Index 
Texts adopted
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 - Strasbourg
Participation of Bulgaria and Romania in the European Economic Area ***
 EC/Ukraine agreement: short-stay visas *
 EC/Ukraine agreement: readmission *
 EC/Moldova agreement: short-stay visas *
 Agreement between the EC and Moldova: readmission *
 Interoperability of digital interactive television services
 Data in the fisheries sector and scientific advice regarding the common fisheries policy *
 Composition of the Conference of Presidents (amendment of Rule 23)
 Amendment of the Rules of Procedure in light of the Statute for Members
 Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work ***I
 Statutes for the Euratom Supply Agency *
 The role of sport in education
 Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
 Amendment of Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community ***I
 "Dys'crimination and social exclusion affecting children with "dys'abilities

Participation of Bulgaria and Romania in the European Economic Area ***
PDF 188kWORD 30k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of an agreement on the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania in the European Economic Area and four related agreements (12641/2007 – C6-0350/2007 – 2007/0115(AVC))
P6_TA(2007)0492A6-0413/2007

(Assent procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (12641/2007),

–   having regard to the request for assent submitted by the Council pursuant to Article 300(3), second subparagraph, in conjunction with Article 310 and Article 300(2) of the EC Treaty (C6-0350/2007),

–   having regard to Rules 75, 83(7) and 43(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on International Trade (A6-0413/2007),

1.  Gives its assent to the conclusion of the agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the member states of the European Economic Area.


EC/Ukraine agreement: short-stay visas *
PDF 191kWORD 29k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Ukraine on the facilitation of issuance of short-stay visas (COM(2007)0190 – C6-0187/2007 – 2007/0069(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0493A6-0363/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2007)0190),

–   having regard to Articles 62(2)(b)(i) and (ii) and 300(2), first subparagraph, first sentence, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0187/2007),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6-0363/2007),

1.  Approves the conclusion of the Agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Republic of Ukraine.


EC/Ukraine agreement: readmission *
PDF 192kWORD 29k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision concerning the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Ukraine on readmission (COM(2007)0197 – C6-0188/2007 – 2007/0071(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0494A6-0364/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2007)0197),

–   having regard to Articles 63(3)(b) and 300(2), first subparagraph, first sentence, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0188/2007),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6-0364/2007),

1.  Approves the conclusion of the Agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Republic of Ukraine.


EC/Moldova agreement: short-stay visas *
PDF 190kWORD 29k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Republic of Moldova on the facilitation of issuance of short-stay visas (COM(2007)0488 – C6-0339/2007 – 2007/0175(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0495A6-0426/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2007)0488),

–   having regard to Article 62(2)(b)(i) and (ii) and Article 300(2), first subparagraph, first sentence, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0339/2007),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6-0426/2007),

1.  Approves the conclusion of the Agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Republic of Moldova.


Agreement between the EC and Moldova: readmission *
PDF 189kWORD 30k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision concerning the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and Republic of Moldova on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation (COM(2007)0504 – C6-0340/2007 – 2007/0182(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0496A6-0427/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2007)0504),

–   having regard to Articles 63(3)(b) and 300(2), first subparagraph, first sentence, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0340/2007),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6-0427/2007),

1.  Approves the conclusion of the Agreement;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission, and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the Republic of Moldova.


Interoperability of digital interactive television services
PDF 130kWORD 49k
European Parliament resolution of 13 November 2007 on the interoperability of digital interactive television services (2007/2152(INI))
P6_TA(2007)0497A6-0390/2007

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Article 11, on freedom of expression and information, of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–   having regard to Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive)(1),

–   having regard to Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive)(2),

–   having regard to the Commission Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on reviewing the interoperability of digital interactive television services pursuant to Communication COM(2004)0541 of 30 July 2004 (COM(2006)0037),

–   having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on interoperability of digital interactive television services (COM(2004)0541),

–   having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on accelerating the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting (COM(2005)0204),

–   having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting (from digital 'switchover' to analogue 'switch-off') (COM(2003)0541),

–   having regard to its resolution of 27 April 2006 on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting: an opportunity for European audiovisual policy and cultural diversity?(3),

–   having regard to its resolution of 16 November 2005 on accelerating the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting(4),

–   having regard to the conclusions of the meeting of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council, held in Brussels from 6 to 8 June 2007, on the i2010 initiative - Annual Information Society Report 2007,

–   having regard to the conclusions of the meeting of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council held in Brussels on 9 and 10 December 2004,

–   having regard to Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)3 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the remit of public service media in the information society,

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education and the opinion of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (A6-0390/2007),

A.   whereas the switchover from analogue to digital is a great step forward and can contribute towards disseminating culture and improving social cohesion,

B.   whereas digital television can make use of new media technology to provide information services and can therefore enhance social cohesion and help bring everyone within the information society,

C.   whereas, in keeping with the Commission's view, the successful switchover to digital television is a prerequisite for developing interactive digital services,

D.   whereas the digital television services sector has great economic potential and is important as a source of employment,

E.   whereas, however, any legislative initiative concerning the digital sector cannot be reduced to a matter of infrastructure and technical data, and whereas these issues should be dealt with in accordance with policy objectives, in a continual quest for added value for users,

F.   whereas safeguards should be established at the European and national levels to prevent competition and market forces alone from governing the important choices to be made,

G.   whereas Parliament's earlier position needs to be restated, that imposing a single European standard is not the right solution, given the disparity of situations, to achieve the intended objectives, and that for the time being good sense dictates that industry-led, voluntary standardisation measures should be used, as demonstrated by a few positive national examples,

H.   whereas the digital television sector in the European Union already benefits from a wide range of robust European standards,

I.   whereas it is important for European citizens to take full advantage of the potential benefits of digital television,

J.   whereas the expansion of interactive services has so far been minimal compared with the optimistic forecasts made by the experts,

K.   whereas the wide range of technical opportunities created by digital broadcasting, such as interactivity, should not be a fresh source of inequality, adding a "digital divide" to the social and cultural divide,

L.   whereas it is a cause for concern that this risk may grow for the underprivileged categories, owing to the additional costs of the necessary material,

M.   whereas the move from analogue to digital television is making it possible to release spectrum capacity and develop new technologies and innovative solutions which boost European competitiveness in this sector,

N.   whereas the new technologies should be mastered at as young an age as possible and education systems should adapt as swiftly and effectively as possible to the cultural and social changes brought about by the new information and communication technologies, convergence and digitisation,

O.   whereas particular attention must also be paid to disabled people's access to and mastery of the new information and communication technologies;

P.   whereas digital interactive television services include multilingual subtitles, enabling digital television to enhance intercultural dialogue and lifelong learning,

Q.   whereas access to a greater number of services should always go hand in hand with freedom of information and expression,

R.   whereas, during the entire transition process, care should be taken not to weaken public audiovisual services but, on the contrary, to support them in their public service mission, while preserving the vitality of private audiovisual services,

Benefiting from the positive effects of technology

1.  Affirms that the new audiovisual technologies should allow the broadcasting of pluralist information and quality programmes, accessible to an ever increasing number of citizens;

2.  Points out that respect for pluralism of information and diversity of content is not automatically guaranteed by technological progress but must be implemented by national and European public authorities through an active, steadfast and vigilant policy;

3.  Considers, given the role of television in a globalised society, that the technical and legislative choices relating to interoperability should be not merely of an economic nature, but also of a social and cultural nature, and stresses that attention should be paid above all to users" interests;

4.  Stresses that the establishment of digital platforms is essential to maintaining a common public media zone following the abandonment of analogue technology, and calls on the Member States to promote the provision of wireless digital interactive television services with guaranteed reception from all proprietary platforms;

5.  Considers it essential, therefore, for the Commission to submit a report on the results of the exchanges of good practices, forums and working groups among stakeholders, including consumers", users" and viewers" associations;

6.  Stresses that the use of interoperable technical solutions which are technology-neutral provides a way of promoting investment and innovation in this sector, thereby stimulating competition and safeguarding consumer choice;

Succeeding in the digital transition and promoting open standards

7.  Maintains that the success, in as short a time as possible, of the transition from analogue to digital is a prerequisite and a priority; is concerned about possible delays in meeting the 2012 deadline;

8.  Takes the view that the coordinated development of digital television at Community level is essential if users are to benefit from the advantages of the internal market and in order to reduce the price of television receiving equipment and achieve greater penetration by digital interactive television services; accordingly, urges the Commission to support the Member States in drawing up a common plan of action at Community level;

9.  Calls on the Member States to speed up the transfer to digital television, taking account of market demand and topographical and regional demographic factors, and calls on those Member States which have not yet drawn up a national plan for the full switchover to digital television to do so by the end of 2008;

10.  Insists that measures taken by the Member States which lead to the expansion of digital interactive television services must comply with the rules on State aid;

11.  Stresses the importance of the principle of interoperability to strengthen user confidence in the new services and to develop the market in a positive way on the basis of open, interoperable standards;

12.  Stresses the importance of ensuring technological neutrality and developing successful business models;

13.  Welcomes the work done by the Commission and its vital and necessary role in coordinating all interested parties;

14.  Fully supports the Commission's approach in terms of its intention to cooperate fully with the Member States with a view to switching over to digital television successfully and facilitating interactive digital services;

15.  Reiterates that imposing a single standard by legal means is not the right solution but only a final sanction, but does not approve of market intervention alone as a means of resolving the problem of interactivity;

16.  Shares, therefore, the Commission's view that it would be advisable to continue promoting open standards such as MHP or MHEG-5, which are recognised by European standards bodies in relation to the switchover to digital and the interoperability of services, and maintains that these open standards are the most appropriate ones for ensuring the technological neutrality of networks and the free movement of information, respecting the special needs of countries where frequency capacities are limited;

17.  Stresses that, in view of the example of the 'submarine patents' which emerged five years after the MHP standard had begun to be implemented,  it is reasonable for licence fees to be fair and publicised at the start of the development of any open standard in order for it to be successful;

18.  Stresses the importance of voluntary agreements between digital television service providers on the establishment of a number of common technical specifications for the implementation of standards adopted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute;

19.  Urges the Commission to continue actively to promote the introduction of open European digital television standards in all regions of the world and to encourage international cooperation in this area, thereby ensuring the widest possible access to digital content;

20.  Regrets that interactive television in the EU has ultimately proved to be less commercially successful than expected; calls on the Commission to study the reasons for this phenomenon and to submit regular reports on the efforts made by the Commission and the Member States to develop the digital television market and its numerous offshoots;

21.  Considers it essential to provide consumers with more information on the opportunities offered by digital platforms and the necessary equipment, so that they are able to make informed technical and cultural choices;

22.  Stresses that any public intervention should not be discriminatory or favour one or another market operator;

23.  Calls on the Commission to help the Member States and local authorities, by disseminating best practices, to exploit the potential of the new technologies in order to communicate with their citizens more effectively;

The need to consider the impact and mastery of the new technologies

24.  Calls on the Commission and the Member States to inform the public about future developments in digital interactive television services, and recommends that digital television service providers take active steps to inform users about existing interactive services;

25.  Regards it as essential to ensure the security of users and the protection of their personal data and privacy, and stresses the importance of consumer confidence in digital interactive television services;

26.  Stresses the importance of discussing at European level the social and cultural implications of the digital society and the adaptation of national education systems to the cultural and social changes brought about by the new technologies;

27.  Reiterates the importance of educating people of all ages about the digital world and the media;

28.  Calls on the Member States to establish mechanisms which guarantee a non-discriminatory structure for electronic programme guides that can guide users through the digital services offered;

29.  Points out that the European audiovisual model is based on a creative dichotomy between public and private audiovisual services, and stresses that under no circumstances should the new technologies disturb that balance by weakening the competitiveness of the public sector; recalls that the public sector should continue to have guaranteed access to digital platforms;

o
o   o

30.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and the Council of Europe.

(1) OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 33.
(2) OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 7.
(3) OJ C 296 E, 6.12.2006, p. 120.
(4) JO C 280 E, 18.11.2006, p.115.


Data in the fisheries sector and scientific advice regarding the common fisheries policy *
PDF 313kWORD 67k
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council regulation establishing a Community framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and supporting scientific opinions on the Common Fisheries Policy (COM(2007)0196 – C6-0152/2007 – 2007/0070(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0498A6-0407/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2007)0196),

–   having regard to Article 37 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0152/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries (A6-0407/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;

3.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4.  Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;

5.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

Text proposed by the Commission   Amendments by Parliament
Amendment 1
Recital 6
(6)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 of 29 June 2000 establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the common fisheries policy needs to be reviewed in order to take due consideration of a fleet based approach towards fisheries management, the need to develop an ecosystem approach, the need for improved quality, completeness and broader access to fisheries data, more efficient support for provision of scientific advice and the promotion of cooperation among Member States.
(6)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 of 29 June 2000 establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the common fisheries policy needs to be reviewed in order to take due account of a fleet-based approach towards fisheries management, the need to develop an ecosystem approach, the need for improved quality, completeness and broader access to fisheries data, more efficient support for provision of scientific advice and the promotion of cooperation among Member States. The Member States and the Commission should be obliged to ensure sufficient levels of confidentiality in accordance with the data concerned, the characteristics of the end-user and the national law in question.
Amendment 2
Recital 9
(9)  The obligations concerning access to the data covered by this Regulation are without prejudice to Member States" obligations under Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC with regard to the environmental information as defined in Article 2(1) of that Directive.
(9)  The obligations concerning access to the data covered by this Regulation are without prejudice to the obligations, rights and exceptions set out in Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC with regard to the environmental information as defined in Article 2(1) of that Directive.
Amendment 3
Recital 14
(14)  The data referred to in this Regulation should be put into computerised databases so that they are accessible to authorised end-users and can be exchanged. It is in the interest of the scientific community that data which does not allow for personal identification is available to any party who has an interest in the analysis of such data.
(14)  The data referred to in this Regulation should be put into computerised databases so that they are accessible to authorised end-users and can be exchanged.
Amendment 4
Recital 16 a (new)
(16a)  Where the end-user is not a public body, a recognised scientific research centre, an international fisheries management organisation, or a body associated with any of the above for purposes of fisheries research or management, and where the persons, bodies or associations concerned are private, the public authorities should be allowed to charge for providing the information referred to in this Regulation. The sum charged, however, should be reasonable.
Amendment 5
Article 2, point (g)
(g) "end-users" means natural or legal persons or organisations with an interest in the scientific analysis of data concerning the fisheries sector;
(g) "end-users" means national or international bodies which, whether or not scientific in nature, are active partners and participants in fisheries research or management; the degree of connectedness of the end-user to fisheries management and research shall determine his level of access to the primary, detailed or aggregated data;
Amendment 6
Article 7, paragraph 4, point (c)
(c) where an official request for data has been made by an end-user and the data are not delivered on time to the end-user concerned.
(c) where an official request for data has been made by an end-user and the data are not delivered on time to the end-user concerned, subject to the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC.
Amendment 7
Article 7, paragraph 4 a (new)
4a.  The Commission shall clearly define different kevels of penalisation according to the seriousness of the failure to comply, as also "official request for information" and "incomplete national programme".
Amendment 8
Article 7 a (new)
Article 7a
Charges
1.  Where the end-user is not a public body, a recognised scientific research centre, an international fisheries management organisation, or a body associated with any of the above for purposes of fisheries research or management, and where the persons, bodies or associations concerned are private, the public authorities may charge for providing environmental information. Any sum charged, however, shall be reasonable.
2.  Where charges are applied, public authorities shall publish and make available to those requesting information the scale of charges, specifying in what circumstances charges may or may not apply.
Amendment 9
Article 10, paragraph 4 a (new)
4a.  In the definition of expenditure to be included in the national programme, account should be taken of expenditure arising from the self-sampling programmes.
Amendment 10
Article 13, paragraph 2, point (b)
(b) detailed and aggregated data derived from primary data collected under national programmes are validated before their transmission to end-users;
(b) detailed and aggregated data derived from primary data collected under national programmes are validated before their transmission to end-users, as defined in Article 2(g);
Amendment 11
Article 15, paragraph 1
1.  Member States shall ensure that the primary data incorporated into the national computerised databases are directly accessible by electronic means by the Commission for the purpose of verifying that the data exist.
1.  With a view to verifying the existence of the mandatory primary data to be collected under this Regulation, the Commission may carry out spot checks on the national databases.
Amendment 12
Article 15, paragraph 2
2.  Without prejudice to the obligations established by other Community rules, Member States shall conclude agreements with the Commission relating to computer access in order to guarantee direct access to their databases.
2.  Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, may develop an IT platform for the exchange of the information enabling such checks to be made.
Amendment 13
Article 15, paragraph 3
3.  Member States shall ensure that the primary data collected under the surveys at sea schemes are transmitted to international scientific organisations and appropriate scientific bodies within regional fisheries organisations in accordance with the international obligations of the Community and the Member States.
3.  The Commission and the Member States shall ensure that the primary data collected under the surveys at sea schemes are transmitted to international scientific organisations and appropriate scientific bodies within regional fisheries organisations in accordance with the international obligations of the Community and the Member States.
Amendment 14
Article 15, paragraph 3 a (new)
3a.  The Commission shall provide for access to these data, which may include individual data, e.g. that of a vessel. However, the confidentiality of the information of the economic agent must be safeguarded. Thus, the Commission may have access to aggregated, not individual, data, in line with the definition of aggregation to be included in the implementing regulation.
Amendment 15
Article 17
Member States shall make detailed and aggregated data available to end-users to support scientific analysis:
(a) as a basis for advice to fisheries management;
(b) in the interest of public debate and stakeholder participation in policy development;
(c) for publication in research journals or for educational purposes.
Member States shall make data available to end-users, as defined in Article 2(g), to support scientific analysis, ensuring the confidentiality of such data and taking account of the following:
(a) detailed data as a basis for advice to fisheries management;
(b) aggregated data:
- in the interest of public debate and stakeholder participation in policy development;
- for publication for scientific purposes.
Amendment 16
Article 18
Member States shall ensure that relevant detailed and aggregated data is provided immediately to relevant international scientific organisations and appropriate scientific bodies within regional fisheries organisations in accordance with the international obligations of the Community and the Member States.
The Commission and the Member States shall ensure that relevant detailed and aggregated data are provided immediately to relevant international scientific organisations and appropriate scientific bodies within regional fisheries organisations in accordance with the international obligations of the Community and the Member States.
Amendment 17
Article 19, paragraph 2
2.  Where detailed and aggregated data are requested for publication in research journals or for educational purposes, Member States may, in order to protect the professional interests of the data collectors, withhold data transmission to the end-users for a period of two years following the date of collection of the data. Member States shall inform the end-users and the Commission of any such decisions. In duly justified cases the Commission may authorise that period to be extended.
2.  Should detailed and aggregated data be requested beyond the provisions of Article 17, and in particular for publication in research journals or for educational purposes, Member States may, in order to protect the professional interests of the data collectors, withhold data transmission to the end-users for a period of two years following the date of collection of the data. Member States shall inform the end-users and the Commission of any such decisions. In duly justified cases the Commission may authorise that period to be extended.
Amendment 18
Article 19, paragraph 3, introductory wording
3.  Member States may refuse to transmit the relevant detailed and aggregated data only:
3.  Member States may apply, mutatis mutandis, the conditions laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC. In particular, Member States may refuse to transmit the relevant detailed and aggregated data:
Amendment 19
Article 19, paragraph 3, point (a)
(a) if there is a risk of natural persons and/or legal entities being identified in which case the Member State may propose alternative means to meet the needs of the end-user which ensure anonymity;
(a) if there is a risk of natural persons and/or legal entities being identified;
Amendment 20
Article 19, paragraph 3, point (b a) (new)
(ba) in the case of detailed data, where the applicant cannot demonstrate that such data are essential for the management or research activity invoked.
Amendment 21
Article 25, paragraph 1 a (new)
On the basis of information received, the Commission shall each year draw up:
(a) a report for the European Parliament and the Council evaluating the means employed by each Member State, the appropriateness of the methods used and the results achieved in the collection and management of data covered by Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002;
(b) a report on the Community use of data collected under this Regulation.

