91998E0883

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0883/98 by Bill Miller (PSE) to the Commission (26 March 1998)

Subject: Millennium and new technology

With the advance of new technology and the approach of the Millennium, am I in any danger of receiving a reply to earlier correspondence to the Commission?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-0882/98, E-0883/98 and E-0884/98 given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (14 April 1998)

The Commission ensures that all correspondence is answered as quickly as possible. Much depends, however, on whether or not the reply needs to be translated, whether different departments have to cooperate in the drafting, and on the technical nature of the matters raised.

In the interests of effective cooperation between institutions, it has been decided that a letter from a Member of Parliament should normally be answered within three weeks. If a letter from a Member of Parliament is registered by the Commission's mail department on arrival, that department, which is part of the Secretariat-General, will monitor replies and send a reminder to the departments concerned if they fail to answer within the time limit. This procedure will not be affected by the approach of the millennium.