of the Technical Infrastructures and Environment Committee, the Ministry for the Environment, Town Planning and Public Works is continuing to renew the plantís operating licence. Can the Commission answer the following: 1. Have environmental impact studies, together with the necessary technical studies, concerning the plant as a whole been carried out? 2. Have all appropriate calculations been made and has an evaluation been carried out of measures recommended in the past? 3. Will the Commission take measures to have the plant definitively closed down in accordance with a request to the Ministry for the Environment, Town Planning and Public Works from the Crete regional Secretary-General and other bodies? Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission (17 January 2000) The Commission does not know if an environmental impact assessment has been carried out for the plant in question. The national authorities are responsible for checking whether the requirements of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment, amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (1), have been met. The Commission does not have any information on the pollution caused by this plant or the approval of an environmental impact assessment. The Commission would ask the Honourable Member to send it a dossier describing the plantís polluting activities, so that it can contact the Greek authorities and investigate the matter. (1) OJ L 73, 14. 3. 1997