91999E0905

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0905/99

by Phillip Whitehead (PSE) to the Commission

(8 April 1999)

Subject: EU fire safety

Will the Commission list the number of responses received from each EU Member State to the questionnaire sent out by the French company CETEN-APAVE relating to the implementation of the 1986 EU recommendations on fire safety? What action was taken against the countries that failed to respond to the study?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 1999)

In the light of the interest that the Honourable Member has shown on several occasions in the 1996 study on fire safety in hotels, and given the amount of detail that he has requested on both the data and the methodology used, the Commission is sending him a copy of this study directly.

The firm that carried out the study sent the approximately 20 000 questionnaires to hotel managers throughout Europe on a voluntary basis in order to supplement the analysis of the regulations applicable in each Member State. Consequently, the Commission had no grounds for taking action against Member States if the information sent did not meet expectations.