WRITTEN QUESTION E-0416/00 by Caroline Jackson (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Lower rate of VAT on recombinant products.
28. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 E/69 Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (7 March 2000) The Commission is well aware that Cambodia is among the least developed countries in the world and that it is still marred by poverty and other related problems. The country is facing major challenges in the forthcoming years and needs to implement wide-ranging reforms swiftly. Since the formation of the new Cambodian government, the Commission has had regular consultations with it to discuss these reforms. At this time the Commission is not considering imposing any conditions on its development programmes, but it will continue to monitor the situation in Cambodia carefully. Concerning the questions of human rights democratisation and corruption, the Commission intends to have thorough discussions with Cambodian authorities on these issues on the occasion of the first Community Cambodia joint committee, scheduled for the first half of year 2000. Regarding the food situation for year 2000, international organisations are of the opinion that the overall food situation in Cambodia remains satisfactory. Nevertheless, a sizeable section of the population remains vulnerable to food shortages and the Commission continues to follow the situation in order to be prepared should an emergency occur. (2000/C 374 E/081) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0416/00 by Caroline Jackson (PPE-DE) to the Commission (23 February 2000) Subject: Lower rate of VAT on recombinant products Can the Commission state whether it is prepared to make a proposal for the lower rate of VAT to be applied to recombinant blood products and if not, why not? Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (6 April 2000) For VAT purposes a distinction is made between different types of products derived from blood. Some products derived from blood or human plasma, such as albumin, coagulation factors and immunoglobulins, are considered medicinal products (in accordance with Council Directive 89/381/EEC of 14 june 1989) (1). Under Article 12(3)(a) and Annex H, Category 3, of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EEC) (2), VAT may be applied to such products at a lower rate. Recombinant blood products (obtained through genetic engineering, not extracted from human blood) are medicinal products because they fall under Part A of the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2309/ 93 (3), which requires a marketing authorisation to be granted under the centralised Community procedure. As such, they are also charged at the lower rate of VAT. Labile blood derivatives such as plasma and blood cells of human origin, on the other hand, are not considered medicinal products. They are thus taxed at the standard rate of VAT, while whole blood is exempt from VAT. It might be appropriate to review this anomalous situation, where whole blood is exempt but labile blood derivatives are charged at the standard rate. The Commission is currently examining the matter to see what the practice is in the different Member States. C 374 E/70 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 The issue will be considered in the framework of a forthcoming review of the scope of the lower rates of VAT, and appropriate proposals made for a more uniform VAT regime for transactions involving blood products. (1) OJ L 181, 28. 6. 1989. Council Directive 89/381/EEC of 14 June 1989 extending the scope of Directives 65/65/EEC and 75/319/EEC on the approximation of provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action relating to proprietary medicinal products and laying down special provisions for medicinal products derived from human blood or human plasma. (2) OJ L 145, 13. 6. 1977, as last amended by Directive 1999/85/EC (OJ L 277, 28. 10. 1999). (3) OJ L 214, 24. 8. 1993. Council Regulation (EEC) No 2309/93 of 22 July 1993 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products. (2000/C 374 E/082) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0418/00 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (23 February 2000) Subject: Curtailing beam-trawl fishing owing to damage to the sea-bed environment 1. Is the Commission familiar with the article headlined Beam-trawl fishing damaging to North Sea environmentí published in de Volkskrant on 1 February 2000, in which the environmental impact of the beam-trawling method is described by Dr H. Lindeman, a researcher at the Institute for Maritime Research (NIOZ) commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fisheries (LNV)? 2. Is the Commission aware that this fisheries technique, which is used mainly to catch sea-bed dwelling species like sole and plaice, involves the use of heavy iron bars and chains to in effect plough up the sea bed to a depth of 6 to 10 centimetres as a means of forcing those species into the nets. 3. Can the Commission confirm that in the Netherlands area of the North Sea alone, a minimum of 400 fisheries vessels, equipped with fishing gear ranging from 4 to 12 metres in width, are already using the beam-trawling method, and that not only the North Sea, on which fisheries countries like the Netherlands, Britain and the Scandinavian countries are dependent, but other waters as well are being damaged by this process? Does the Commission agree that this fisheries method has a highly destructive impact on the sea bed 4. and its biodiversity, not least because every living sea-bed organism is uprooted, and that beam-trawl fishing is currently wreaking at least as much havoc on the environment as, say, oil or gas borings? 5. What action will the Commission take to curtail the beam-trawling fisheries method and to provide the fisheries crews concerned with the opportunity to convert to other catching techniques or to other employment altogether? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (30 March 2000) 1. The Commission is not familiar with the article published in de Volkskrant of 1 February 2000. The Commission is fully aware of the nature of beam trawls, their target species, and the degree to 2. which the seabed is penetrated by these fishing gears. The Commission can confirm that a large number of beam trawlers work in the North Sea and 3. elsewhere. It is doubtful, however, that all of these vessels work at any time simultaneously in the Netherlands area of the North Sea. A recent survey has indicated that, in the North Sea and even in the Netherlands area thereof, there are considerable areas which are not fished at all by beam trawlers