WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3707/98 by Hiltrud BREYER Human stem cells and tissue engineering
C 289/74 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 11. 10. 1999 (1999/C 289/097) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3699/98 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Council (4 December 1998) Subject: Studies on transitional periods In the run-up to the Pörtschach summit Austria’s Federal Chancellor referred to a study which had been commissioned from research institutes in agreement with the heads of government of the candidate countries and ‘is to contain the data needed for the calculation of the transitional periods’. 1. 2. Is the Council aware of this? Does it have any information on whether and where these studies have been commissioned? Have tenders been invited, or are they being invited, for these studies throughout the Union, or is this a 3. purely Austrian initiative? 4. Is the Council cooperating in these studies with the material at its disposal? Reply (29 March 1999) The Council is unaware of the study referred to by the Honourable Member on the data needed for the calculation of the transitional periods. The European Union’s general position is that accession presupposes complete acceptance of the Union’s acquis. Accession to the Union implies full acceptance of the actual and potential rights and obligations attaching to the Union system and its institutional framework, known as the ‘acquis’ of the Union. Acceptance of these rights and obligations may give rise exceptionally to transitional measures to be defined during the accession negotiations. Accordingly, transitional measures can be granted only exceptionally, will be limited in time and scope and will have to be coupled with a plan incorporating clearly defined stages for implementing the acquis. It is for the Intergovernmental Conferences on accession to negotiate on the desirability of any transitional periods and their conditions and length. It will be recalled that, in those Conferences, the common position of the Union is adopted by the Council. (1999/C 289/098) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3707/98 by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Council (11 December 1998) Subject: Human stem cells and tissue engineering Recent reports state that US and British research institutions are involved in the cloning and redesign of ‘master’ stem cells obtained from human embryos in order to produce body components. Can the Council please confirm that no EU funds are being used, either directly or indirectly, in such 1. research? 2. Will the Council also please indicate in which EU Member States such research is permitted and what legal and ethical controls exist?