Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 15 Nov 1990

Vol. 402 No. 7

Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - EC Directives.

Michael Bell

Question:

8 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the title, nature and implementation date of each adopted EC directive which has not been translated into Irish law as at 30 June, 1990; and, in respect of each such directive, if he will outline (a) the action, whether by warning letter of otherwise, taken by the EC Commission against Ireland and (b) his intentions as regards implementation by 31 December, 1990.

Mr. O'Malley

There are 37 EC Directives under the responsibility of my Department which were not implemented into national legislation as at 30 June 1990. However, the majority of these are at an advanced stage in the implementation process.

Action has been taken by the Commission in 13 cases, ten of which are by way of letter; the remaining three were the subject of reasoned opinions. Of the 13, nine, including two subject to reasoned opinion, are expected to be implemented before the end of the year and the remainder as soon as possible thereafter.

Directives which have been adopted but the implementation of which is not yet due, 12 in all, are included in the figure of 37. The EC Commission, however, will only take action on these cases if, by the due date, they are still not implemented. I anticipate that most, if not all, of these 12 Directives will be implemented here by their respective due dates.

The detailed information requested by the Deputy is contained in a written statement, which I propose to circulate with the Official Report.

The following is the statement:

Directives adopted but not implemented into Irish law as at 30 June 1990.

(1) Council Directive 87/404/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to simple pressure vessels;

(2) Council Directive 90/396/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to appliances burning gaseous fuels;

(3) Council Directive 87/18/EEC on the harmonization of laws, regulations and administrative practices relating to the application of the principles of good laboratory practice and the verification of their applications for tests on chemical substances;

(4) Council Directive 88/320/EEC on the inspection and verification of good laboratory practice;

(5) Commission Directive 90/18/EEC amending Council Directive 88/320/EEC on the inspection and verification of good laboratory practice;

(6) Council Directive 82/711/EEC laying down the basic rules necessary for testing migration of the constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs;

(7) Council Directive 85/572/EEC laying down the lists of simulants to be used for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs;

(8) Council Directive 89/109/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs;

(9) Commission Directive 90/128/EEC relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs;

(10) Council Directive 89/392/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to machinery;

(11) Council Directive 86/663/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to self-propelled industrial trucks;

(12) Commission Directive 89/240/EEC adapting to technical progress Council Directive 86/663/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to self-propelled industrial trucks;

(13) Council Directive 86/594/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to airborne noise emitted by household appliances;

(14) Council Directive 90/385/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to active implantable medical devices;

(15) Council Directive 89/514/EEC adapting to technical progress Council Directive 86/662/EEC on the limitation of noise emitted by hydraulic excavators, rope-operated excavators, dozers, loaders and excavator-loaders;

(16) Council Directive 85/374/EEC on liability for defective products;

(17) Council Directive 87/102/EEC on Consumer Credit;

(18) Council Directive 90/88/EEC amending Council Directive 87/102/EEC on Consumer Credit;

(19) Council Directive 89/395/EEC on food labelling;

(20) Council Directive 89/396/EEC on indication of "lot mark" on foodstuffs;

(21) Council Directive 88/314/EEC on the indication of the prices of non-food products;

(22) Council Directive 88/315/EEC on the indication of the prices of foodstuffs;

(23) Council Directive 87/357/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the member states concerning products which, appearing to be other than they are, endanger the health or safety of consumers;

(24) Council Directive 89/104/EEC to approximate the laws of the member states relating to Trade Marks;

(25) Council Directive 84/568/EEC on reciprocal obligations for State supported export credit insurance organisations for the member states in the case of joint guarantees for contracts involving one or more subcontracts in one or more member states of the European Communities;

(26) Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC to increase the level of financial disclosure of groups of companies, where any of the companies in the group is established as a public or private company within the EC. (It complements the Fourth Directive on Annual Accounts which was implemented into Irish law in 1986);

(27) Eighth Council Directive 84/253/EEC on the approval of persons responsible for carrying out the statutory audits of accounting documents;

(28) Council Directive 87/345/EEC co-ordinating the requirements for the drawing up, scrutiny and distribution of the listing particulars to be published for the admission of securities to official stock exchange listing;

(29) Council Directive 89/298/EEC co-ordinating the requirements for the drawing up, scrutiny and distribution of the prospectus to be published when tansferable securities are offered to the public;

(30) Council Directive 90/211/EEC amending Directive 80/390/EEC in respect of the mutual recognition of public offer prospectuses as stock exchange listing particulars;

(31) Council Directive 88/627/EEC on the information to be published when a major holding in a listed company is acquired or disposed of;

(32) Council Directive 89/592/EEC co-ordinating regulations on insider trading;

(33) Eleventh Council Directive 89/666/EEC on company law concerning disclosure requirements in respect of branches opened in a member state by certain types of companies governed by the law of another state;

(34) Twelfth Council Directive 89/667/EEC on company law concerning single-member private limited companies;

(35) Council Directive 87/343/EEC amending, as regards credit insurance and suretyship insurance, first Directive 73/239/EEC on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of direct insurance other than life assurance;

(36) Council Directive 87/344/EEC on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to legal expenses insurance;

(37) Second Council Directive 88/357/EEC on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance and laying down provisions to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom to provide services and amending Directive 73/239/EEC.

