No. 19 is Commission document COM (2003) 509 - statistics on the information society. This proposal sets formal requirements for the provision of statistical data relating on the information society. As members will be aware the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000 set a ten-year target for the creation in Europe of the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world. The CSO has indicated that this proposal, if not already adopted by then, will be a priority item in the Irish Presidency.
The CSO is currently collecting the required data in advance of any adoption of the proposal. It is proposed that the proposal does not warrant further scrutiny but that it should be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business for its information, given the significance of the IT sector to the Irish economy. Is that agreed? Agreed.
No. 110 is Commission document COM (2003) 584, a proposal to amend existing EU measures concerning restrictive measures on Iraq which are based on UN Security Council Resolution 1483. The existing EU measures are considered somewhat more restrictive than would appear to have been the goal of the UN resolution. The current proposal therefore advances two amendments to the existing measures. The first effectively unfreezes assets that were the property of the previous official authorities in Iraq and which were within Iraq on 22 May 2003, the date of the adoption of the said UN resolution, or left Iraq after this date. The second, inter alia, would authorise the use of frozen assets if the assets were the subject of judicial or administrative judgments. The proposal was not adopted this week at the General Affairs and External Relations Council. It is proposed that the proposal does not warrant further scrutiny at this time. Is that agreed? Agreed.
No. 111 is Commission document COM (2003) 559 on the use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road. This proposal codifies but does not amend, the Department note makes clear, the existing European rules governing the hiring of vehicles without drivers for the carriage of goods by road. The draft directive outlines that each member state will allow the use within its territory for the purpose of traffic between member states of vehicles hired without a driver by undertakings established on the territory of another member state. It is proposed that the proposal does not warrant further scrutiny. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The next two proposals are anti-dumping measures just received by the secretariat subsequent to the issue of briefs to members. I mentioned them in private session. No. 112 is Commission document COM (2003) 543 on the application of the United States anti-dumping Act of 1916. This provides for remedies, including imprisonment, which were found to be outside the rules of the WTO. The aim of this proposal is to put in place counter measures for communities, companies or individuals to empower them to, inter alia, counter sue where there are fines, for example, if actions are taken against them under the 1916 Act. It is proposed that while the anti-dumping proposal does not warrant further scrutiny, it should be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business for its information. Is that agreed? Agreed.
No. 113 is Commission document COM (2003) 565 on imports of kumara. This is a technical anti-dumping measure concerning an amendment to existing rules whereby allowance would be made in the calculation of duties imposed where a part of the consignment is damaged. It is proposed that the measure does not warrant further scrutiny. Is that agreed? Agreed. To sum up, Nos. 111 to 113, inclusive, do not warrant further scrutiny.
The next proposals, Nos. 21 to 24, are documents which it is proposed to refer to sectoral committees for further scrutiny. No. 21 concerns a proposal for a Council regulation on the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. This is a proposal to amend the regulation that governs the EUMC, based in Vienna. The proposal widens the scope of the data collection work of the centre and proposes changes to its management structure. The EUMC was set up through a regulation in 1997 and became operational in May 1999, with an annual budget of €6.5 million.
The 1997 regulation defines the main aim of the EUMC as being to provide the community and member states with objective, reliable and comparable data at a European level on the phenomenon of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in order to help them when they take measures or formulate courses of action within their respective spheres of competence. The proposal follows an external evaluation of the EUMC by the Centre for Strategy and Evaluation Services, which was undertaken on behalf of the Commission.
One of the findings of the evaluation was that the EUMC cannot be said to have demonstrated value for money for the €13 million it was committed over the initial two years of its operations. The evaluation also proposed changes in the management structure of the centre. These changes would see the Commission representation increase from one to two. The evaluation raises a number of questions about its past and future direction, and it is therefore proposed that this be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights for further scrutiny. Is that agreed? Agreed.
It is proposed to take Nos. 22 to 24, inclusive, together as they are a package of related proposals. No. 22 is Commission document COM (2003) 163, No. 23 is Commission document 735(2003) and No. 24 is Commission document COM (2003) 161. They deal with the Community code on medicinal products for human use; the code on veterinary medicinal products, authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use; establishment of a European agency for the evaluation of medicinal products and amending the directive on traditional herbal medicinal products.
These three proposals are a package of technical measures for the regulation of medicinal products. The proposals have gone through a number of amendments and would establish a specialised committee to deal with herbal medicines and develop a European agency for the evaluation of medicinal products. The proposals also set out draft regulations for the sharing of information and marketing of such products. The proposed changes to the regime governing herbal medicines arise from the Commission's belief that it is difficult to justify withholding authorisation from certain herbal medicines, which is the current situation, where the traditional use of the product allows sound conclusions to be drawn on its safety and efficacy.
The detailed regulations regarding such authorisation would be drawn up by a specialised EU committee for herbal medicinal products. The wider proposals aim to complete the single market in pharmaceutical products through greater mutual recognition of national measures and to guarantee a high level of consumer protection through greater surveillance of this market across Europe through the setting up of detailed rules governing the operation of the market. Improved data protection and the facilitating of clinical trials should also improve the availability of medicines, including veterinary medicines.
The note from the Department of Health and Children indicates that the proposal has a measure of support from industry. The Department has also indicated that the initial proposals were widely circulated for the information of interested parties, including the medical profession. This is the sort of note which Deputy O'Keeffe referred to and which other Departments might be encouraged to include.
A note on aspects of the package concerning veterinary medicine has been received from the Department of Agriculture and Food and this note has been circulated to members. It is proposed that the package of proposals be sent to the Joint Committee on Health and Children for further scrutiny and to the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business for its information. Proposal No. 163 should also be forwarded to the agriculture committee for scrutiny on the aspects concerning veterinary medicine.
One of the proposals relates to horses. These horses are not in the human food chain, so the limit of drug usage can therefore be raised. On veterinary medicine, under this proposal Irish vets can submit a list of items to the Commission for approval and subsequently those items would not require the attendance of the vet at a farm. The vet could sign a prescription without having to visit the farm where those items are approved. That would lead to a saving in attendance costs. The Government, of course, would submit the list to the Commission, but the vets would have an input into it. There would be some significant changes here.
