WRITTEN QUESTION E-0951/02

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 April 2002)

Subject: Failure of Greece to comply with EU legislation concerning public health and consumer protection

Will the Commission say in how many instances Greece may be presumed to be in breach of Community legislation on public health and consumer protection, and in relation to which matters?

In how many instances (if any) is the Commission preparing to bring Greece before the Court of Justice, and in relation to which matters?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(29 May 2002)

The Commission is currently dealing with 21 infringement files against Greece in the field of health and consumer protection.

Twenty of these concern Greece's failure to adopt or notify measures transposing 17 directives.

In the case of Directives 93/118/EEC and 96/43/EC (financing of health inspections and controls) and Directives 95/69/EC and 98/51/EC (approving establishments in the animal feed sector), the Court has already found against Greece.

Two other cases, concerning Directives 1999/20/EC (additives in animal feed) and 1999/89/EC (poultry meat health policy), are currently pending before the Court.

As regards failure to transpose Directives 98/27/EC (consumer protection: injunctions), 1999/44/EC (sales of and guarantees for consumer goods), 1999/74/EC (protection of laying hens), 2000/75/EC (blue tongue), 2000/77/EC (animal nutrition inspections),

2001/10/EC (scrapie), 2000/15/EC (bovine animals and swine health requirements), 2001/32/EC (organisms harmful to plants), 2001/33/EC (organisms harmful to plants), 2001/64/EC (fodder plant seed and cereal seed) and 2001/79/EC (evaluation of additives in animal feed), the infringement procedure has been launched but has not yet gone before the Court.

The Court also found in two rulings that Greece had only partially transposed Directive 85/73/EEC (veterinary fees). The Commission has also initiated infringement procedures for improper application of Directives 91/628/EEC (transport of animals) and 93/119/EC (protection of animals at the time of slaughter).

In addition it should be noted that, in order to ensure a better application of Community legislation, the Commission monitors closely the follow up by Greece to the recommendations made in the reports on inspections carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO).

In this context, the Member of the Commission responsible for Health and Consumer Protection has met the Greek Minister for Agriculture on two occasions in the past year to review the situation and to urge the Greek authorities to correct without delay the deficiencies in control systems identified in Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) reports. The Director General for Health and Consumer Protection also recently visited Athens to meet the General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Secretary of the Ministry for Development to review what should be done to improve food safety and animal health control systems in Greece. The Greek authorities committed themselves to addressing all outstanding issues as a matter of priority and to keeping the Commission informed with regular updates.