Bernard Allen
Ceist:36 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the priority issues being considered by EU Health Ministers. [28781/00]
Written Answers. - Council of Health Ministers.
The next meeting of the Council of Health Ministers will take place in Brussels on 14 December. The main action items on the agenda are two draft resolutions for adoption, one on nutrition and one on paediatric medicines.
The draft resolution on nutrition points to the importance of nutrition as a health determinant and calls for action particularly in improving nutrition information to consumers.
The second draft resolution highlights the need for special attention to be given to encouraging specific evaluation of medicines for paediatric use in order to avoid the dangers inherent in the present situation where most medicines prescribed for children have been evaluated for adult use only.
Ministers will debate the proposal for a decision of the Parliament and Council adopting a programme of community action in the field of public health. This proposal was presented by the Commission to the Council at its last meeting on 29 June and has been under consideration during the French Presidency in the relevant Parliament and Council working groups. The Council may not, however, be in a position to adopt its common position on the proposal under the codecision procedure on 14 December as the Parliament may not have furnished its option by that date.
There are three tobacco-related issues for the Council agenda. The Commission intends to advise the Council of its proposal for a new draft directive on advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. Deputies will be aware that the 1998 directive was annulled by the European Court of Justice in October on the grounds that the articles of the Treaty used as the legal base were inappropriate.
The Commission will provide a status report on the draft directive on manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products. This proposed directive recasts two existing directives on the tar yields of cigarettes and the labelling of tobacco products and seeks to update and supplement those provisions in the light of experience and scientific developments. The Council adopted its common position on the draft in July and Parliament is currently engaged in its second reading, the outcome of which is expected on 11 December. The Council and Parliament positions on the measure are close and I think we can look forward to early adoption of the draft directive.
The Council will receive information from the Commission on the state of its negotiations on a World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control. The convention is likely to be a legally binding treaty to which each WHO member state can readily and independently accede. Many of the issues envisaged for protocols to the convention – for example, smuggling and advertising – are already within the competence of the EU Commission and the European Union was accordingly granted a negotiating mandate. The EU strategy is to strongly support the convention keeping the Community position as flexible as possible while seeking the strongest possible text.
The Health Ministers will hear from the Commission on the latest situation with regard to BSE and the epidemiological situation of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease and will exchange views on these matters.