Composition of the Conference of Presidents (amendment of Rule 23)
PDF 100kWORD 36k
European Parliament decision of 13 November 2007 on amendment of Rule 23 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure on the composition of the Conference of Presidents (2007/2066(REG))
P6_TA(2007)0499A6-0355/2007

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for amendment of its Rules of Procedure (B6-0039/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 202 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A6-0355/2007),

1.  Decides to amend its Rules of Procedure as shown below;

2.  Points out that the amendment will enter into force on the first day of the next part-session;

3.  Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council and Commission, for information.

Present text   Amendment
Amendment 1
Rule 23, paragraph 2
2.  The Non-attached Members shall delegate two of their number to attend meetings of the Conference of Presidents, without having the right to vote.
2.  The non-attached Members shall delegate one of their number to attend meetings of the Conference of Presidents, without having the right to vote.

Amendment of the Rules of Procedure in light of the Statute for Members
PDF 293kWORD 57k
European Parliament Decision of 13 November 2007 on the amendment of Parliament's Rules of Procedure in light of the Statute for Members (2006/2195(REG))
P6_TA(2007)0500A6-0368/2007

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the letter from its President of 29 June 2006 and the announcement in plenary on 7 September 2006,

–   having regard to Rules 201 and 202 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A6-0368/2007),

1.  Decides to amend its Rules of Procedure as shown below;

2.  Decides that these amendments will enter into force on the first day of its parliamentary term beginning in 2009;

3.  Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council and Commission, for information.

Present text   Amendments
Amendment 1
Rule 8
Payment of expenses and allowances
Implementation of the Statute for Members
The Bureau shall lay down rules governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members.
Unless otherwise stipulated, the rules governing implementation of the Statute for Members of the European Parliament shall be laid down by the Bureau.
Amendment 2
Rule 39, paragraph 1
1.  Parliament may request the Commission to submit to it any appropriate proposal pursuant to Article 192, second paragraph, of the EC Treaty by adopting a resolution on the basis of an own-initiative report from the committee responsible. The resolution shall be adopted by a majority of the component Members of Parliament. Parliament may, at the same time, fix a deadline for the submission of such a proposal.
1.  Parliament may request the Commission, pursuant to Article 192 of the EC Treaty, to submit to it any appropriate proposal for the adoption of a new act or the amendment of an existing act, by adopting a resolution on the basis of an own-initiative report from the committee responsible drawn up pursuant to Rule 45. The resolution shall be adopted by a majority of the component Members of Parliament. Parliament may, at the same time, fix a deadline for the submission of such a proposal.
Amendment 3
Rule 39, paragraph 1 a (new)
1a.  Any Member may table a proposal for a Community act on the basis of the right of initiative granted to Parliament pursuant to Article 192 of the EC Treaty.
Amendment 4
Rule 39, paragraph 1 b (new)
1b.  The proposal shall be submitted to the President, who shall refer it to the committee responsible for consideration. Prior to such referral, the proposal shall be translated into those official languages which the chairman of that committee considers necessary in order to make summary consideration possible. The committee shall take a decision on further action within three months of the referral, and after having heard the author of the proposal.
Where the committee decides to submit the proposal to Parliament in accordance with the procedure set out in Rule 45, the author of the proposal shall be named in the title of the report.
Amendment 5
Rule 39, paragraph 2
2.  Before initiating the procedure under Rule 45, the committee responsible shall establish, in the following cases, that no such proposal is under preparation:
(a) such a proposal is not included in the Annual Legislative Programme;
(b) the preparations of such a proposal have not started or are unduly delayed;
(c) the Commission has not responded positively to earlier requests either from the committee responsible or contained in resolutions adopted by Parliament with a majority of the votes cast.
deleted
Amendment 6
Rule 45, paragraph 1
1.  A committee intending to draw up a report and to submit a motion for a resolution to Parliament on a subject within its competence on which neither a consultation nor a request for an opinion has been referred to it pursuant to Rule 179(1) may do so only with the authorisation of the Conference of Presidents. Where such authorisation is withheld the reason must always be stated.
1.  A committee intending to draw up a report and to submit a motion for a resolution to Parliament on a subject within its competence on which neither a consultation nor a request for an opinion has been referred to it pursuant to Rule 179(1) may do so only with the authorisation of the Conference of Presidents. Where such authorisation is withheld the reason must always be stated. Where the subject of the report is a proposal tabled by a Member pursuant to Rule 39(1a), authorisation may be withheld only if the conditions set out in Article 5 of the Statute for Members and in Article 192 of the EC Treaty are not met.
Amendment 7
Rule 150, paragraph 6, subparagraph 1
6.  Amendments shall be put to the vote only after they have been printed and distributed in all the official languages, unless Parliament decides otherwise. Parliament may not decide otherwise if at least 40 Members object.
6.  Amendments shall be put to the vote only after they have been printed and distributed in all the official languages, unless Parliament decides otherwise. Parliament may not decide otherwise if at least 40 Members object. Parliament shall avoid taking decisions which would lead to Members who use a particular language being disadvantaged to an unacceptable degree.
Amendment 8
Annex I, Article 2, paragraph 1, point (a a) (new)
(aa) any salary which the Member receives for the exercise of a mandate in another parliament,
Amendment 9
Annex I, Article 4
Pending the introduction of a Statute for Members of the European Parliament to replace the various national rules, Members shall be subject to the obligations imposed on them by the legislation of the Member State in which they are elected as regards the declaration of assets.
Members shall be subject to the obligations imposed on them by the legislation of the Member State in which they are elected as regards the declaration of assets.
Amendment 10
Annex VII, Section C a (new)
Ca.  Personal conflicts of interest
With the approval of the Bureau, a Member may, on the basis of a reasoned decision, be denied the right to inspect a Parliament document if, after having heard the Member concerned, the Bureau comes to the conclusion that such inspection would cause unacceptable damage to Parliament's institutional interests or to the public interest, and that the Member concerned is seeking to inspect the document for private and personal reasons. The Member may lodge a written appeal, which must include reasons, against such a decision within one month of notification thereof. Parliament shall reach a decision on the appeal without debate during the part-session that follows its being lodged.

Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work ***I
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European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (COM(2007)0046 – C6-0062/2007 – 2007/0020(COD))
P6_TA(2007)0501A6-0365/2007

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2007)0046),

–   having regard to Article 251(2) and Article 285(1) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0062/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the opinion of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A6-0365/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal, as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend its proposal substantially or replace it with another text;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 13 November 2007 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EC) No .../2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work

P6_TC1-COD(2007)0020


(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ║,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor(2),

After consulting the Statistical Programme Committee ║in accordance with Article 3(1) of Council Decision ║ 89/382/EEC, Euratom(3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(4),

Whereas:

(1)  Decision No 1786/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 adopting a programme of Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008)(5)║ stated that the statistical element of the information system on public health is to be developed, in collaboration with Member States, using as necessary the Community statistical programme in order to promote synergy and avoid duplication.

(2)  Community information on public health has been developed systematically through the Community public-health programmes. Building on this work, a list of European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) has now emerged providing an overview of health status, determinants of health and health systems. In order to make available the minimum statistical data set needed for the calculation of ECHI║, Community statistics on health should be consistent, when relevant and possible, with the developments and achievements resulting from Community action in the field of public health.

(3)  The Council Resolution║ of 3 June 2002 on a new Community strategy on health and safety at work (2002-2006)(6) called on the Commission and the Member States to step up work in hand on harmonisation of statistics on accidents at work and occupational illnesses, so as to have available comparable data from which to make an objective assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the measures taken under the new Community strategy, as well as emphasising, in a specific section, the need to take into account the increase in the proportion of women on the labour market and to respond to their specific needs in relation to policies on health and safety at work. In addition, the Commission Recommendation ║ of 19 September 2003 concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases(7) recommended that the Member States progressively make their statistics on occupational diseases compatible with the European schedule, in accordance with the work being done on harmonising European statistics on occupational diseases.

(4)  In 2002 the Barcelona European Council recognised three guiding principles for the reform of health care systems: accessibility for all, high quality care and long-term financial sustainability. The Commission Communication║ of 20 April 2004 to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled "Modernising social protection for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and long-term care: support for the national strategies using the "open method of coordination" (COM(2004)0304), proposed starting work to identify possible indicators for joint objectives to develop care systems on the basis of activities undertaken in the context of the Community action programme on health, of Eurostat health statistics and cooperation with international organisations.

(5)  Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme(8) includes an action on environment and health and quality of life as a key priority, calling for the definition and development of indicators of health and environment. In addition, the Council conclusions of 8 December 2003 requested that indicators on biodiversity and health be included, under the title "environment", in the structural indicators database used for the annual Spring Report to the European Council; health and safety at work indicators are also included in this database, under the title "employment". The set of sustainable development indicators adopted by the Commission in 2005 also contains a theme on public health indicators.

(6)  The European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 (COM(2004)0416) recognises the need to improve the quality, comparability and accessibility of data on health status for diseases and disorders linked to the environment, using the Community Statistical Programme.

(7)  The Council Resolution ║ of 15 July 2003 on promoting the employment and social integration of people with disabilities(9)║ called on the Member States and the Commission to collect statistical material on the situation of people with disabilities, including on the development of services and benefits for this group. In addition, the Commission in its Communication of 30 October 2003 to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled "Equal opportunities for people with disabilities - A European action plan" (COM(2003)0650), decided to develop context indicators which are comparable across Member States in order to assess the effectiveness of disability policies. It indicated that maximum use should be made of sources and structures of the European Statistical System, in particular through development of harmonised survey modules, to acquire the internationally comparable statistical information needed for monitoring progress.

(8)  In order to ensure relevance and comparability of the data and avoid duplication of work, the statistical activities of Eurostat in the area of public health and health and safety at work need to be carried out in cooperation with the United Nations and its special organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), when relevant and possible. In particular, a common statistical data collection on the Systems of Health Accounts has been recently implemented together with OECD and WHO.

(9)  The Commission (Eurostat) already collects on a regular basis statistical data on public health and health and safety at work from the Member States which provide such data on a voluntary basis. In addition, it also collects data on those areas through other sources. Those activities are developed in close collaboration with Member States. In the area of public health statistics in particular, development and implementation are steered and organised according to a partnership structure between Eurostat and Member States. However, greater accuracy and reliability, coherence and comparability, coverage, timeliness and punctuality of the existing statistical data collections are still needed and it is also necessary to ensure that further collections agreed and developed with the Member States are implemented in order to achieve the minimum statistical data set necessary at Community level in the areas of public health and health and safety at work.

(10)  The production of specific Community statistics is governed by the rules set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics(10).

(11)  This Regulation ensures full respect for the right to the protection of personal data as provided for in Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

(12)  Directive ║95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data(11) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data(12) shall apply in the context of this Regulation. The statistical requirements to which Community action in the field of public health, national strategies for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and Community strategy on health and safety at work give rise, as well as requirements arising in connection with structural indicators, sustainable development indicators and ECHI and other sets of indicators which it is necessary to develop for the purpose of monitoring Community and national political actions and strategies in the areas of public health and health and safety at work, constitute a substantial public interest.

(13)  The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 322/97 and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities(13). Measures which are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.

(14)  In the production and dissemination of Community statistics under this Regulation, the national and Community statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice, which was adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee on 24 February 2005 and attached to the Commission Communication to the European Parliament and to the Council on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities and promulgated by the Recommendation of the Commission of 25 May 2005 on the same subject (COM(2005)0217).

(15)  Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(16)  The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision ║1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(14).

(17)  In particular, the Commission should be empowered to determine definitions, subjects and breakdown (including variables and classifications - inter alia, where possible and necessary, classifications by gender and age), sources whenever relevant and provision of data and metadata (including reference periods, intervals and time limits) as regards the domains referred to in Article 2 and in Annexes I to V to this Regulation. It is important that gender and age be included in the breakdown variables as this allows the impact of gender and age differences on health and safety in the workplace to be taken into account. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing this Regulation with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(18)  Complementary financing for the collection of the data in the field of health and safety will be provided in the framework of the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - Progress, as established by Decision No 1672/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006(15). Within this framework financial resources should be used to help Member States in further building up national capacities to implement improvements and new tools for statistical data collection in the field of health and safety at work,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

1.  This Regulation establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work. The statistics shall be produced in compliance with standards on impartiality, reliability, objectivity, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.

2.  The statistics shall include, in the form of a minimum data set, information required for Community action in the field of public health, for supporting national strategies for the development of high-quality, universally accessible and sustainable health care as well as for Community action in the field of health and safety at work.

3.  The statistics shall provide data for structural indicators, sustainable development indicators and ECHI as well as for the other sets of indicators which it is necessary to develop for the purpose of monitoring Community actions in the fields of public health and health and safety at work.

Article 2

Scope

Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the following domains:

   - health status and health determinants, as defined in Annex I,
   - health care, as defined in Annex II,
   - causes of death, as defined in Annex III,
   - accidents at work, as defined in Annex IV,
   - occupational diseases and other work-related health problems and illnesses, as defined in Annex V.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation:

   (a) "Community statistics" has the meaning assigned to it by the first indent of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97;
   b) "production of statistics" has the meaning assigned to it by the second indent of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97;
   c) "public health" means all elements related to the health of European citizens and residents, namely their health status, including morbidity and disability, the determinants having an effect on that health status, health-care needs, resources allocated to health care, the provision of, and universal access to, health care as well as the health care expenditure and financing, and the causes of mortality;
   d) "health and safety at work" means all elements related to ║prevention and to protection of the health and safety of European Union workers at work in their current or past activities, in particular accidents at work, occupational diseases and other work-related health problems and illnesses.

Article 4

Sources

Member States shall compile data concerning public health and health and safety at work from sources which shall consist in, depending on the domains and subjects and on the characteristics of the national systems, either:

   a) existing or planned household or similar surveys or survey modules, or
   b) existing or planned national administrative or reporting sources.

