Conclusies Raad Concurrentie: Chemische weekmakers, machinerieën-richtlijn, vereenvoudiging EU-regelgeving, dienstenrichtlijn (en)

Phthalates in Toys (MM)

The European Commission welcomed the political agreement by the Council to ban a group of chemicals known as phthalates from use in toys and childcare items. After five years of debate, this decision marks a major step forward in protecting children's health and ensuring at the same time the efficient functioning of the Single Market.

Three of these substances (DEHP, DBP and BBP), which are used to soften certain plastics which would otherwise be rigid and brittle, have been classified as toxic for reproduction and would be banned in all toys and childcare articles under today's agreement. Three other phthalates (DINP, DIDP and DNOP) would be banned from use in toys intended for children under three years of age and which could be placed in their mouth.

Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society Olli Rehn said: "The compromise reached today is an important step forward in helping to reduce the risks to children from certain phthalates in toys and childcare articles. At the same time, these measures will put an end to the present unsatisfactory solution in which the internal market is no longer able to function fully in this area."

Once the Council's common position is adopted formally at a forthcoming Council session, it will be transmitted to the European Parliament for its second reading.

At the end of the 1990s, public discussion arose concerning a potential health risk from phthalates which were used in toys and childcare articles, and several Member States took measures to limit the use of phthalates which often differ considerably. The Commission introduced temporary restrictions on the use of these substances while Council debated the issue. The Council decided to wait for the results of a series of risk assessments which had been initiated. The Commission, in consultation with Member State experts and stakeholders, will prepare a guidance document in order to facilitate the implementation of the Directive.

Machinery Directive (MM)

The Council reached a political agreement on a proposal to revise the Machinery Directive (98/37/EC), which ensures the free movement of machinery within the internal market and lays down essential health and safety requirements for the protection of consumers and workers. Following the Commission proposal and the first reading of the European Parliament, the agreed text enhances legal certainty by clarifying the Directive's scope and meaning (to remove ambiguities that have led to different interpretations), whilst at the same time ensuring the highest possible level of protection of health and safety.

Based on the experience of the past fifteen years, it reflects the determination to cut "red tape" whilst facilitating compliance with EU legislation, taking due account of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. It is also fully in line with the recommendations of the group of experts chaired by Mr. Molitor and the subsequent SLIM (Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market) initiative.

The Machinery Directive, an early example of the "New Approach" to technical harmonisation and standardisation for products, relies on:

• mandatory essential health and safety requirements (which must be met before machinery is placed on the Community market)
• voluntary harmonised standards drawn up by the European Committees for Standardisation (CEN) and Electro-technical Standardisation (Cenelec)
• conformity assessment procedures tailored to the type and level of risks associated with machinery and
• the CE marking, affixed by manufacturers to signify compliance with all relevant Directives. Machinery bearing this marking may circulate freely within the European Economic Area.

Better regulation (MM)

The Council introduced the policy debate by stressing that better and simpler legislation was beneficial to improved implementation of legislation.

Commissioner Olli Rehn thanked the Presidency and Member States for the important work being done on "better regulation". He cited the electronic communication package and REACH, which had both reduced the number of relevant legislative acts considerably, as two good examples for "simplification".

Industrial policy (MM)

The Council has adopted a set of Conclusions that should endorse the main findings of the Commission Communication on 'Fostering structural change: an industrial policy for an enlarged Europe' (see IP/04/501) adopted last April, as well as encourage the Commission and the Member States, within their respective spheres of competence, to work resolutely to implement the concrete policy recommendations contained in the Communication. In addition, it also suggests that Member States should compare and exchange best practices in areas related to anticipating and fostering structural change.

Fifth Euro Med Conference (MM)

The Dutch Presidency has invited the delegations to participate in Fifth Euro- Mediterranean Conference of Industry Ministers which will take place in Caserta (Italy) on 3-4 October. At the Conference, the Ministers representing the nine Mediterranean partners (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia) will sign the "Caserta Declaration", by which they endorse the principles of the Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Enterprise to create better conditions in their countries for doing business and attracting investors. This would be the first time ever in the history of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership launched in Barcelona in 1995 that the nine partners will all sign the same document.

Services Directive (JT)

During a discussion on the proposed Services Directive (see IP/04/37 and MEMO/04/3) at the informal Ministerial dinner on 23 September, there was overwhelming support expressed by Member States' Ministers for the principle of service providers being subject to control in their country of origin. Mr Bolkestein supported the Dutch Presidency's view that agreement on this proposal is a test of the Competitiveness Council's ability to deliver a key Lisbon objective and that they should aim to reach a general consensus at the November Council as a basis for a political agreement in early 2005, after first reading in the European Parliament.

The Dutch Presidency presented to Ministers the results of an economic impact assessment study by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CBP) concerning the services proposal. The study indicates that, if the proposal were implemented in full, intra-EU bilateral trade in commercial services could increase by 15-35%, total trade within the EU could increase by 1-3% and that foreign direct investment (FDI) in services could increase by 15-35%.

Improving the implementation of Internal Market legislation (JT)

The Council took note of a presentation by Commissioner Frits Bolkestein of the 2004 Scoreboard on the implementation of Internal Market legislation (see IP/04/890) and the Commission's Recommendation setting out a number of best practices that are currently used in the Member States to facilitate the correct and timely transposition of Internal Market directives into national law.

Following the exchange of views, the Presidency concluded that the Council recognised the need to intensify the efforts by the Member States in order to reduce the Internal Market transposition deficit to 1.5% or below as requested by the Stockholm European Council in March 2001. The Council encouraged Member States to examine which are the main obstacles to timely and correct transposition in their internal systems and to continue their work on the basis of the best transposition practices identified by the Commission taking due account of the national constitutional and legal rules.

A High Level Group within the Council will be in charge of coordinating the different actions to be taken by Member States and to produce a short summary report for the next Competitiveness Council meeting in November 2004.

The July Scoreboard showed that the transposition deficit - the average percentage per Member State of Internal Market Directives in force that has not been written into national law - was 2.2% for EU-15 Member States, barely changed from January 2004 and that 134 or 9% of Internal Market Directives had not been transposed on time into national law in one or more Member States. France had the worst record of EU-15 Member States, followed by Greece, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries. Only Denmark, Spain, UK, Ireland and Finland met the 1.5% interim target set by the European Council. First indications are of big disparities among the ten new Member States in implementing Directives.

Speaking after the Council, Mr Bolkestein stated "Europe's competitiveness suffers directly when Internal Market Directives are not implemented properly and on time by Member States. Businesses lose out on market opportunities and consumers lose the benefit of increased choice on quality and price that healthy competition brings. Late implementation also distorts competition between Member States."

"I pointed out to Ministers that the latest Internal Market Scoreboard chronicles yet another disappointing performance by Member States and that there is no substitute for strong commitment at high political level in the Member States to prompt and proper implementation. I have therefore appealed to Member States to implement each others' "best practices" outlined in a Commission Recommendation. I hope that we will see a marked improvement when the Commission next reports on implementation in January 2005."

Proposal for a Regulation on Sales Promotions (JT)

The Council had a very short debate on the proposal for a Regulation concerning sales promotions in the Internal Market. The Presidency concluded that, it being impossible to reach agreement at this stage, the file should be referred back to the Committee of Member States' Permanent Representatives (COREPER) for further examination with a view to enabling the Competitiveness Council to reach an agreement at its meeting of 25 and 26 November.

The proposed Regulation would remove barriers to cross-border sales promotions caused by divergent national rules on discounts, premiums, free gifts, promotional contests and promotional games (see IP/01/1351 and MEMO/01/306).