WRITTEN QUESTION E-0361/98 by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (24 February 1998)

Subject: Cosmetics

Council directive 76/768/EEC ((OJ L 262, 27.9.1976, p. 169. )) lays down the composition characteristics to which the cosmetic products must conform and prescribes rules for their labelling and packaging in all Member States.

Council directive 96/45/EEC ((OJ L 213, 22.8.1996, p. 8. )) is concerned with methods of analysis necessary for checking the composition of cosmetic products.

Can the Commission say how many and which Member States are infringing Council Directive 76/768/EEC and its amendments and Directive 96/45/EEC and what measures will it take to ensure that the Member States take the necessary measures to embody within their national law Community legislation concerning cosmetics and to ensure that they implement the measures correctly?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (6 May 1998)

The rules on cosmetic products consist of a set of texts comprising a basic Directive - Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products ((OJ L 262, 27.9.1976. )) - which has been amended by the Council on six occasions, most recently by Council Directive 93/35/EEC of 14 June 1993 ((OJ L 151, 23.6.1993. )), and clarified by the Commission on 23 occasions, including by Commission Directive 96/45/EC of 2 July 1996 relating to methods of analysis necessary for checking the composition of cosmetic products ((OJ L 213, 22.8.1996. )).

The Commission ensures that these rules are properly applied at the right time in all the Member States. To this end it regularly organises visits to the national authorities to check on transpositions. These bilateral meetings are generally effective and help avert many infringement cases. Nonetheless, several infringement proceedings are currently under way, usually for failure to transpose directives, but sometimes for improper application of texts. The procedure laid down in Article 169 of the EC Treaty has been applied in all of these cases.

With regard to Directive 96/45/EC, which had to be transposed by 30 September 1997, infringement proceedings are under way against six Member States.