Article 5

Methodology, manuals and pilot studies

1.  The Commission (Eurostat) shall draw up, or as the case may be improve or update, manuals, guidelines or recommendations on frameworks, concepts and methodologies concerning the Community statistics produced pursuant to this Regulation.

2.  National experience and expertise shall be used in the development referred to in paragraph 1. The methods used for the implementation of the data collections shall take into consideration, including in the case of preparatory activities, national specificities, capacities and existing data collections, in the framework of collaborative structures with Member States set up by the Commission (Eurostat). The methodologies for regular data collections which result from projects with a statistical dimension carried out under other Community programmes such as the public health or the research programmes shall also be taken into consideration.

3.  The statistical methodologies and data collections to be developed for the compilation of statistics on public health and health and safety at work at Community level shall take into consideration the need for coordination, whenever relevant, with the activities of international organisations in the field, in order to ensure international comparability of statistics and consistency of data collections. Within the European Union, studies and surveys of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions shall be taken into account. Outside the European Union, cooperation with the United Nations, and especially with the ILO and WHO, shall be further enhanced.

4.  Whenever new data requirements or insufficient quality of data are identified in the domains referred to in Article 2, the Commission (Eurostat) shall institute pilot studies to be completed on a voluntary basis by the Member States. The purpose of such pilot studies shall be to test the concepts and methods and to assess the feasibility of the related data collections, including statistical quality, comparability and cost effectiveness, according to the principles set up by the European Statistics Code of Practice. The approaches used in such studies shall be agreed in the framework of collaborative structures with Member States.

Article 6

Transmission, treatment, dissemination and publication of data

1.  Member States shall transmit the microdata or, depending on the domain and subject concerned, the aggregated data, including confidential data as defined by Article 13 of ║Regulation (EC) No 322/97, and the metadata, required by this Regulation and measures implementing it, to the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with the existing Community provisions on transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality laid down in ║Regulations (EC) No 322/97 and (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90. Those Community provisions shall apply to the treatment of the data by Eurostat, in so far as the data are considered confidential as defined by Article 13 of ║Regulation (EC) No 322/97.

2.  Member States shall transmit the data and metadata required by this Regulation in electronic form, in accordance with an interchange standard agreed between the Commission and the Member States. The data shall be provided in accordance with the time-limits set out, at the intervals provided for, and in respect of the reference periods indicated, in the Annexes.

3.  The Commission (Eurostat) shall take the necessary steps to improve the dissemination, accessibility and documentation of the statistical information, in accordance with the principles of comparability, reliability and statistical confidentiality laid down in ║Regulation (EC) No 322/97.

Article 7

Quality criteria and reports

1.  The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted.

2.  The Commission (Eurostat), in close cooperation with Member States, shall develop recommended common standards designed to ensure the quality and comparability of the data provided, according to the principles set up by the European Statistics Code of Practice. These standards shall be published in the methodological manuals or guidelines.

3.  Member States shall take all measures necessary to ensure the best possible quality of the data transmitted.

4.  Every five years Member States shall supply the Commission (Eurostat) with two reports, prepared in conformity with the standards referred to in paragraph 2, on the quality of the data transmitted and the sources of the data. The first report shall concern public health statistics and the second health and safety at work statistics. Every five years the Commission (Eurostat) shall draw up a report on the comparability of the data disseminated.

Article 8

Implementing measures

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 9(2). The measures shall cover for the domains referred to in Article 2:

   - definitions,
   - subjects and breakdown, including variables and classifications,
   - sources whenever relevant,
   - provision of data and metadata, including reference periods, intervals and time limits.

Article 9

Committee

1.  The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee set up by ║Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom║.

2.  Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5a(1) to (4) and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 10

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at ║,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

ANNEX I

Domain: Health status and health determinants

(a)  Aims

The aim of this domain is the timely provision of statistics on health status and determinants.

(b)  Scope

This domain shall be compiled mainly from population surveys or survey modules on health. Register data or other administrative sources may also be used when providing ║ complementary coverage and information or for some specific subjects such as morbidity or accidents and injuries. When relevant, persons living in institutions as well as children aged 0-14 years shall be included, when appropriate subject to successful prior pilot studies.

(c)  Reference periods, intervals and time limits of data provision

Statistics shall be provided at least every five years; a more frequent periodicity may be needed for some specific data collections such as on morbidity or accidents and injuries; the first reference year, the interval and the time limit of provision of the data for each source and subject shall be specified and agreed upon as part of the implementing measures referred to in Article 8.

(d)  Subjects covered

The minimum data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

   - health status, including health perceptions, physical and mental functioning and disability, and morbidity,
   - tracking of any disease whose incidence is increasing or decreasing,
   - accidents and injuries, including those related to consumer safety, and alcohol- and drug-related harm,
   - lifestyle and environmental, social and occupational factors,
   - protection against possible pandemics and transmissible diseases,
   - access to and use of preventive and curative health care facilities (population survey),
   - background demographic and socio-economic information on the individuals.

Not all subjects are necessarily to be provided at the time of each data provision. The variables, breakdowns and micro data required shall be drawn from the above list.

If survey sources are used, the development of the health survey instruments and the drawing up of recommended characteristics and quality assessment for the survey design, sample and weighting, and realisation shall be carried out according to guidelines drawn up with Member States. These specifications on data collected and surveys used shall be agreed upon in the context of the relevant implementing measures and stated in detail in manuals and guidelines.

(e)  Metadata

When submitting the statistical data covered by this domain, the Member States shall provide the required metadata to be agreed upon as part of the implementing measures (including on survey characteristics) as well as information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators.

ANNEX II

Domain: Health care

(a)  Aims

The aim of this domain is the timely provision of statistics on health care.

(b)  Scope

This domain covers the sum of activities performed either by institutions or individuals pursuing, through the application of medical, paramedical and nursing knowledge and technology, the goal of health as well as related administration and management activities.

The data shall be compiled mainly from administrative sources.

(c)  Reference periods, intervals and time limits of data provision

Statistics shall be provided annually; the first reference year, the interval and the time limit of provision of the data for each source and subject shall be specified and agreed upon as part of the implementing measures referred to in Article 8.

(d)  Subjects covered

The minimum data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

   - health care institutions and resources,
   - health care utilisation, individual and collective services,
   - health care expenditures and financing, and
   - ║other elements for supporting national strategies for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and long-term care.

Not all subjects are necessarily to be provided at the time of each data provision. The variables and breakdowns required shall be drawn from the above lists. The data set shall be laid down following the International Classification of Health Accounts of the OECD and the International Shortlist for Hospital Morbidity Tabulation of the WHO. These specifications shall be agreed upon in the context of the relevant implementing measures and stated in detail in manuals and guidelines.

(e)  Metadata

When submitting the statistical data covered by this domain, the Member States shall provide the required metadata to be agreed upon as part of the implementing measures (including sources, definitions and compilations) as well as information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators.

ANNEX III

Domain: Causes of deaths

(a)  Aims

The aim of this domain is the timely provision of comparable statistics on the causes of death.

(b)  Scope

This domain covers the causes of death statistics as derived from national medical death certificates taking into account WHO recommendations. The statistics to be compiled refer to the underlying cause which is defined by WHO as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury". The statistics shall be compiled for European residents and stillbirths.

(c)  Reference periods, intervals and time limits of data provision

Statistics shall be provided annually. The first reference year shall be specified and agreed upon as part of the implementing measures referred to in Article 8. The data shall be submitted at the latest in the second year following the reference year. Provisional or estimated data can be provided earlier. In the case of public health incidents, special data collections may be additionally established, either for all deaths or for specific causes of death.

(d)  Subjects covered

The minimum data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

   - characteristics of the deceased,
   - region,
   - characteristics of the death, including the underlying cause of death.

The variables and breakdowns required shall be drawn from the above list. The causes of death data set shall be laid down in the framework of the International Classification of Diseases of WHO and shall follow the Eurostat rules and the recommendations of UN and WHO for population statistics. These specifications shall be agreed upon in the context of the relevant implementing measures and stated in detail in manuals and guidelines.

(e)  Metadata

When submitting the statistical data covered by this domain, the Member States shall provide the required metadata to be agreed upon as part of the implementing measures as well as information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators.

ANNEX IV

Domain: Accidents at work

(a)  Aims

The aim of this domain is the timely provision of statistics on accidents at work.

(b)  Scope

An accident at work is defined as "a discrete occurrence in the course of work which leads to physical or mental harm". The data shall be collected, for the entire workforce, for fatal accidents at work and accidents at work resulting in more than 3 days of absence from work, using administrative sources complemented with relevant additional sources. A limited subset of basic data on accidents with less than 4 days" absence may be collected, when available, in the framework of the collaboration with ILO.

(c)  Reference periods, intervals and time limits of data provision

Statistics shall be provided annually. The first reference year shall be specified and agreed upon as part of the implementing measures referred to in Article 8. The data shall be submitted at the latest in June of the second year following the reference year. Provisional data can be submitted earlier.

(d)  Subjects covered

The minimum micro data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

   - characteristics of the injured person and the injury,
   - characteristics of the enterprise and workplace,
   - characteristics of the working environment,
   - characteristics of the accident, including the sequence of events characterising the causes and circumstances of the accident.

The variables and breakdowns required, as well as their related options and sample weightings, shall be drawn from the above list in the framework of the ESAW (European statistics on accidents at work) methodology. They shall be agreed upon in the context of the relevant implementing measures and stated in detail in manuals and guidelines.

(e)  Metadata

When submitting the statistical data covered by this domain, the Member States shall provide the required metadata regarding population covered by the statistics, the declaration rates for the accidents at work defined in point b) and, when relevant, sample characteristics, as well as information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators.

ANNEX V

Domain: Occupational diseases and other work-related health problems and illnesses

(a)  Aims

The aim of this domain is the timely provision of statistics on recognised cases of occupational disease and other work-related health problems and illnesses.

(b)  Scope

A case of occupational disease is defined as a case recognised by the national authorities responsible for recognition of occupational diseases. The data shall be collected for incident occupational diseases and deaths due to occupational disease. A case of work-related health problem and illness does not necessarily refer to recognition by an authority and the related data shall be collected mainly from population surveys. Work-related health problems and illnesses are those health problems and illnesses which can be caused, worsened or jointly caused by working conditions. This includes physical and psychosocial health problems.

(c)  Reference periods, intervals and time limits of data provision

For occupational diseases, statistics shall be provided annually and submitted at the latest in the first quarter of the second year following the reference year. The reference periods, intervals and the time limits of provision of the other data collections shall be specified and agreed upon with Member States.

(d)  Subjects covered

The minimum data set to be provided shall cover the following list of subjects:

   - characteristics of the diseased person, including gender, age and employment status, and of the disease or health-related problems,
   - characteristics of the enterprise and workplace, including size and sector of the enterprise,
   - characteristics of the causative agent or factor.

Not all subjects are necessarily to be provided at the time of each data provision. The variables and breakdowns required shall be drawn from the above list and agreed upon with Member States.

(e)  Metadata

When submitting the statistical data covered by this domain, the Member States shall provide the required metadata regarding population covered by the statistics, as well as information about any national specificity essential for the interpretation and compilation of comparable statistics and indicators.

(1) Opinion of 25 October 2007 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(2) OJ C 295, 7.12.2007, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.
(4) Position of the European Parliament of 13 November 2007.
(5) OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 1.
(6) OJ C 161, 5.7.2002, p. 1
(7) OJ L 238, 25.9.2003, p. 28.
(8) OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1.
(9) OJ C 175, 24.7.2003, p. 1.
(10) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).
(11) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003║.
(12) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.
(13) OJ L 151, 15.6.1990, p. 1, Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.
(14) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).
(15) OJ L 315, 15.11.2006, p. 1.


Statutes for the Euratom Supply Agency *
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European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a Council decision establishing Statutes for the Euratom Supply Agency (COM(2007)0119 – C6-0131/2007 – 2007/0043(CNS))
P6_TA(2007)0502A6-0376/2007

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2007)0119),

–   having regard to Article 54(2) of the Euratom Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0131/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the opinion of the Committee on Budgets (A6-0376/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Considers that the cost of the Euratom Supply Agency to the budget of the European Union must be compatible with the relevant ceiling of the new multiannual financial framework and with the provisions of point 47 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management(1) (IIA);

3.   Recalls that the opinion delivered by the Committee on Budgets does not pre-empt the outcome of the procedure laid down in point 47 of the IIA which applies to the establishment of the Euratom Supply Agency;

4.  Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 119, second paragraph, of the Euratom Treaty;

5.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

6.  Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;

