91997E3818

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3818/97 by Raymonde Dury (PSE) to the Commission (28 November 1997)

Subject: Loss of jobs at Kodak

The multinational company Kodak has just announced that 10 000 jobs will be lost within the company.

Can the Commission indicate what steps it is taking to ensure that the Directive on worker information is being and will be respected by Kodak? Does the Commission know the reasons behind Kodak's decision?

Articles in the press suggest that Japan would not be very open to trade in this sector and would protect its own market. Can the Commission clarify the exact situation in this respect and state whether it agrees with Kodak's approach?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (18 February 1998)

The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that it has yet to receive any complaints concerning checks to ensure that the restructuring announced by the Kodak Group complies with the applicable Community law.

The Community directives which may be applicable in this matter are Directive 75/129/EEC, as revised by Council Directive 92/56/EC of 24 June 1992 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies ((OJ L 245, 26.8.1992. )), and Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees ((OJ L 254, 30.9.1994. )). These Directives have been transposed in the Member States. It is primarily the responsibility of the national authorities to ensure compliance with the national provisions transposing the two Directives concerned.

As far as the question of access to the Japanese market for film and photographic paper products is concerned, the Commission would refer to the answer that it gave to the oral question from Mr Killilea (H-991/97) during Question Time at the January 1998 part-session of Parliament, which explains the position adopted with regard to the action taken by the United States of America in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The findings of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) panel have yet to be published, but the panel appears to have concluded that the difficulties encountered by non-Japanese firms in gaining access to the Japanese market in photographic products do not stem from actions that can be directly ascribed to the Japanese Government.