Details concerning implementation of the above adopted Directives are as follows:

No.	Implementation Date	EC Action against Ireland	Prospects re Implementation
1.	1/7/1990	Infringement proceeding initiated.	It is hoped the Directive will be implemented by 31 December 1990.
2.	1/7/1991	N/A	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990.
3.	30/6/1988	None	It is expected to have these Directives implemented collectively before 31 December 1990.
4.	1/1/1989	None
5.	1/7/1990	None
6.	See Note A below	None	See Note A below.
7.	See Note A below	None	See Note A below.
8.	See Note B below	None	See Note B below.
9.	31/12/1990	None	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990. Legislation will be introduced early in 1991.
10.	1/1/1992	N/A	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990.
11.	1/1/1989	See Note C below	Draft Regulations to give effect to the Directives are at an advanced stage of preparation. They will be implemented before 31 December 1990.
12.	1/1/1989	See Note C below.
13.	31/12/1989	None	Transportation of Directive into national legislation is not obligatory. Directive will be implemented by way of an administrative arrangement with the trade.
14.	1/1/1993	N/A	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990.
15.	1/1/1990	Infringement Proceeding initiated.	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990 but Regulations are at an advanced stage of preparation.
16.	30/7/1988	Infringement Proceeding innitiated.	It is intended that the Directive will be implemented by 31 December 1990.
17.	1/1/1990	Infringement Proceeding initiated.	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990. Legislation will be introduced in early 1991.
18.	31/12/1992	N/A	Will not be implemented by 31 December 1990. Legislation will be introduced in early 1991.
19.	2/12/1990 (to permit trade) and 20/6/1992 (to prohibit trade)	N/A	Expected to be implemented by 31 December 1990.
20.	20/6/1991	N/A	Expected to be implemented by 31 December 1990.
21.	7/6/1990	None	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990 but preparatory work has commenced on the implementation of these Directives.
22.	7/6/1990	None
23.	26/6/1989	Infringement proceeding initiated.	Expected to be implemented before 31 December 1990.
24.	28/12/1991	N/A	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990.
25.	3/6/1985	None	It is not intended to implement the Directive as Ireland is not involved in the type of business to which the Directive relates.
26.	1/1/1988	Infringement proceeding initiated.	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990.
27.	1/1/1988	Infringement proceeding initiated.	It is intended that the Directive be implemented as soon as possible through the Companies (No. 2) Bill 1987.
28.	1/1/1990	Infringement proceeding initiated.	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990. It is intended that these three directives will be implemented collectively.
29.	17/4/1991	N/A
30.	17/4/1991	N/A
31.	1/1/1991	N/A	It is intended that the Directive be implemented as soon as possible through the Companies (No. 2) Bill 1987.
32.	1/6/1992	N/A	It is intended that the Directive be implemented as soon as possible through the Companies (No. 2) Bill 1987.
33.	1/1/1992	N/A	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990.
34.	1/1/1992	N/A	Will not be implemented before 31 December 1990.
35.	1/7/1990	Infringement proceeding initiated.	It is intended that the Directive be implemented before 31 December 1990.
36.	1/7/1990	Infringement proceeding initiated.	It is intended that the Directive be implemented before 31 December 1990.
37.	30/6/1990	Infringement proceeding initiated.	It is intended that the Directive be implemented before 31 December 1990.

Note A	To be complied with not later than such time as a specific Directive laying down the limits on the migration level of the constituents of plastic materials and articles is implemented. With the passage of Directive 90/128/EEC of 23 February 1990 it is now possible to implement Directive 82/711/EEC and 85/572/EEC, and the situation in this regard is being examined at present in this Department.
Note B	Member states must allow, within 18 months of notification of the Directive, trade in and use of the materials and articles complying with the Directive, and must prohibit, not later than 36 months after notification, trade in and use of the materials and articles which do not comply with Directive 89/109/EEC. The situation as regards implementation of this Directive is being examined at present in the Department.
Note C	In December 1989, the Commission drew Ireland's attention to the fact that Directives 86/663/EEC and 89/240/EEC had not been implemented in Ireland. Draft Regulations to give effect to the Directives are at an advanced stage of preparation and will be made before the end of 1990.

Mr. Bell

I accept that. I realise there is a lot of detail involved in each of the directives. Would the Minister agree, however, that it is sad to see that we must be at the lower end of the league table as to the implementation of important directives? I realise the Minister is not directly responsible, having only taken office a short time ago, but will he explain the reason it has taken so long and why so many of these important directives have not been implemented?

Mr. O'Malley

I want to take the opportunity to dispel the misapprehension the Deputy has that we are close to the bottom of the league table in relation to the implementation of directives. The contrary is the case. We are very close to the top of the league table in this respect. We fell behind somewhat in our steady programme of implementation in the first six months of this year because the officials who carry out the great bulk of the implementation work were themselves involved full-time on Presidency duty in the Community. That work has caught up again since July/August of this year. I expect that by the end of this year many of these directives will have been cleared.

To give the Deputy an example of it, as far as I recall, five of them are contained in the Companies (No. 2) Bill, 1987. One of the reasons the Bill keeps getting bigger all the time is that these directives have to be brought into it. Five of this arrears total will disappear when the Bill is enacted and most of the others will be enacted by way of Statutory Instrument and in many of the cases that will be done before the end of December.