7.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

Text proposed by the Commission   Amendments by Parliament
Amendment 1
Citation 1 a (new)
Having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management1, and in particular point 47 thereof,
___________________________________
1 OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.
Amendment 2
Annex, Article 1, paragraph 1, point (a)
a) execute competencies conferred to it by the Treaty;
a) execute the competencies conferred on it by the Treaty and secondary legislation;
Amendment 3
Annex, Article 1, paragraph 1, point (b)
b) execute other tasks entrusted to it by the Commission;
b) to that end, carry out the tasks entrusted to it under Article 52 and subsequent articles of the Treaty;
Amendment 4
Annex, Article 1, paragraph 1 a (new)
1a.  In order to meet its objectives, the Agency shall carry out the following particular tasks, acting, in accordance with the objectives of the Treaty, as an energy observatory in the field of the supply of nuclear materials and services:
a) monitor and analyse supply and demand as well as market trends affecting the security of supply of nuclear materials;
b) provide the Member States and the industry with periodic market surveys of European Union stockpiles of nuclear materials and European Union utilities' long-term contract coverage and with periodic risk analyses of the market, with the aim of:
− averting shortages or interruptions in the supply of nuclear materials at all stages of the nuclear fuel production cycle (from mining to conversion, enrichment and fabrication),
− ensuring the long-term vision necessary to create a framework for investment in fabrication plants and mining exploration,
− preserving fair competition on the market;
c) in close coordination with the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 11, develop a high level of expertise and produce information and prospective analyses, and in particular a prospective report on supply and demand, a report on the implementation of supply policy and periodical surveys of market trends, based on relevant analyses performed jointly with the Advisory Committee, so as to enable it to give guidance to the industry, formulate recommendations to producers and utilities and make proposals to the Commission for regulation in the relevant fields.
Amendment 5
Annex, Article 2, paragraph 1
1.  The Agency has legal personality according to Article 54 of the Treaty. The Agency shall be recognised as an institution of public interest status and it shall operate on a non profit making basis.
1.  The Agency has legal personality according to Article 54 of the Treaty. It shall enjoy in every Member State the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under national law. In particular, it shall have the capacity to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property and be a party to legal proceedings. The Agency shall be recognised as an institution of public interest status and it shall operate on a non profit making basis.
Amendment 6
Annex, Article 2, paragraph 3
3.  The Agency shall have its seat in one of the locations of the Commission services. The Commission shall take decision in this regard.
3.  The Agency shall have its seat in one of the locations of the Commission services. The Council shall take a decision in this regard, on a proposal from the Commission, after consulting the Advisory Committee.
Amendment 7
Annex, Article 2, paragraph 4
4.  It may on its own initiative take any further measures concerning its own internal organization which may be required for the carrying out of its tasks both within and outside the Community.
4.  It may on its own initiative take any further measures concerning its own internal organisation which may be required for the carrying out of its tasks both within and outside the Community, provided that these measures do not have significant financial implications. It shall notify the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter together the "budgetary authority") of any project which may have significant financial implications for the funding of its budget, in particular any project relating to property such as the rental or purchase of buildings, and shall inform the Commission thereof.
Amendment 8
Annex, Article 3, paragraph 1
1.  The Director General shall be appointed by the Commission.
1.  The Director General shall be appointed by the Commission, after consulting the Advisory Committee. The Director General shall work full time for the Agency and shall not act as an agent of the Commission.
Amendment 9
Annex, Article 3, paragraph 3, indents 2 to 5
− for the day-to-day administration of the Agency;
– for the management of the Agency, its administration and its resources, including staff matters;
− for managing all the Agency resources;
− for the preparation of the draft statement of estimates of the Agency"s revenue and expenditure, and execution of its budget;
– for the preparation of the draft statement of estimates of the Agency"s revenue and expenditure, and execution of its budget;
− for all staff matters.
for conducting any study and producing any specific report deemed necessary in accordance with Article 1(1a) and sending such studies and reports to the Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council;
− for ensuring that the tasks specified in Article 1 are performed in accordance with the general interest of the Community.
Amendment 10
Annex, Article 3, paragraph 4
4.  Each year the Director General shall submit to the Commission a report covering the activities of the Agency in the previous year and a work programme for the coming year.
4.  By 31 March each year the Director General shall, after consulting the Advisory Committee, submit to the Commission a report covering the activities of the Agency in the previous year and a work programme for the coming year. The Director General shall forward this annual report together with a work programme to the European Parliament, the Council, the Court of Auditors and the Member States, together with the opinion of the Advisory Committee.
Amendment 11
Annex, Article 4, paragraph 1
1.  The Director General and the staff of the Agency shall be officials of the European Communities governed by the Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities and by the rules adopted jointly by the institutions of the European Communities for the purposes of the application of those Staff Regulations. The officials shall be appointed by and their salaries shall be paid by the Commission.
1.  The Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities and the rules adopted jointly by the institutions of the European Communities for the purposes of the application of those Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment shall apply to the staff of the Agency.
Amendment 12
Annex, Article 4, paragraph 1 a (new)
1a.  In respect of its staff, the Agency shall exercise the powers conferred on the appointing authority.
Amendment 13
Annex, Article 5, paragraph 5
5.  Any act of the Agency referred to in Article 53 of the Treaty may be referred to the Commission by the party concerned within ten working days of notification being received, or, failing such notification, within ten working days following publication. Failing notification and publication, the period shall run from the day on which the party concerned learns of the act.
5.  Any act of the Agency referred to in Article 53 of the Treaty may be referred to the Commission by the party concerned within fifteen working days of notification being received, or, failing such notification, within fifteen working days following publication. Failing notification and publication, the period shall run from the day on which the party concerned learns of the act.
Amendment 14
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 3
3.  The Agency's revenue shall consist of a contribution from the Community, bank interest and income from its capital and bank investments, and, if necessary, a charge as foreseen in Article 54 of the Treaty and borrowings.
3.  The Agency's revenue shall consist of a contribution from the Community entered in the general budget of the European Union (Commission section), bank interest and income from its capital and bank investments, and, if necessary, a charge as provided for in Article 54 of the Treaty and borrowings. The funding of the Agency shall be subject to the agreement of the budgetary authority, as provided for in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006.
Amendment 15
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 4
4.  The expenditure of the Agency shall consist of administrative expenses of its staff and of the Advisory Committee, as well as expenses resulting from contracts entered into with third parties.
4.  The expenditure of the Agency shall include its staff, administrative, infrastructure and operational expenses, including expenses resulting from contracts entered into with third parties.
Amendment 16
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 5 a (new)
5a.  The estimate shall be transmitted by the Commission to the budgetary authority together with the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union.
Amendment 17
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 6
6.  On the basis of the estimate, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union the estimates it deems necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget.
6.  On the basis of the estimate, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union the estimates it deems necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 272 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.
Amendment 18
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 7
7.  In the framework of the budgetary procedure, the budget authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to the Agency and shall adopt the establishment plan for the Agency, which shall appear separately in the establishment plan of the Commission.
7.  In the framework of the budgetary procedure, the budget authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to the Agency and shall adopt the establishment plan for the Agency, which shall be published separately in the general budget of the European Union.
Amendment 19
Annex, Article 7, paragraph 9
9.  Any modification of the establishment plan and of the budget of the Agency shall be the subject of an amending budget adopted by the same procedure as the initial budget. Modifications of the establishment plan are submitted to the budget authority. The amending budgets are forwarded for information to the European Parliament and Council.
9.  Any modification of the establishment plan and of the budget of the Agency shall be the subject of an amending budget and shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraphs 5 to 8.
Amendment 20
Annex, Article 8, paragraph 10
10.  The financial regulation applicable to the Agency shall be adopted in accordance to Articles 183 of the Treaty.
10.  The financial regulation applicable to the Agency shall be adopted in accordance with Article 183 of the Treaty. It shall be consistent with Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities1, unless specifically required for the Agency's operation and with the Commission's prior consent.
_____________________
1 OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72. Corrected in OJ L 2, 7.1.2003, p. 39.
Amendment 21
Annex, Article 10, paragraph 1, subparagraph 2
The provisions concerning this charge shall be detailed in an implementing decision.
The Commission shall, after consulting the Council, determine the rate of the charge and the terms upon which it is to be levied. The Commission shall act on a proposal from the Director General who shall obtain the opinion of the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 11. The provisions concerning the practical arrangements for this charge shall be detailed in an implementing decision.
Amendment 22
Annex, Article 11, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1
1.  The Advisory Committee (hereinafter: the "Committee") shall be composed of one member for each Member State without nuclear fuel cycle activities and two members for each Member State with nuclear fuel cycle activities. However a Member State may choose not to participate in it. Each member may have an alternate member who may participate in the meetings of the Committee in addition to the full member but may not vote if the full member is also present. If a member resigns or is unable to perform his/her duties, a successor shall be appointed for the remainder of the term of office.
1.  The Advisory Committee (hereinafter: the "Committee") shall be composed of one member for each Member State having no nuclear fuel cycle activities and two members for each Member State having nuclear fuel cycle activities. It shall have one additional member for each Member State having nuclear fuel cycle activities and subscribing more than EUR 300 000. However a Member State may choose not to participate in the Committee. Each member may have an alternate member who may participate in the meetings of the Committee where the full member is unavailable. If a member resigns or is unable to perform his/her duties, a successor shall be appointed for the remainder of the term of office.
Amendment 23
Annex, Article 11, paragraph 1, subparagraph 2
Committee members and their alternate members shall be appointed by their respective Member States on the basis of their degree of relevant experience and expertise in the field of the nuclear fuel cycle or nuclear power generation. The duration of the term of office shall be three years. The term of office may be renewed once.
Committee members and their alternate members shall be appointed by their respective Member States on the basis of their degree of relevant experience and expertise in the field of the nuclear fuel cycle or nuclear power generation. The duration of the term of office shall be three years. The term of office may be renewed.
Amendment 24
Annex, Article 12, paragraph 1 a (new)
1a.  The Committee may nominate two members as advisors to the executive officers. The executive officers and their advisors shall form the Bureau of the Committee and shall have the task of maintaining all necessary relations on behalf of the Committee. The Bureau shall act as a link between the Committee members and the Director General of the Agency and shall coordinate the activity of the Committee in particular with regard to the preparation, assessment and evaluation of its reports and dissemination of its expertise.
Amendment 25
Annex, Article 12, paragraph 2
2.  The terms of office of the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairpersons shall be three years. Their term of office shall not be renewable, and the chairmanship shall alternate between different sides of the industry. The mandate of the Chairperson or any Vice-Chairperson shall automatically terminate, if his/her term of office as member of the Committee expires without renewal.
2.  The terms of office of the Chairperson, the Vice-Chairpersons and the two advisors to the executive officers shall be three years. Their term of office shall be renewable once, and the chairmanship shall alternate between different sides of the industry. The mandate of the Chairperson or any Vice-Chairperson or any advisor to the executive officers shall automatically terminate, if his/her term of office as member of the Committee expires without renewal.
Amendment 26
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 1
1.  The Committee shall assist the Agency in carrying out its tasks by giving opinions and providing information. It shall act as a link between the Agency and both producers and users in the nuclear industry.
1.  The Committee shall assist the Agency in carrying out its tasks by giving opinions and providing analyses and information. That assistance shall also extend to the preparation of the reports, surveys and analyses referred to in Article 1(1a). It shall act as a link between the Agency and both producers and users in the nuclear industry.
Amendment 27
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 2
2.  The Committee may be consulted upon all matters within the competence of the Agency in verbal form at its meetings or written form in between such meetings. The Committee may also issue opinions upon any such matters on the initiative of at least one third of its members.
2.  The Committee may be consulted upon all matters within the competence of the Agency in verbal form at its meetings or written form in between such meetings. The Committee shall in particular be consulted where this Decision expressly so provides. The Committee may also issue opinions upon any such matters on the initiative of at least one third of its members.
Amendment 28
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (c)
(c) the application of a charge on transactions, designed to defray the operating expenses of the Agency (Article 54 (5) of the Treaty);
(c) the application of a charge on transactions, designed to defray the operating expenses of the Agency (Article 54(5) of the Treaty) and its rate;
Amendment 29
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (c a) (new)
(ca) the criteria for borrowings, as referred to in Article 6(3);
Amendment 30
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (c b) (new)
(cb) the criteria for defining the pricing practices prohibited by Article 68 of the Treaty;
Amendment 31
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (d a) (new)
(da) keeping the Special Fissile Materials Financial Account referred to in Article 88 of the Treaty;
Amendment 32
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (e)
(e) the financial regulation for the Agency annual budget, accounts, market report and work programme.
(e) the financial regulation for the Agency annual budget and the Agency's special account referred to in Article 171(2) of the Treaty;
Amendment 33
Annex, Article 13, paragraph 3, point (e a) (new)
(ea) the annual report and the work programme.
Amendment 34
Annex, Article 14, paragraph 1, introductory part
1.  The Committee shall be convened at the seat of the Agency:
1.  The Committee shall be convened by the Chairperson at the seat of the Agency:
Amendment 35
Annex, Article 14, paragraph 1, point (a)
(a) normally twice every year;
(a) normally twice every year and whenever deemed necessary by the Chairperson;
Amendment 36
Annex, Article 14, paragraph 6
6.  The secretariat for the Committee shall be provided by the Agency.
6.  The secretariat for the Committee shall be provided by the Agency. The secretariat, in collaboration with the Chairperson, shall draw up the agenda to be approved by the Committee, send all relevant documents to the Committee members at least 15 working days before the date of a meeting, and draft the minutes of the Committee meetings and meetings of the executive officers.
Amendment 37
Annex, Article 14, paragraph 7
7.  Travel expenses of one Committee member shall be reimbursed by the Agency.
7.  Travel expenses of one Committee member per Member State shall be reimbursed by the Agency.
Amendment 38
Annex, Final provisions and Article 15
Final provisions
Article 15 - Legal capacity of the Agency
In each of the Member States, the Agency shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under their laws. It may in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings.
deleted

(1) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.


The role of sport in education
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European Parliament resolution of 13 November 2007 on the role of sport in education (2007/2086(INI))
P6_TA(2007)0503A6-0415/2007

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Articles 149, 150 and 152 of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Declaration no. 29 on sport, annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Commission's Report on sport, presented at the Helsinki European Council on 10 and 11 December 1999 (COM(1999)0644) and to the Nice Declaration on the specific characteristics of sport and its social function in Europe in Annex IV to the Presidency conclusions of the Nice European Council meeting (7 to 9 December 2000),

–   having regard to the Commission's White Paper on Sport (COM(2007)0391),

–   having regard to the Commission's White Paper entitled 'A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues' (COM(2007)0279),

–   having regard to the Commission's evaluation of the European Year of Education through Sport (EYES 2004) programme (COM(2005)0680),

–   having regard to the Council of Europe's Recommendation on improving physical education and sport for children and young people in all European countries, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 30 April 2003 (Rec(2003)6),

–   having regard to the Commission's Green Paper entitled 'Promoting healthy diets and physical activity: a European dimension for the prevention of overweight, obesity and chronic diseases'(COM(2005)0637),

–   having regard to the study published by the European Parliament entitled 'Current situation and prospects for physical education in the European Union',

–   having regard to its resolutions of 13 June 1997 on the role of the European Union in the field of sport(1) and of 5 June 2003 on women and sport(2),

–   having regard to its resolution of 29 March 2007 on the future of professional football in Europe(3),

–   having regard to its resolution of 14 April 2005 on doping in sport(4),

–   having regard to Articles 6 and 149 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as set out in the draft Treaty of Lisbon

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education and the opinions of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A6-0415/2007),

A.   whereas physical education is the only school subject which seeks to prepare children for a healthy lifestyle and focuses on their overall physical and mental development, as well as imparting important social values such as fairness, self-discipline, solidarity, team spirit, tolerance and fair play,

B.   whereas overweight caused by a sedentary lifestyle and incorrect diet, giving rise in some cases to poor health and psycho-social problems and illnesses which are associated with expensive complications, such as high blood-pressure, diabetes, and cardiac and vascular diseases, is affecting an ever greater proportion of the EU's population, including around a quarter of the child population,

C.   whereas school physical education and sport are among the most important tools of social integration, but whereas for some minority and religious communities, and for children with disabilities, full participation in physical education is in many cases not guaranteed and raises numerous problems that are difficult to solve,

D.   whereas the number of physical education lessons has fallen in the past decade not only in primary but also in secondary schools, and whereas there are extremely wide divergences between the Member States as regards the provision of establishments and equipment,

E.   whereas physical education teacher training programmes differ widely among the Member States and there is an increasingly widespread practice whereby physical education is taught in school by teachers with inadequate specialist training,

F.   whereas there is no appropriate coordination aimed at reconciling school and out-of-school sporting activities, and at making better use of existing establishments, and whereas the link between them varies from one Member State to another,

G.   whereas parents have a crucial role to play within the network of partnerships in this area, and whereas parental support for children's sporting activities is of vital importance, since parents set an example for their children and it is they who enable children to have access to establishments and programmes,

H.   whereas the legal frameworks governing physical education and sport, and those governing EU funding for those activities, are both equally uncertain,

I.   bearing in mind the fact that public health and the protection of young people are priorities of the EU and for this reason special emphasis should be placed on combating doping in sport,

J.   bearing in mind that sport is one of the most effective measures for combating smoking, especially among young people,

1.  Reaffirms the EU's legitimate interest in sport, in particular its social and cultural aspects, as well as the educational and social values that sport transmits such as self-discipline, challenging personal limitations, solidarity, healthy competition, respect for opponents, social inclusion, opposition to any form of discrimination, team spirit, tolerance, and fair play;

2.  Stresses the significance of implementing the abovementioned Amsterdam and Nice declarations, especially the specific characteristics of sport in Europe and its social function account of which should be taken when implementing common policies;

3.  Stresses that, in our multicultural society, sport can and should be an integral part of formal and informal education and that studies have shown that regular physical activity improves mental and physical wellbeing, while having beneficial effects on learning abilities;

4.  Calls on the Member States and the competent authorities to ensure that greater stress is placed on health development in school and preschool teaching programmes by encouraging specific forms of physical activity suitable for the preschool age group and raising awareness within clubs and associations in order to ensure, for example, that children can start physical activity at the earliest possible age, for the benefit of their development and health, and hence to guarantee physical education status in accordance with the profile of the institution and the corresponding level of study;

5.  Points out that sport and physical activity can make an important contribution to combating negative health trends such as a sedentary life-style and obesity; refers to Eurobarometer 246 on Health, Food and Nutrition published in November 2006 which addresses the health and physical characteristics of Europeans, their diets and problems relating to obesity and lack of exercise;

6.  Urges the Member States to carry out information campaigns, aimed at children from a very early age and their parents, on the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle, to engage in regular physical activity and on the health risks linked to an unhealthy diet ;

7.  Welcomes the informal working parties set up by the Commission and the Council in the area of sport, and proposes that these working parties pay more attention to reinforcing the link between health and physical education at school;

8.  Proposes that the work of the group of experts involved in the 'EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health' set up by the Commission in March 2005 be reinforced through the participation of physical education teachers and experts in the field of sport ;

9.  Calls on the Member States to consider, and where necessary implement, changes in the orientation of physical education as a subject, taking into account children's health and social needs and expectations;

10.  Calls on the Member States to make physical education compulsory in primary and secondary schools, and to accept the principle that the timetable should guarantee at least three physical education lessons per week, while schools should be encouraged to exceed this prescribed minimum as far as possible;

11.  Calls on the Member States and the responsible authorities to promote body awareness and health through a higher degree of integration between sport and academic subjects;

12.  Awaits the conclusions of the Commission Working Party on Sport and Health on what the minimum level of recommended daily bodily exercise should be and as regards the promotion of physical activity at school;

13.  Welcomes the Commission White Paper on sport, which represents an important step towards the future development of Community action in the field of sport, and hopes that the issue of school physical education will form part of the 'Pierre de Coubertin' Action Plan (SEC(2007)0934);

14.  Welcomes the abovementioned Commission's White Paper on health issues,which identifies prevention, primarily by means of the promotion of exercise and an increase in the number of participants in sport, as a priority;

15.  Welcomes the achievements of the abovementioned EYES 2004 programme, which stressed the role of sport in education and drew attention to the wide-ranging social role of sport;

16.  Stresses that the results of the EYES 2004 programme must be used to the full, capitalising on and further developing good practices through new initiatives that are in receipt of public and private funding or that are being promoted in the spirit of corporate social responsibility;

17.  Welcomes the decision of the International Olympic Committee to hold the Youth Olympic Games as of 2010, an event which will contribute to young people's awareness of the Olympic spirit and the value of sport;

18.  Considers that sports education and training, with a particular emphasis being placed on Olympic ideals, is an effective instrument for the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and multicultural dialogue, and for the promotion of voluntary work; further considers that it plays an active part in counteracting discrimination, intolerance, racism, xenophobia and violence;

19.  Encourages Member States to modernise and improve their physical education policies, principally to ensure that a balance is struck between physical and intellectual activities in schools, to invest in quality sports facilities and take appropriate measures to make sports premises and sports curricula at schools accessible to all students, with proper regard being paid to the needs of disabled students; suggests that support be given for a wide range of sporting activities so that every student has a real opportunity to participate in different sports; calls on the Member States to support the requirement to increase the time spent on physical education in schools and to promote the legal recognition of institutions and organisations which contribute to better integration of sports activities in schools and preschools; favours granting incentives to sports clubs having partnership agreements with schools, educational establishments, youth centres, and other community or voluntary organisations involved in lifelong learning projects;

20.  Calls on the Member States to guarantee the right conditions for ensuring compliance with the prescribed minimum number of physical education lessons, bearing in mind that regular exercise contributes significantly to reducing health care expenditure;

21.  Invites all Member States to ensure the teaching of physical education at all levels, including primary school, by specialised physical education instructors;

22.  Urges the Member States, in the spirit of the Bologna process, to ensure a greater level of convergence between training programmes for physical education teachers at each school level and ensure the continuous professional training of physical education teachers integrating gender specific aspects, and to devise an independent supervision system in the interest of guaranteeing quality;

23.  Urges the Member States, in cooperation with physical education colleges, to provide high-quality, all-round education, equipping athletes with all the necessary skills to enter the employment market or pursue their studies in higher education institutions and beyond;

24.  Calls on the Member States and competent authorities to provide physical education teachers with training on gender issues by including this aspect in their respective curricula; calls for an end to the downgrading of the status of physical education as a subject and of the status of physical education teachers; stresses the importance of the possibility of sports coeducation for children at nursery and primary schools as well as the option of having either sports coeducation or single sex classes from secondary level onwards in order to encourage girls to try out sports traditionally practised by men; stresses the need to explore alternative forms of physical activity, which could be practised on an optional basis, preferably outside compulsory state education;

25.  Considers that the qualifications acquired through sports activity should be recognised under the common reference system embodied in the future European Qualifications Framework; welcomes the Commission proposal to include sport within the field of application of the European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training; considers that increased transparency and mutual recognition of licences and diplomas for the provision of services in the sports sector in the EU would contribute to the free movement of persons (students, sportsmen and women, workers and employers) as well as to the long-term assimilation of athletes on the employment market, and that it would also contribute to social cohesion in Europe and to achieving the Lisbon Strategy targets, as this is an area with a high potential for job creation;

26.  Calls on the Commission to initiate and support multi-disciplinary research in the field of sport and physical education, and to disseminate best practices; recommends that it devise basic principles for the pan-European survey on physical education policies and practices which the Council of Europe has defined as a priority;

27.  Stresses that the use of performance-enhancing chemical substances is contrary to the values of sport as a social, cultural and educational activity; also calls on the Member States to ensure that physical education teachers, both in schools and outside, inform pupils about the physical and psychological dangers inherent to the use of doping substances;

28.  Calls on the Member States to carry out a study of the quantitative and qualitative participation of girls and boys in sport within and outside schools and to provide the necessary resources to further expand the range of sports on offer and thereby increase the participation of girls in sports; reiterates the need to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of such public spending by means of gender budgeting and gender impact assessment;

29.  Urges the Member States, when developing policies in the field of sport and physical education, to mainstream gender by taking systematic account of the differences between the conditions, situations and needs of women and men in these policies; calls on Eurostat to further develop indicators and obtain improved quality statistics on male and female participation in sport at all levels;

30.  Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States, while taking full account of the subsidiarity principle, to draw up appropriate instruments which may promote further investment and equipment in sporting activities performed by young people;

31.  Welcomes the inclusion of a direct and unambiguous reference to the social, cultural and economic value of sport, which forms the basis of the legal framework for future Community action, in the text of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as set out in the draft Treaty of Lisbon;

32.  Proposes that the EU Public Health Programme pay more attention to raising awareness of the prominent role played by education, physical education and sport in the area of public health;

33.  Recognises that health reasons are not sufficient to encourage regular sporting activities; urges the Member States, therefore, to redouble their efforts to promote sports linked to leisure and social activities;

34.  Calls on the Commission to devise clear guidelines on rules for state support, setting out what type of state support is regarded as acceptable and necessary in the interest of successfully fulfilling the social, cultural, health protection and educational functions of sport, including financial or other support awarded by the state authorities for the creation or modernisation of school sports facilities, and for improving and diversifying existing equipment and facilities, because sports equipment in many schools is inadequate or worn out in all respects;

35.  Calls on the Commission to identify areas in which EU action can provide added value with regard to action already taken by sports organisations and Member State authorities; considers that the open method of coordination is an appropriate way to achieve better cooperation at European level in the specific area of physical education policy and sport for all;

36.  Calls on the Commission to take into account and formulate a policy towards stakeholders, decision makers and citizens, in order to facilitate consultation with regard to European action on the role of sport in education;

37.  Recommends that EU structural funds be used for the creation and development of school and other sports facilities in disadvantaged areas;

38.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that legislation applies to the provision of services in the sports sector in the same way as to other activities in the framework of all Community policies;

39.  Calls on the Member States to ensure equality of opportunity by taking steps to put an end to any discrimination which might arise on the grounds of gender, religion or ethnic origin, to promote a more cooperative approach based on information, greater understanding, and wider public exposure, encompassing diversity and intermixing methods, and also to guarantee access for children with disabilities, at least to a basic level of physical education and, where possible to wider opportunities;

40.  Since sport represents a means of socialization, communication, social integration and, at the same time, teaches team spirit, fairness and respect for rules, invites all Member States to intensify sports programmes and physical education for young people from rehabilitation centres for minors ;

41.  Urges the Member States to promote cooperation, and improve the exchange of information and examples of best practice , between schools and out-of-school sports associations, local authorities and voluntary and civil society organisations which run sporting activities;

42.  Urges the Member States to actively support forms of physical activity which can be performed by families, and to improve the dialogue between parents, physical education teachers and out-of-school sports associations;

43.  Emphasises the need to make European society more aware of the modern role and educational importance of sport, by encouraging educational and sports organisations to establish and develop close partnerships and joint objectives and by promoting solidarity between the professional and amateur sectors, and to sensitise the educational community to the need to address the problems of a sedentary lifestyle by promoting sports at school;

44.  Stresses the importance of the educational role and social responsibility of sports associations and clubs, as is acknowledged in the Nice Declaration;

45.  Recognises the vital social and cultural role that sport clubs and associations are able to play in their local and national communities; considers that schools, training centres, sport clubs and associations should be more involved in various forms of engagement and participation of the local population through a better social dialogue, preferably initiated by local authorities (health, social affairs and education departments); calls for attention to be focused in order to ensure that sports clubs function without fanaticisms, thus upholding sporting and social ideals;

46.  Emphasises the role of sports organisations and initiatives, such as the Special Olympics, that contribute to the integration of people with disabilities in sport as well as in society; strongly encourages Member State and EU support in order to continue and expand the work of those organisations and initiatives;

47.  Applauds the work of volunteers in all sporting organisations and recognises that most of these organisations could not exist without volunteers; therefore recommends that 'credits' or some form of reward for voluntary service be put in place at European level in order to promote and give greater recognition to this work;

48.  Calls on the Commission to draw on the experiences of the "sports-minded schools" programme initiated by the Luxembourg Presidency and to devise, in cooperation with the Member States, a uniform set of criteria for the award of this label, as well as the conditions for a European sports prize to be awarded in acknowledgment of new initiatives;

49.  Calls on the Commission, building on the experiences gained from the EYES 2004 programme, and within the framework of the Lifelong Learning, Youth and Europe for Citizens programmes, to devise new initiatives aimed at heightening the profile, and increasing awareness in society, of the role played by sport and physical education not only in education and culture but also in terms of social integration and health protection, in particular through the prevention of obesity and stress at school; calls in particular for sports initiatives to be developed as part of the Lifelong Learning Programme;

50.  Calls on the Commission to promote the European mobility of physical education teachers and trainers, as part of the Lifelong Learning Programme, thereby enabling them to learn about best practices and gain experience from exchanges;

51.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that sports facilities are designed in such a way that access to them is facilitated for disabled spectators and/or participants;

52.  Calls on the Member States to ensure that the diversity of sports offered encourages children to adopt an open-minded attitude to the world and develop values such as self-respect, respect for others, solidarity, self-awareness and tolerance;

53.  Recognises that sport plays an important role in lifelong learning, and that students of all ages should be enabled to participate;

54.  Calls on the Member States to pay particular attention to situations in which children's talent is exploited with a view to success in sports competitions and stresses that professional sports activities involving children must respect their fundamental rights and best interests;

55.  Recognises the importance of the full participation of girls and women in sporting activities at all levels; considers gender equality and non-discrimination to be objectives that form an integral part of sport's educational and social functions; stresses the need to ensure equal access and participation for women and men as well as boys and girls at all levels and in all functions and areas of sport, irrespective of their social background, particularly for people with disabilities given that disabled women can face multiple discrimination; furthermore stresses the important role of sport for public health, especially in the fight against obesity that currently affects 21 million children in the EU;

56.  Urges the Commission and the Member States to pay particular attention to the physical and mental health of adolescent girls participating in top-level competitions, and to assess with the utmost care the effects certain demands may have on the sexual and reproductive health of adolescent girls and on their physical and mental development, with the aim of preventing any effects that run counter to the important educational role of sport;

57.  Urges the Commission to identify best practices in the fight against sexual harassment and abuse in sport; urges the Member States to adopt prevention and elimination measures and develop awareness-raising campaigns on the available legal redress, taking into account the innumerable resolutions on this subject, particularly the Council of Europe resolution of March 2000 on the prevention of sexual harassment and abuse of women, young people and children in sport (Bratislava resolution) and its abovementioned resolution of 5 June 2003;

58.  Calls on the Member States to guarantee equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women as regards access to training and the pursuit of a career in sport;

59.  Calls on the Member States and competent authorities to take steps to raise awareness among everyone working in the sports sector (clubs, federations, etc.) of the importance of gender mainstreaming in all their decisions and in all actions launched by them, and of the need to include equality between men and women among their objectives when planning activities;

60.  Stresses the importance of physical exercise in curbing obesity and overcoming unhealthy life-style habits, thereby greatly benefiting the health of each individual; expresses concern, however, that longer working hours and present-day conditions of employment in general are preventing workers from taking regular physical exercise and becoming more involved in sport;

61.  Recognises that sport is an employment-creating sector and that other areas, such as education, medicine, the media and the manufacture and marketing of specialised equipment and products, are directly linked to this sector;

62.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the governments and the parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe and the International Olympic Committee.

(1) OJ C 200, 30.6.1997, p. 252.
(2) OJ C 68 E, 18.3.2004, p. 605.
(3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2007)0100.
(4) OJ C 33 E, 9.2.2006, p.590.


Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
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European Parliament resolution of 13 November 2007 on the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (2006/2293(INI))
P6_TA(2007)0504A6-0411/2007

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission communication "Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection" (COM(2006)0231) and the Impact Assessment of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (SEC(2006)0620),

–   having regard to the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme (EAP)(1),

–   having regard to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol as regards their direct and indirect links with the soil functions and the protection of the soil,

–   having regard to its resolution of 19 November 2003 on the Commission Communication "Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection" (2),

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (A6-0411/2007),

A.   whereas soil is a key component of the geographical environment, is the interface between the earth (lithosphere), the air (atmosphere) and the water (hydrosphere) and is the basis for essential functions for life on earth; whereas several Community policies aim at protecting these functions and the impact assessment by the Commission demonstrates that, despite these policies, soil destruction, erosion and degradation are increasing, while efforts designed to restore the fertility and productive functions of soil are not achieving the desired effects, resulting in a growing impact on other environmental areas, as well as on human and animal health,

B.   whereas overall protection of the soil and its environmental, economic, social, ecological and cultural functions is a precondition for addressing the main international environmental challenges, such as the mitigation of and the adaptation to climate change, the safeguarding of sufficient and clean water, combating falling groundwater levels, preventing natural and man-made disasters, the protection of biodiversity and the fight against desertification, steppe formation and deforestation, as well as actions designed to prevent soil pollution and halt processes leading to wholesale soil degradation or destruction,

C.   whereas soil structure and characteristics are the product of soil formation, geomorphological and geological processes occurring over thousands of years, thus making it a non-renewable resource; whereas, therefore, it is far more cost-effective to prevent any kind of damage to soil strata (erosion, destruction, degradation, salinisation, etc.) and soil contamination than to try to restore soil functions,

D.   whereas voluntary national initiatives and existing national measures are important for achieving the objective of greater soil protection,

1.  Welcomes the Commission's thematic strategy for soil protection, following on from its 2002 communication on the subject (COM(2002)0179) which clearly demonstrates the need for effective and productive soil protection measures in EU Member States, and the proposal to adopt a framework directive on soil protection;

2.  Notes that soil degradation has local and regional causes and impact, and that occasional transboundary effects are caused by regional geomorphological factors and consequently require intergovernmental measures;

3.  Points out that human activity affects soil functions and use in various ways and that a Community strategy must therefore help to protect those pieces of farmable land that are under greatest threat, for example in connection with land use changes, contaminated industrial sites, soil sealing and erosion;

4.  Is concerned at the consequences of soil degradation, whether natural or the result of human activity; stresses the need for a European strategy to identify and remedy the problems linked to the degradation of soils;

5.  Firmly believes that the huge diversity in terms of types of soil (320, with numerous sub-types) necessitates, in addition to national bottom-up approaches, a European strategy based on prevention, public awareness, information and the identification of risk areas to deal with this problem at European level; calls on Member States without soil protection legislation to shoulder their responsibilities for soil protection, taking also into account the responsibilities of owners; considers, in particular, that regional and local authorities should play a major part in formulating objectives and plans for soil protection;

6.  Considers that the thematic strategy needs to be strengthened in all Member States, and that much more dynamic progress will be made in implementing the strategy if it is complemented by financial aid measures financed from available budget appropriations for cohesion regions;

7.  Notes that soil is a shared resource; stresses that, unlike water, air and biodiversity, that do have specific Community legislation, soil, which is a crucial factor in the long-term, sustainable production of food, feed, fibres, and, increasingly, of biomass, has no such legislation;

8.  Stresses that, in accordance with the principles of better lawmaking, an EU framework directive is fully justified given that the evaluation of existing EU legislation, which should first be supplemented, and of voluntary options based on the transfer of know-how still reveals gaps in soil protection;

9.  Calls for new European rules to be considered, if still deemed necessary, only on the basis of such measures, and in that case to lay down binding standards for improvements;

10.  Agrees with the Commission that there is a need for a framework directive on soil protection, because of the important role of the soil in addressing international challenges such as the decline of soil productivity, ecosystem services and biodiversity, caused by deforestation, deteriorating water quality, steppe formation, continued soil erosion, recurring floods and landslides, and in ensuring sufficient and safe food production ;

11.  Believes that a framework directive is an adequate measure for soil protection, having due regard for the subsidiarity principle (Article 5, second paragraph, of the EC Treaty), and subject to proportionality (Article 5, third paragraph, of the EC Treaty), and could enable Member States that have not yet done so to develop soil policies without creating distortion of competition; believes that the framework directive should recognise the already existing national and Community legislation and should not add any unnecessary administrative burden on Member States, regional and local authorities, and land owners;

12.  Points out that the high degree of soil diversity, the regionally differentiated problem areas and the existing national soil protection blueprints must be taken into account by ensuring that Member States retain a considerable degree of flexibility when designing the legislative framework; states emphatically that soil is a policy area which, by virtue of its great diversity, requires tailor-made solutions that need to be developed at local and regional levels;

13.  Concludes that a clear demarcation is needed between this directive and other European legislative standards relating to soil protection in order to avoid regulatory duplication;

Synergy with other Community policies

14.  Proposes that an in-depth evaluation and analysis be carried out of directives already introduced in the European Union, such as the Groundwater Directive and the Nitrates Directive, and that the extent to which Member States are meeting the cross-compliance conditions applicable to farmers be evaluated and analysed; considers that, on the basis of this analysis, binding measures may, if necessary, be drawn up to promote soil quality; notes that it will also be possible, on the basis of this analysis, to carry out an exchange of information within the EU in order to promote soil quality;

15.  Calls on the Commission to examine the implementation in Member States of relevant soil protection provisions in other Community legislation on air, water, waste, climate change, biodiversity, desertification, agriculture, energy, products, industry, transport and regional development, and to report to the European Parliament before the end of 2008 on how such legislation can be better used for increased soil protection;

16.  Endorses the Commission's view that soil conditions need to be improved in many European regions, but believes that the Commission should make greater efforts to ensure consistency with current legislation;

17.  Stresses the need to avoid overlapping, contradictions and inconsistencies in relation to existing EU rules;

18.  Supports the Commission in its actions and its time schedule to review the Sewage Sludge and the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directives and to assess possible synergies between soil protection measures and measures under inter alia the Water Framework Directive; further calls on the Commission to assess possible synergies with the Waste Directive;

19.  Calls again on the Commission to develop as soon as possible a directive on the sound management of biowaste with the objective of reducing the amount of biowaste that is landfilled or incinerated and of promoting instead the production of compost and biogas; points out that compost and treated residues from the production of biogas which are of suitable quality can greatly support the preservation and increase of soil organic matter;

Climate change

20.  Recognises that a change in soil use can result in an increase in carbon sequestration or in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, for example in the case of deforestation, or when peatlands are drained as a result of inappropriate phyto-irrigation or aquatic irrigation, or permanent grasslands ploughed up or through inappropriate ploughing of slopes; recognises that not only does soil use have a strong impact on climate change, but that climate change itself can result in severe soil degradation or erosion;

21.  Recognises that climate change, through changes in temperature and rainfall, may have large impacts on the biogeochemical cycles in soils that affect soil fertility; recognises also that especially changes in soil nutrient and water balances and their effect on food production, nutrient and contaminant transport and soil water availability need further attention in a changing climate;

22.  Calls on the Commission to consider measures, including a common minimum levy, for example, on carbon loss; such levies must be collected at national level and the proceeds must be used to resolve the pollution problem that provides the basis for the levy, for example, to develop systems involving more carbon sequestration;

23.  Urges the Council and the Commission to take into account the important role of soil policies in both the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to the impacts of climate change in their negotiations on a post-2012 regime under the UNFCCC;

24.  Calls on the Commission to promote further research on the soil's role in increasing water retention and combating falling groundwater levels, in mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and to identify possible best practices on measures that increase carbon sequestration in the soil, and to report to the European Parliament before the end of 2009, when an ongoing Commission study will have delivered some results;

Agriculture

25.  Notes that productive agricultural land is an increasingly scarce global resource and that this calls for sustainable agricultural practices that preserve valuable soil qualities;

26.  Recognises that unsustainable agricultural practices may have profound adverse effects on soils and downstream waters through failure to protect sensitive biogeochemical balances and soil biodiversity;

27.  Points out that agriculture and forestry play a crucial role in maintaining soil quality and revitalising soil, and that there is considerable self-interest on the part of those engaged in farming and forestry in maintaining their land in good condition as a basis of production; draws attention to the need to avoid the permanent sealing of soils of high ecological or productive value, and prevent them from being covered with artificial surfaces as a result of urban development and other infrastructure, especially those located in zones such as river plains, fertile farmland and coastal zones; calls for all public authorities from local to Community level to pay particular attention to the latter, which are under strong pressure from human activity;

28.  Calls on the Commission to establish priorities as to how Europe's land area is to be used so that the soil is protected in the best way possible and a basis is created for high levels of biodiversity and carbon sequestration; in addition to sequestration in the soil, it should be ensured that woods, shelter belts and, not least, agro-forestry are included;

29.  Reiterates its call on the Commission to establish a catalogue of agricultural practices and their different effects on soil, so that best agro-technical practices can be promoted in line with the characteristics of farming and its benefits for the soil and the wider environment;

30.  Calls on the Commission to promote show-cases of sustainable agricultural practices geared towards soil conservation;

Biodiversity

31.  Considers it crucial to apply the precautionary principle and to make sure that the Sixth EAP and EU environmental legislation such as the Habitats, Birds and Water Framework Directives are fully respected; further believes that Community policies should be revised, where necessary, so as to better prevent decline in biodiversity;

Research

32.  Calls on the Commission to promote further research on the soil's role in protecting biodiversity and soil biodiversity, in the fields of processes underlying soil functions, spatial and temporal changes in soil processes, ecological, economic and social drivers of soil threats, factors influencing soil eco-services and operational procedures and technologies for soil protection and restoration. There are first steps in this direction in the Seventh Framework Programme for research (2007-2013)(3), which covers research into soil functions as part of its "Environment" and "Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology" priority areas;

Desertification and steppe formation

33.  Considers that the worsening desertification and steppe formation process affecting various regions in the Union is a result of significant anthropressure, caused by deforestation of vast areas and excessive desiccation of grasslands, and that its socio-economic repercussions and impact on the natural environment have not been adequately reflected or met with sufficient awareness in certain Community bodies; recognises the need for greater research and awareness throughout the Community;

34.  Points out, in this connection, that 14 Member States are affected by desertification, and that the remaining 13, even if they are not actually affected, are subject to regional or local environmental pressures such as erosion or salinisation;

35.  Considers that the framework directive will greatly enhance the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and will strengthen the efforts to prevent and mitigate desertification and steppe formation in the affected countries of the European Union; believes that the knowledge and expertise gathered in the context of the Soil Thematic Strategy should be transferred and shared with Third World countries suffering from desertification;

36.  Urges the Commission to submit a communication on desertification and steppe formation, firstly in the EU and then worldwide, containing a precise description of the regions affected or likely to be affected by the desertification process and steppe formation, together with a detailed analysis of the causes and socio-economic effects on the regions, and identifying appropriate Community actions to help limit the negative effects of these processes;

Contamination

37.  Considers that prevention of soil contamination is very important to preserve the proper physical and chemical properties of soil as well as soil quality and to ensure the protection of other elements of the natural environment, and therefore calls on the Commission to ensure that existing and future Community legislation adheres to this objective;

38.  Believes that a systemic approach for the identification of contaminated sites, based on monitoring objective parameters and a common list of activities, is needed to gather the necessary information and establish databases in order to manage the legacy of soil contamination, thus giving a signal to economic operators so that they take effective preventive measures to avoid future contamination;

39.  Stresses that the procedure for identifying contaminated land must be linked to the requirement of suspected risk in order to achieve an appropriate and proportionate solution to the problem (risk-based approach);

40.  Emphasises that, alongside the various remediation procedures such as decontamination and stabilisation, further options should also be included such as appropriate protection and limitation measures or the resort to natural processes of pollutant reduction;

41.  Supports the Commission in its approach to increase public knowledge of contaminated sites or sites which may be threatened with contamination and the transparency of land transactions based on local land development plans, in particular through the establishment of the soil status report and especially for places where activities with potential to cause soil contamination have been or are being carried out;

42.  Welcomes the establishment of a Europe-wide platform for the exchange of information between Member States since it promotes the transfer of know-how and may open the way to synergies; urges that, for the voluntary establishment of a platform of this kind as part of an EU soil protection strategy, a pragmatic approach should be aimed for on cost grounds alone, having regard to the systems existing in Member States;

43.  Stresses that the reporting and documentation requirements laid down in the framework directive must be confined to what is strictly necessary so as not to impose an excessive burden on towns, municipalities and regions; in particular, Member States need to be able to use their own reporting systems;

Monitoring, impacts of natural disasters, training and education

44.  Calls on the Commission to ensure that soil protection and its links with climate change, biodiversity, deforestation, land drainage, desertification, steppe formation, falling groundwater levels, acidification, erosion and increased risks as a result of natural and man-made disasters will be dealt with under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and INSPIRE as a matter of priority;

45.  Calls on the Commission to promote further research on the increased risks of floods and landslides resulting from sealing and soil subsidence, and the increased impacts of floods, landslides and seismic activity due to increasing population density and activities in coastal areas, river basins and areas surrounding volcanoes and areas with large-scale CO2 and SO2 emitters, and to identify best practices to address these increased risks;

46.  Calls on the Commission to provide the initiative for, and to develop schemes to encourage, the transfer of know-how relating to best practice under national soil protection legislation;

47.  Calls on the Commission to identify more structural ways to improve training and education within the European Union on soil classification, sampling, monitoring and possible best practices on soil protection, exchange of information and best practice, increasing knowledge of the importance and need for soil protection and also promoting best agrotechnical practices in agriculture aimed at restoring the productive function of soil;

o
o   o

48.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

(1) OJ L 242 10.9.2002, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 87 E, 7.4.2004, p. 395.
(3) Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013) (OJ L 412, 30.12.2006, p. 1).


Amendment of Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community ***I
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Resolution
Consolidated text
Annex
European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (COM(2006)0818 – C6-0011/2007 – 2006/0304(COD))
P6_TA(2007)0505A6-0402/2007

(Codecision procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2006)0818),

–   having regard to Article 251(2) and Article 175(1) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C6-0011/2007),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0402/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend the proposal substantially or replace it with another text;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 13 November 2007 with a view to the adoption of Directive 2008/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community

P6_TC1-COD(2006)0304


(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission║,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1)  Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community ║(4) established a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community in order to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective and economically efficient manner.

(2)  The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 94/69/EC of 15 December 1993 concerning the conclusion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(5), is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The Community has repeatedly stated that, with a view to meeting this objective, the overall global annual mean surface temperature increase should not exceed 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Recent scientific research and work indicate that keeping this long-term temperature objective within reach will require global greenhouse gas emissions to peak within two decades followed by substantial reductions in the order of at least 15%, and perhaps by as much as 50%, compared with 1990 levels. The levels of quantified reductions for States to make from 2013 to achieve the objective of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations have not yet been fixed in the international climate change process. Whilst this Directive should be consistent with the EU's contribution to the long-term temperature objective, the methods and basis for allocation of allowances to aircraft operators under this Directive beyond that date should be kept under review in the light of scientific developments and the political developments at the international level.

(3)  The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires all parties to formulate and implement national and, where appropriate, regional programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change.

(4)  The Kyoto Protocol, which was approved by Council Decision 2002/358/EC of 25 April 2002 concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder(6), requires developed countries to pursue the limitation or reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol from aviation, working through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

(5)  While the Community is not a contracting Party to the 1944 Chicago Convention, all Member States are contracting Parties to that Convention and members of ICAO, and continue to support work on the development of market-based instruments working with other states at global level. At the sixth meeting of the ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection in 2004, it was agreed that an aviation-specific emissions trading system based on a new legal instrument under ICAO auspices seemed sufficiently unattractive that it should not be pursued further. Consequently, Resolution 35-5 of the ICAO Assembly does not propose a new legal instrument but instead endorses "the further development of an open emissions trading system for international aviation" and the possibility for States to incorporate emissions from international aviation into their emissions trading schemes.

(6)  The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme established by Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(7) provided for the Community to identify and undertake specific actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, if no such action was agreed within the ICAO by 2002. In its conclusions of October 2002, December 2003 and October 2004, the Council has repeatedly called upon the Commission to propose action to reduce the climate change impact of international air transport.

(7)  Policies and measures should be implemented at Member State and Community level across all sectors of the Community economy, and not only within the industry and energy sectors, in order to generate the substantial reductions needed. If the climate change impact of the aviation sector continues to grow at the current rate, it would significantly undermine reductions made by other sectors to combat climate change.

(8)  To assist with the reduction of emissions from aircraft, the Commission should carry out a feasibility study by 2009 into the possibility of laying down emissions standards for aircraft engines.

(9)  In its Communication of 27 September 2005(8) the Commission adopted a strategy for reducing the climate impact of aviation. As part of a comprehensive package of measures, the strategy proposed the inclusion of aviation in the Community scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading and provided for the creation of a multi-stakeholder working group on aviation as part of the second phase of the European Climate Change Programme to consider ways of including aviation in the Community scheme. In its conclusions of December 2005 the Council recognised that, from an economic and environmental point of view, the inclusion of the aviation sector in the Community scheme seems to be the best way forward and called on the Commission to bring forward a legislative proposal by the end of 2006. In its Resolution of 4 July 2006(9) the European Parliament recognised that emissions trading has the potential to play a role as part of a comprehensive package of measures to address the climate impact of aviation, provided that it is appropriately designed.

(10)  Apart from the economic tools there is considerable emission lowering potential in technological and operational improvements which should be enhanced now more than in the past.

(11)  More efficient air traffic management could, by itself, cut fuel consumption by up to 12% and thereby contribute to the lowering of CO2 emissions. Consequently, the Single European Sky and the SESAR projects should be implemented as quickly and as efficiently as possible. It is, in particular, the task of the Member States and the Community, in close consultation with the airspace users concerned, to take swift and firm action to establish functional airspace blocks, flexible airspace blocks and flexible airspace use. In this respect, support should be given to the AIRE initiative (Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions) agreed between the EU and the US Federal Aviation Administration.

(12)  Research and technology is the key to innovation and to achieving further cuts in aviation emissions. Aircraft and engine manufacturers, and fuel producers, are urged to research and implement changes in their respective fields which will significantly contribute to reducing the climate impact of aviation. The Community should continue its support for the "Clean Sky" Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) in the 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7) which aims to radically reduce the impact of air transport on the environment. The Community should continue to give strong support to the work of ACARE (Advisory Council for Aeronautical Research in Europe), and more particularly its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which sets emissions reduction targets for the air transport industry of 50% for carbon dioxide per passenger kilometre and 80% for nitrogen oxide by 2020.

(13)  Subsidies to airports give in some cases wrong incentives concerning the emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore the Commission must fully respect existing competition law.

(14)  The objective of this Directive is to reduce aviation's contribution to global climate change by including emissions from aviation activities in the Community scheme.

(15)  Aircraft operators have the most direct control over the type of aircraft in operation and the way in which they are flown and should therefore be responsible for complying with the obligations imposed by this Directive. An operator may be identified by the use of an ICAO designator or any other recognised designator used in the identification of the flight. If the identity of the operator is not known, the owner of the aircraft should be regarded as the aircraft operator unless it proves which other person was the operator.

(16)  A level playing field between airports and between aircraft operators needs to be ensured. Therefore, international flights to and from the European Union and flights within the European Union should both be included in the Community scheme from the start.

(17)  From 2011, ▌emissions from all flights arriving at and departing from Community airports should be included. ▌If a third country adopts measures for reducing the climate impact of flights to a Community airport departing from that country which are at least equivalent to the requirements of this Directive, the scope of the Community scheme should be amended to exclude the flights ▌from that country. Climate change is a global phenomenon which requires global solutions. The Community considers this Directive as an important first step. Non-EU parties are invited to contribute with their ideas to the debate so as to develop this policy instrument further. To make the voice of third parties heard, the Commission should be in permanent contact with them, both prior to and during the implementation of this Directive. If the European Union agrees with a third party on a common scheme which has at least the same positive effects for the environment as the Directive, the Commission may propose an amendment of the Directive. In any case the Commission may propose that incoming flights from third countries not be covered by the scheme if the third country has in place a system which has at least the same environmental benefit as this Directive.

(18)  Aviation has an impact on the global climate through releases of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, water vapour and sulphate and soot particles. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that the total impact of aviation currently is two to four times higher than the effect of its past carbon dioxide emissions alone. Recent Community research indicates that the total impact of aviation could be around two times higher than the impact of carbon dioxide alone. However, none of these estimates takes into account the highly uncertain cirrus cloud effects. In accordance with Article 174(2) of the Treaty, Community environment policy must be based on the precautionary principle and therefore all impacts of aviation should be addressed to the extent possible. Air traffic management authorities should apply effective measures in order to avoid the formation of contrails and cirrus clouds through changes in flight patterns, namely by ensuring that flights will avoid passing through areas where due to specific atmospheric conditions the formation of such clouds is foreseen. In addition, they should strongly promote research on the formation of contrails and cirrus clouds including effective mitigation measures (e.g. fuel, engines, air traffic management) that do not adversely affect other environmental goals. Pending other legislation to be proposed by the Commission focusing specifically on the problem of nitrogen oxide emissions in aviation, a multiplier should be applied to every tonne of CO2 emitted.

(19)  Other actions are needed in order to supplement this Directive. Study groups should therefore be set up to examine other means of action.

(20)  In order to avoid distortions of competition, a harmonised allocation methodology should be specified. To ensure access to the market for new aircraft operators, a proportion of allowances will be allocated by auction in accordance with rules to be developed by the Commission. Aircraft operators that cease operations should continue to be issued with allowances until the end of the period for which free allowances have already been allocated.

(21)  Despite the fact that it is difficult for aircraft operators to switch to alternative (renewable) energy sources, the aviation sector must still achieve a considerable emissions reduction that is in line with the overall EU reduction target of 20% to 30% compared to 1990 levels. For each commitment period under the Community's scheme in which aviation is to be included, depending on the reference period used for aviation in that commitment period, the target for aviation should be set on the basis of the average efforts required of all the other fixed-source sectors in all the Member States.

(22)  Aviation contributes to the overall climate change impact of human activities. Proceeds from the auctioning of allowances should be used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the EU and third countries, especially in developing countries, and to fund research and development for mitigation and adaptation. In order to reduce to some extent the burden on citizens, revenues generated by auctioning should also be used to lower taxes and charges on environment-friendly transport such as rail and bus. They should also be used to cover the Member States' justified costs in administering this Directive. Member States may also use the revenues to mitigate or even eliminate any accessibility and competitiveness problems arising for outermost regions and problems for public service obligations in connection with the implementation of this Directive. Member States should inform the Commission of measures taken in this connection.

(23)  To increase the cost-effectiveness of the scheme, aircraft operators should be able to use allowances issued to installations in other emission trading scheme sectors, Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) from project activities to meet obligations to surrender allowances▌.

(24)  As a result of the current emission trading scheme, energy-intensive industry is already under pressure from significantly high CO2 prices. There is the real threat of carbon leakage if another significant sector is included in the scheme that has to buy emission permits. To avoid carbon leakage from energy-intensive industry, for example the cement, lime or steel sector, the Commission will examine different options such as sectoral targets or border tax adjustment and publish a report before the end of 2008 on how the question should be addressed.

(25)  In order to reduce the administrative burden on aircraft operators, one Member State should be responsible for each aircraft operator. Member States should be required to ensure that aircraft operators which were issued with an operating licence in that State, or aircraft operators without an operating licence or from third countries whose emissions in a base year are mostly attributable to that Member State, comply with the requirements of this Directive.

(26)  To maintain the integrity of the accounting system for the Community scheme in view of the fact that emissions from international aviation are not yet integrated into Member States' commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, allowances allocated to the aviation sector should only be used to meet the obligations placed on aircraft operators to surrender allowances under this Directive. However, aircraft operators should be able to exchange an allowance issued to the aviation sector for an allowance which can be used by all operators in the scheme through their registry administrator.

(27)  In order to ensure equal treatment of aircraft operators, Member States should follow harmonised rules for the administration of aircraft operators under their responsibility, in accordance with specific guidelines to be developed by the Commission.

(28)  The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), may possess information which could assist Member States or the Commission in discharging their obligations under this Directive.

(29)  The provisions of the Community scheme relating to monitoring, reporting and verifying emissions and to penalties applicable to operators should also apply to aircraft operators.

(30)  This Directive should not prevent any Member State from maintaining or establishing other complementary and parallel policies or measures that address the aviation sector's total impacts on climate change.

(31)  The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(10).

(32)  In particular ║the Commission should be empowered to adopt measures for the auctioning of allowances not required to be issued for free and to amend the aviation activities listed in Annex I where a third country introduces measures to reduce the climate change impact of aviation. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive and to supplement this Directive by the addition or modification of new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(33)  Since the objective of the proposed action cannot be achieved by the Member States acting individually, and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(34)  Directive 2003/87/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Amendments to Directive 2003/87/EC

Directive 2003/87/EC is amended as follows:

(1)  The following heading of Chapter I is inserted before Article 1:

"

Chapter I

General Provisions

"

(2)  Article 3 is amended as follows:

   a) in point (b), the following is added: "or the release from an aircraft performing an aviation activity listed in Annex I of the gases specified in respect of that activity";
   b) point (f) is replaced by the following:"
   f) 'operator' means any person who operates or controls a stationary installation or, where this is provided for in national legislation, to whom decisive economic power over the technical functioning of the stationary installation has been delegated;
"
   c) the following points are added:"
   o) "aircraft operator' means the person or body identified by its ICAO code which operates an aircraft at the time it performs an aviation activity listed in Annex I or, where the ICAO code is not known, the holder of the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) or the owner of the aircraft. This will require a harmonised provision in Member States' National Aviation Registries to ensure that the aircraft operator, as well as the owner, is always identified where possible, as per the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment;
   p) 'new entrant' means any person or operator who performs an aviation activity listed in Annex I and has not applied for an allocation of allowances in accordance with Article 3d. It shall, neither partly nor wholly, be owned by an aircraft operator who submitted an application for an allocation of allowances;

q)   "administering Member State' means the Member State responsible for administering the scheme in respect of an aircraft operator in accordance with Article 18a;
   r) "attributed aviation emissions' means emissions from all flights falling within the aviation activities listed in Annex I which depart from a Member State or arrive in the Member State from a third country;
   s) "historical aviation emissions' means the mean average of the annual emissions in the calendar years 2004, 2005 and 2006 from aircraft performing an aviation activity listed in Annex I;
   t) "aviation emissions allowances" means allowances that are allocated to aircraft operators at the start of each negotiation period.
"

(3)  The following Chapter II and heading of Chapter III and Article 3e are inserted after Article 3:

"

Chapter II

Aviation

Article 3a

Scope of Chapter II

The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to the allocation and issue of allowances in respect of aviation activities listed in Annex I.

Article 3b

Total quantity of allowances for aviation

1.  ▌The total quantity of allowances to be allocated to aircraft operators shall be equivalent to 90% of the sum of the historical aviation emissions in relation to each year.

2.  Depending on the choice for a post-2012 carbon dioxide reduction target of either 30% or 20% with 1990 as a base year, the Commission shall reduce the total quantity of allowances to be allocated to aircraft operators in the further periods under Article 11(2) in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 23(2a). This downward review will provide a mechanism to ensure that the environmental effectiveness of the scheme is maintained. There shall be provision for subsequent downward reviews of the total quantity of allowances allocated.

3.  Within six months of the entry into force of this Directive, the Commission shall decide on the historical aviation emissions based on best available data.

Article 3c

Method of allocation of allowances for aviation

1.  Starting in 2011, 25% of allowances shall be auctioned. ▌

2.  For future periods, the percentage to be auctioned referred to in paragraph 1 shall be increased, according to the maximum level of auctioning in other sectors.

3.  The Commission shall adopt a Regulation containing detailed provisions for the auctioning by Member States of allowances not required to be issued free of charge in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2. The number of allowances to be auctioned in each period by each Member State shall be proportionate to its share of the total attributed aviation emissions for all Member States for the reference year reported pursuant to Article 14(3) and verified pursuant to Article 15. For the period referred to in Article 11(2), the reference year shall be 2010 and for each subsequent period referred to in Article 11(2) the reference year shall be the calendar year ending 24 months before the start of the period to which the auction relates.

That Regulation, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 23(2a).

4.  The Commission shall adopt a Regulation laying down detailed provisions for the setting up of a European allowance reserve. The percentage of allowances to be kept as a reserve for the benefit of potential new aircraft operators in each period shall be established by the Commission taking into account the market prediction studies issued by the appropriate bodies.

5.  Revenues generated from the auctioning of allowances ▌shall be used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the EU and third countries, especially in developing countries, and to fund research and development for mitigation, especially in the airline sector, and adaptation. In order to reduce to some extent the burden on citizens, revenues generated by auctioning shall also be used to lower taxes and charges on climate-friendly transport such as rail and bus. They may also be used to cover the Member States' justified costs in administering this Directive. Member States may also use the revenues to mitigate or even eliminate any accessibility and competitiveness problems arising for outermost regions and problems for public service obligations in connection with the implementation of this Directive. Member States shall inform the Commission of measures taken pursuant to this paragraph.

6.  Information provided to the Commission on the basis of this Directive does not free Member States from the notification obligation pursuant to Article 88(3) of the Treaty.

Article 3d

Allocation and issue of allowances to aircraft operators

1.  For each period referred to in Article 11(2), each aircraft operator may apply for an allocation of allowances that are to be allocated free of charge in accordance with Article 3c. An application may be made by submitting to the competent authority in the administering Member State verified tonne-kilometre data for the aviation activities listed in Annex I performed by that operator for the calendar year ending 24 months before the start of the period to which it relates in accordance with Annexes IV and V. Any application must be made at least 21 months before the start of the period to which it relates.

2.  At least 18 months before the start of the period to which the application relates Member States shall submit applications received under paragraph 1 to the Commission.

3.  At least 15 months before the start of each period referred to in Article 11(2), the Commission shall decide on the following:

   a) the total quantity of allowances to be allocated for that period in accordance with Article 3b;
  

   b) the benchmark to be used to allocate allowances free of charge to aircraft operators whose applications were submitted to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 2.

The benchmark referred to in point (b) shall be calculated by dividing the number of allowances allocated free of charge by the sum of the tonne-kilometre data included in applications submitted to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 2.

4.  Within three months of the date on which the Commission adopts a decision under paragraph 3, each administering Member State shall calculate and publish:

   a) the total allocation of allowances for the period to each aircraft operator whose application it submitted to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 2, calculated by multiplying the tonne-kilometre data included in the application by the benchmark published under point (b) of paragraph 3; and
   b) the allocation of allowances to each aircraft operator for each year which shall be determined by dividing its total allocation of allowances for the period calculated under point (a) by the number of years in the period for which that aircraft operator is performing an aviation activity listed in Annex I.

5.  By 28 February 2011 and by 28 February in each subsequent year, the competent authority of the administering Member State shall issue to each aircraft operator the number of allowances allocated to that aircraft operator for that year.

6.  The Commission shall implement measures in respect of the allocation of allowances to make provision for new aviation entrants.

"New aviation entrants" means an aircraft operator which has been issued with an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) for the first time subsequent to the start of a period referred to in Article 11(2) and has actually commenced operations in that period.

7.  In the event of a merger or takeover involving several carriers during a given period, the allowances which have been allocated to them or which they have acquired shall be retained by the new entity. If a carrier ceases to operate, the Member State to which it is attached shall place the relevant allowances on the secondary market for allowances. At the beginning of the following year, the share of the allowances still available shall be allocated in full for auctioning, taking account of the general rate of reduction of authorised allowances.

8.  On the basis of the experience acquired during the period 2010-2012, the Commission shall submit a proposal concerning the quota of emission permits the aviation sector is authorised to purchase on the secondary market for wider emission permit schemes.

Chapter III

Stationary installations

Article 3e

Scope of Chapter III

The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to greenhouse gas emissions permits and the allocation and issue of allowances in respect of activities listed in Annex I other than aviation activities.

"

(4)  In Article 5, point (a) is replaced by the following:

"
   a) the installation or the aircraft and its activities including the technology used;
"

(5)  In Article 6(2)(e), after "allowances" the words ", other than allowances issued under Chapter II," are inserted.

(6)  The following heading of Chapter IV is inserted after Article 11:

"

Chapter IV

Provisions applying to aviation and stationary installations

"

(7)  In Article 11a the following paragraph 1a is inserted:

"

1a.  Subject to paragraph 3, during each period referred to in Article 11(2), Member States shall allow each aircraft operator to use allowances issued under Chapter III, CERs and ERUs from project activities up to a percentage of the number of allowances it is required to surrender pursuant to Article 12(2a); this percentage being the average of the percentages specified by Member States for the use of CERs and ERUs for the period in accordance with paragraph 1.

The Commission shall publish this percentage at least six months before the start of each period referred to in Article 11(2).

The percentage of CERs and ERUs usable in relation to aviation activities shall be reviewed alongside their use in other sectors as part of the emission trading scheme review.

"

(8)  In Article 11b(2), the word "installations" is replaced by "activities".

(9)  Article 12 is amended as follows:

   a) in paragraph 2, after "purpose" the words "of meeting an aircraft operator's obligations under paragraph 2a or" are inserted;
   b) the following paragraphs 2a to 2g are inserted:"
2a.  Administering Member States shall ensure that, by 30 April each year at the latest, each aircraft operator surrenders a number of allowances equal to the total emissions during the preceding calendar year from aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator, as verified in accordance with Article 15. Member States shall ensure that allowances surrendered in accordance with this paragraph are subsequently cancelled.
2b.  As long as there are no Community measures which incentivise the reduction of releases of nitrogen oxides from aircraft carrying out an aviation activity listed in Annex I, and which ensure the same ambitious level regarding the protection of the environment as this Directive, for the purposes of paragraph 2a and by way of derogation from Article 3(a), the amount of carbon dioxide which an allowance, other than an aviation emissions allowance, or a CER or ERU permits an aircraft operator to emit shall be divided by an impact factor of 2.
2c.  Every year, aircraft operators wishing to surrender allowances for the purposes of paragraph 2a other than aviation emissions allowances, shall be required to submit to the administering Member State verified tonne-kilometre data for the aviation activities listed in Annex I performed in that calendar year.
2d.  Based on the data to be submitted under the provisions of Article 3, the Commission shall determine an efficiency indicator for all aircraft operators, calculated by dividing the total emissions from aircraft operators by the sum of the tonne-kilometre data. Based on this efficiency indicator for the first year for which data is available, the Commission shall publish a target efficiency indicator for 2010, 2015 and 2020 on the basis of an emissions reduction per revenue-tonne-kilometre (RTK) of 3,5% per year, which takes into account the voluntary target of a 3,5% improvement in fuel efficiency of aircraft per year until 2020.
2e.  Those aircraft operators which, for a given year, have an efficiency indicator with a value above the target efficiency indicator calculated by the Commission for that year, shall be required to surrender only aviation emissions allowances to comply with the provisions of paragraph 2a."

2 septies.  2f. The Commission shall, having regard to air operators' pledge to increase the efficiency of aircraft engines by 50% in 2020, report to the European Parliament in 2010 and 2015 on progress made towards achieving this target.

2g.  As soon as sufficient scientific evidence is available an appropriate multiplier will be proposed to take into account the effects of cirrus clouds caused by aviation activity.

   c) in paragraph 3, after "allowances" the words", other than allowances issued under Chapter II," are inserted.

(10)  In Article 13(3), "Article 12(3)" is replaced by "Article 12(2a) or (3)".

(11)  Article 14 is amended as follows:

  a) in paragraph 1:
   i) after "those activities" the words "and of tonne-kilometre data for the purpose of an application under Article 3d" are inserted";
   ii) the words ", by 30 September 2003" are deleted; and
  b) in paragraph 3:
   i) the word "of an installation" is replaced by "or aircraft operator";
   ii) the words "from that installation during each calendar year" are replaced by "during each calendar year from the installation, or, from 1 January 2010, the aircraft, which it operates".

(12)  Article 15 is amended as follows:

  a) in the first paragraph:
   i) the word "operators" is replaced by "operators and aircraft operators";
   ii) after "Annex V" the words "and any detailed provisions adopted by the Commission in accordance with this paragraph" are inserted;
  b) in the second paragraph:
   i) the word "operator" is replaced by "operators and aircraft operators";
   ii) after "Annex V" the words "and any detailed provisions adopted by the Commission in accordance with this paragraph" are inserted; and
   c) after the second paragraph, the following paragraph is added:"
The Commission may adopt detailed provisions for the verification of reports submitted by aircraft operators pursuant to Article 14(3) and applications under Article 3d in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 23(2)."

(13)  Article 16 is amended as follows:

   a) in paragraph 1, the words "by 31 December 2003 at the latest," are deleted;
  b) in paragraph 2:
   i) the word "operators" is replaced by "operators and aircraft operators";
   ii) the words "Article 12(3)" are replaced by the words "this Directive"; and
  c) in paragraph 3:
   i) the word "operator" is replaced by "operator or aircraft operator";
   ii) in the second sentence, the words "by that installation" are deleted.

(14)  The following Articles 18a and 18b are inserted:

"

Article 18a

Administering Member State

1.  The administering Member State in respect of an aircraft operator shall be:

   a) in the case of an aircraft operator with a valid operating licence granted by a Member State in accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers*, the Member State which granted the operating licence in respect of that aircraft operator; and
   b) in all other cases, the Member State with the greatest estimated attributed aviation emissions from flights performed by that aircraft operator in the base year.

2.  Based on best available information, the Commission shall:

   a) by 1 February 2009, publish a list of aircraft operators which performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I on or after 1 January 2006 specifying the administering Member State for each aircraft operator in accordance with paragraph 1; and
   b) by 1 February in each subsequent year, update the list to include aircraft operators which have subsequently performed an aviation activity listed in Annex I.

3.  For the purposes of paragraph 1, 'base year' means, in relation to an operator which started operating in the Community after 1 January 2006, the first calendar year of operation; and in all other cases, the calendar year starting on 1 January 2006.

4.  In order to ensure equal treatment of aircraft operators, the Commission shall adopt specific guidelines to harmonise the administration of aircraft operators by administering Member States.

Article 18b

Assistance from Eurocontrol

For the purposes of carrying out its obligations under Articles 3b(3) and 18a, the Commission may request the assistance of Eurocontrol and shall designate a neutral organisation to which airlines will supply data directly.

__________

* OJ L 240, 24.8.1992, p. 1.

"

(15)  In Article 23, the following paragraph 2a is inserted:

"

2a.  Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

"

(16)  The following Article 25a is inserted:

"

Article 25a

Third country measures to reduce aviation's climate change impact

Where a third country adopts measures for reducing the climate change impact of flights ▌which are at least equivalent to the requirements of this Directive, the Commission shall amend this Directive in order to avoid double charging and to ensure equal treatment.

That amendment, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 23(2a).

"

(17)  Article 28 is amended as follows:

   a) in paragraph 3(b), after "allowances" the words ", other than allowances issued under Chapter II," are inserted; and
   b) in paragraph 4, after "allowances" the words ", other than allowances issued under Chapter II," are inserted.

(18)  The following heading is inserted after Article 30:

"

Chapter V

Final Provisions

"

(19)  Annexes I, IV and V are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Directive.

Article 2

Transposition

1.  Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive no later than ...(11). They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

2.  Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. The Commission shall inform the Member States thereof.

3.  Should third countries or groups of such countries agree with the European Union on a common scheme of emission trading which brings at least the same environmental benefit as the scheme under this Directive, the Commission may propose an amendment to this Directive to adapt it to the rules of the common scheme.

Article 3

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 4

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at ,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

ANNEX

Annexes I, IV and V to Directive 2003/87/EC are amended as follows:

(1)  Annex I is amended as follows:

   a) the title is replaced by the following:"
CATEGORIES OF ACTIVITIES TO WHICH THIS DIRECTIVE APPLIES"
   b) the following paragraph is added after paragraph 2:"
▌From 1 January 2011, all flights which arrive at or depart from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies shall be included, taking into account the special situation of the flights between ultra-peripheral regions and the European Continental zone. "
   c) the following category of activity is added:

"Aviation
Flights which arrive at or depart from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies.
This activity shall not include:

a) military flights performed by military aircraftflights by customs and police services, flights for search and rescue purposes as well as medical and disaster relief including fire-fighting which are authorised by the appropriate competent authority;
b) flights for humanitarian purposes under a mandate from the United Nations or its subsidiary organisations and Emergency Medical Service flights, if the aircraft operator has been instructed to perform them (e.g. by the United Nations) or holds the necessary official authorisation (licence for such EMS flights under its Air Operator's Certificate);

c) flights terminating at the aerodrome from which the aircraft has taken off and during which no intermediate landing has been made;
d) training flights performed exclusively for the purpose of obtaining a licence, or a rating in the case of cockpit flight crew where this is substantiated by an appropriate remark in the flight plan provided that the flight does not serve for the transport of passengers and/or cargo ▌;
e) flights performed exclusively for the purpose of scientific research or for the purpose of checking, testing, qualifying or certifying aircraft, equipment or air-traffic-management procedures, whether airborne or ground-based; ferrying new aircraft as well as ferry flights performed by or on behalf of an aircraft owner as a consequence of the occurrence of a sudden early termination event, event of default, repossession, or similar occurrence in respect of a leasing, charter or similar arrangement; and
f) flights performed by aircraft with a certified maximum take-off weight of less than 20 000 kg, under the condition that operators of these aircraft participate in an offset scheme which operates according to strict criteria and which must be open to external control (comparable to Gold Standard).

Carbon dioxide"

(2)  Annex IV is amended as follows:

a)   the following heading is inserted after the title:

"

PART A – Monitoring and reporting of emissions from stationary installations

"

b)   the following part B is added:

"

PART B – Monitoring and reporting of emissions from aviation activities

Monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions

Emissions shall be monitored by calculation. Emissions shall be calculated using the formula:

Fuel consumption x emission factor

Fuel consumption shall include fuel consumed by the auxiliary power unit. Actual fuel consumption for each flight shall be used wherever possible and shall be calculated using the formula:

Amount of fuel contained in aircraft tanks once fuel uplift for the flight is complete – amount of fuel contained in aircraft tanks once fuel uplift for subsequent flight is complete + fuel uplift for that subsequent flight

If actual fuel consumption data are not available, a standardised tiered method shall be used to estimate fuel consumption data based on best available information.

Default IPCC emission factors, taken from the 2006 IPCC Inventory Guidelines or subsequent updates of these Guidelines, shall be used unless activity-specific emission factors derived by independent accredited laboratories using accepted analytical methods are more accurate. The emission factor for biomass shall be zero.

A separate calculation shall be made for each flight and for each fuel.

Reporting of emissions

Each aircraft operator shall include the following information in its report under Article 14(3):

A.  Data identifying the operator, including:

   Name of the operator;

–  Its administering Member State;

   Its address, including postcode and country and, where different, its contact address in the administering Member State;
   The aircraft registration numbers and types of aircraft used in the period covered by the report to perform the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator;
   The number and issuing authority of the air operator certificate and operating licence under which the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator were performed;
   Address, telephone, fax and email details for a contact person; and
   Name of the aircraft owner.

B.  For each type of fuel for which emissions are calculated:

   Fuel consumption;
   Emission factor;
   Total aggregated emissions from all flights performed during the period covered by the report which fall within the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator;
   Aggregated emissions from:
   all flights performed during the period covered by the report which fall within the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator and which departed from an airport situated in the territory of a Member State and arrived at an airport situated in the territory of the same Member State;
   all other flights performed during the period covered by the report which fall within the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator;
   Aggregated emissions from all flights performed during the period covered by the report which fall within the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator which:
   departed from each Member State; and
   arrived in each Member State from a third country;
   Uncertainty.

Monitoring of tonne-kilometre data for the purpose of Article 3d

For the purpose of applying for an allocation of allowances in accordance with Article 3d(1), the amount of aviation activity shall be calculated in tonne-kilometres using the following formula:

tonne kilometres = distance x payload

where:

"distance" means the great circle distance between the airport of departure and the airport of arrival; and

"payload" means the total mass of freight, mail and passengers carried.

For the purposes of calculating the payload:

   the number of passengers shall be the number of persons onboard excluding crew members;
   an aircraft operator may chose to apply either the actual or standard mass for passengers and checked baggage contained in its mass and balance documentation for the relevant flights or a default value for each passenger and his checked baggage of 100 kg.

Reporting of tonne-kilometre data for the purpose of Article 3d

Each aircraft operator shall include the following information in its application under Article 3d(1):

A.  Data identifying the operator, including:

   Name of the operator;

–  Its administering Member State;

   Its address, including postcode and country and, where different, its contact address in the administering Member State;
   The aircraft registration numbers and types of aircraft used during the year covered by the application to perform the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator;
   The number and issuing authority of the air operator certificate and operating licence under which the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the aircraft operator were performed;
   Address, telephone, fax and email details for a contact person; and
   Name of the aircraft owner.

B.  Tonne-kilometre data:

   Number of flights by airport pair;
   Number of passenger-kilometres by airport pair;
   Number of tonne-kilometres by airport pair;
   Total number of tonne-kilometres for all flights performed during the year to which the report relates falling within the aviation activities listed in Annex I for which it is the operator.

"

(3)  Annex V is amended as follows:

a)   the following heading is inserted after the title:

"

PART A – Verification of emissions from stationary installations

"

b)   the following part B is added:

"

PART B – Verification of emissions from aviation activities

(13)  The general principles and methodology set out in this Annex shall apply to the verification of reports of emissions from flights falling within an aviation activity listed in Annex I.

For this purpose:

a)   in paragraph 3, the reference to operator shall be read as if it were a reference to an aircraft operator and in point (c), the reference to installation shall be read as if it were a reference to the aircraft used to perform the aviation activities covered by the report;

   b) in paragraph 5, the reference to installation shall be read as if it were a reference to the aircraft operator;
   c) in paragraph 6 the reference to activities carried out in the installation shall be read as a reference to aviation activities covered by the report carried out by the aircraft operator;
   d) in paragraph 7 the reference to the site of the installation shall be read as if it were a reference to the sites used by the aircraft operator to perform the aviation activities covered by the report;
   e) in paragraphs 8 and 9 the references to sources of emissions in the installation shall be read as if they were a reference to the aircraft for which the aircraft operator is responsible; and
   f) in paragraphs 10 and 12 the references to operator shall be read as if they were a reference to an aircraft operator.

Additional provisions for the verification of aviation emission reports

(14)  The verifier shall in particular ascertain that:

   a) all flights falling within an aviation activity listed in Annex I have been taken into account. In this task the verifier shall be assisted by timetable data and other data on the operator's traffic including data from Eurocontrol requested by the operator;
   b) there is overall consistency between aggregated fuel consumption data and data on fuel purchased or otherwise supplied to the aircraft performing the aviation activity.

The Community and the Member States shall ensure that the working methods to be used by the verifier are harmonised before the implementation of the Directive and that its provisions are applied on a uniform basis.

Additional provisions for the verification of tonne-kilometre data submitted for the purposes of Article 3d(1)

(15)  The general principles, and methodology for verifying emissions reports under Article 14(3) set out in this Annex shall, where applicable, also apply correspondingly to the verification of aviation tonne-kilometre data.

(16)  The verifier shall in particular ascertain that only flights actually performed and falling within an aviation activity listed in Annex I for which the aircraft operator is responsible have been taken into account in that operator's application under Article 3d(1). In this task the verifier shall be assisted by data on the operator's traffic including data from Eurocontrol requested by the operator. In addition, the verifier shall ascertain that the payload reported by the operator corresponds to records on payloads kept by that operator for safety purposes.

The Community and the Member States shall ensure that the working methods to be used by the verifier are harmonised before the implementation of the Directive and that its provisions are applied on a uniform basis.

"

(1) OJ C 175, 27.7.2007, p. 47.
(2) OJ C 305, 15.12.2007, p. 15.
(3) Position of the European Parliament of 13 November 2007.
(4) OJ L 275, 25.10.2003, p. 32. Directive as amended by Directive 2004/101/EC (OJ L 338, 13.11.2004, p. 18).
(5) OJ L 33, 7.2.1994, p. 11. Corrected in OJ L 146, 11.6.1994, p. 27.
(6) OJ L 130, 15.5.2002, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 242, 10.9.2002, p. 1.
(8) COM(2005)0459.
(9) OJ C 303 E, 13.12.2006, p. 119.
(10) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).
(11)* 12 months after the entry into force of this Directive.


"Dys'crimination and social exclusion affecting children with "dys'abilities
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Declaration of the European Parliament on "dys'crimination and social exclusion affecting children with "dys'abilities
P6_TA(2007)0506P6_DCL(2007)0064

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.   whereas, according to estimates more than 10% of children are affected each year by one or other "dys"-type disability such as dysphasia, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia or attention deficit disorder, etc., and whereas the statistics on these disorders need to be refined,

B.   whereas this type of "dys'ability, which badly impairs communication from a very early age, goes unidentified in many Member States,

C.   whereas research into these "dys'abilities, including research co-ordinated under the Seventh Framework Programme, must be stepped up,

D.   whereas the only way to prevent "dys'crimination against affected children is to give them early, intensive and multidisciplinary treatment in appropriate structures (either in the normal school environment with appropriate special care, or in a specialised establishment),

1.  Asks the Commission and the Council:

   to draw up a charter for "dys" children,
   to encourage the recognition of "dys"-type problems as disabilities,
   to promote best practices regarding:
   making information accessible,
   taking timely steps to identify, screen, systematically diagnose and treat these disorders at an early stage,
   designing effective learning structures within both the ordinary and the specialist educational environment for young children, adolescents and young adults,
   adapting structures for integrating young people with these disabilities into the world of work,
   to promote and encourage the creation of a European multidisciplinary network on specific learning difficulties, and by this means to collect and study information and promote the coordination of cross-border actions, as well as institutional dialogue;

2.  Instructs its President to forward this Declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, the Commission and the parliaments of the Member States:

List of signatories

Adamou, Allister, Anastase, Andersson, Andrejevs, Andria, Andrikienė, Angelilli, Arnaoutakis, Athanasiu, Attwooll, Aubert, Audy, Aylward, Baco, Baeva, Barón Crespo, Barsi-Pataky, Battilocchio, Bauer, Beaupuy, Beazley, Becsey, Belder, Belet, Belohorská, Beňová, Berend, Berlinguer, Bielan, Bösch, Bonde, Bonsignore, Borghezio, Borrell Fontelles, Bourlanges, Bourzai, Bowis, Braghetto, Brejc, Brepoels, Breyer, Březina, Brie, Brok, Buitenweg, Bulfon, Bullmann, van den Burg, Burke, Buruiană-Aprodu, Bushill-Matthews, Busquin, Busuttil, Cabrnoch, Callanan, Camre, Cappato, Carlotti, Carlshamre, Casa, Casaca, Cashman, Casini, Castiglione, Cavada, Chatzimarkakis, Chmielewski, Christensen, Ciornei, Claeys, Cocilovo, Cohn-Bendit, Corbett, Corda, Cornillet, Correia, Costa, Cottigny, Cramer, Creţu Gabriela, Crowley, Czarnecki Marek Aleksander, Czarnecki Ryszard, Daul, Dehaene, De Keyser, Demetriou, Deprez, De Sarnez, Descamps, Désir, Deva, De Veyrac, Dičkutė, Dillen, Dimitrakopoulos, Dîncu, Dombrovskis, Doorn, Douay, Dover, Doyle, Drčar Murko, Duchoň, Dührkop Dührkop, Duka-Zólyomi, Dumitrescu, Ebner, Estrela, Ettl, Evans Jill, Ferrari, Ferreira Elisa, Figueiredo, Flasarová, Flautre, Foglietta, Foltyn-Kubicka, Fontaine, Ford, Fourtou, Fraga Estévez, Gahler, Gaľa, Ganţ, Gaubert, Gauzès, Gawronski, Gentvilas, Geremek, Geringer de Oedenberg, Gibault, Gierek, Gklavakis, Gollnisch, Gomes, Gottardi, Grabowska, Grabowski, Graça Moura, de Grandes Pascual, Grech, Griesbeck, Gröner, de Groen-Kouwenhoven, Grosch, Grossetête, Guellec, Guerreiro, Guidoni, Gurmai, Gutiérrez-Cortines, Hammerstein, Handzlik, Harbour, Harkin, Hassi, Hazan, Heaton-Harris, Hellvig, Henin, Hennicot-Schoepges, Herczog, Herranz García, Higgins, Holm, Honeyball, Horáček, Howitt, Hudacký, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyusmenova, in 't Veld, Isler Béguin, Itälä, Jäätteenmäki, Jałowiecki, Janowski, Járóka, Jarzembowski, Juknevičienė, Kaczmarek, Kallenbach, Kamiński, Karas, Karatzaferis, Kaufmann, Kauppi, Kazak, Klamt, Klich, Koch, Kónya-Hamar, Korhola, Kósáné Kovács, Koterec, Kozlík, Krasts, Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Kristovskis, Krupa, Kuc, Kudrycka, Kuhne, Kułakowski, Kuźmiuk, Laignel, Lamassoure, Landsbergis, Lang, De Lange, Laperrouze, Lavarra, Le Foll, Lehideux, Leichtfried, Le Pen Jean-Marie, Le Pen Marine, Lévai, Lewandowski, Liberadzki, Libicki, Lienemann, Liotard, Lipietz, Locatelli, López-Istúriz White, Losco, Louis, Lucas, Lulling, Lynne, Lyubcheva, McCarthy, McDonald, McGuinness, McMillan-Scott, Madeira, Maldeikis, Maňka, Mantovani, Marinescu, Markov, Marques, Martin David, Martinez, Masiel, Maštálka, Mathieu, Matsakis, Matsis, Matsouka, Mavrommatis, Medina Ortega, Meijer, Méndez de Vigo, Menéndez del Valle, Meyer Pleite, Miguélez Ramos, Mihalache, Mikko, Mikolášik, Mitchell, Morgantini, Morillon, Morin, Musacchio, Muscardini, Muscat, Musotto, Myller, Napoletano, Navarro, Neris, Nicholson, Niebler, van Nistelrooij, Novak, Occhetto, Özdemir, Olajos, Olbrycht, Ó Neachtain, Onesta, Oomen-Ruijten, Ortuondo Larrea, Őry, Oviir, Paasilinna, Paleckis, Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Pannella, Panzeri, Paparizov, Papastamkos, Patriciello, Peterle, Petre, Piecyk, Pīks, Pinior, Piotrowski, Pirker, Pleštinská, Podgorean, Podkański, Poignant, Popeangă, Portas, Posselt, Prets, Pribetich, Protasiewicz, Rack, Raeva, Ransdorf, Remek, Resetarits, Ribeiro e Castro, Riera Madurell, Ries, Rivera, Rocard, Rogalski, Roithová, Romagnoli, Romeva i Rueda, Rosati, Roszkowski, Rouček, Rudi Ubeda, Rühle, Rutowicz, Ryan, Saïfi, Sakalas, Saks, Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Sârbu, Sartori, Saryusz-Wolski, Savi, Sbarbati, Schaldemose, Schapira, Scheele, Schenardi, Schlyter, Schmidt Frithjof, Schmidt Olle, Schöpflin, Schröder, Seeber, Seppänen, Siekierski, Silva Peneda, Simpson, Sinnott, Skinner, Smith, Sommer, Sonik, Sornosa Martínez, Staes, Staniszewska, Starkevičiūtė, Šťastný, Stauner, Stavreva, Sterckx, Stevenson, Stihler, Stubb, Sturdy, Sudre, Surján, Svensson, Szabó, Szájer, Szejna, Szymański, Tajani, Takkula, Tannock, Tarabella, Thyssen, Ţicău, Ţîrle, Titley, Toia, Toma, Tomaszewska, Tomczak, Toubon, Trakatellis, Trautmann, Triantaphyllides, Turmes, Tzampazi, Vanhecke, Van Lancker, Vatanen, Vaugrenard, Veneto, Vergnaud, Vidal-Quadras, de Villiers, Vlasto, Voggenhuber, Wallis, Watson, Weber Henri, Weisgerber, Wijkman, Willmott, Wojciechowski Bernard, Wojciechowski Janusz, Wortmann-Kool, Wurtz, Záborská, Zaleski, Zani, Zapałowski, Ždanoka, Zdravkova, Železný, Zimmer, Zingaretti, Zvěřina, Zwiefka

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