Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-14-Speech-1-216"
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"en.20091214.19.1-216"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted at the broad consensus that this debate has shown. Allow me to make a preliminary comment. We are dealing with a scientific institute, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, which I have been aware of for some time as a result of its tendency to make alarmist announcements to the public without informing the Commission or any other European institutions of its findings. You can judge that for yourselves. The only thing that I know about this is that the continued funding of this institute from Germany’s Federal budget is under discussion. Perhaps that is one explanation for the institute’s intensive public relations activities, while it clearly sets no great store by allowing us to examine its findings in any appropriate way.
There is one last point I would like to address. Baby seats, which have been mentioned here and with regard to which there have been some safety problems in the US, are not toys. They do not, therefore, fall within the scope of the Toys Directive, but rather within that of the General Product Safety Directive. We need not hide from the Americans in this regard. The system that we have in Europe with regard to the general safety of products has continued to prove its worth over the last few years. If unsafe products appear on the European market, we can now assume with a degree of certainty that all the other Member States and the Commission will, in fact, be informed about them and that the appropriate steps will also then be taken.
Nevertheless – and it seems I have been misunderstood on this point – even if we only read something in the media, we still regard it as an indication of possible new scientific findings and I have already passed this on to the scientific committee. The call for me to do this that has been expressed here is not needed. The moment that I receive an indication that there may be new scientific findings available concerning the safety of toys and the limit values that we have set, this information is sent to the scientific committee.
However, I must reiterate that you cannot expect me, and likewise I cannot expect you, to make a decision in respect of the disagreements among scientists regarding methods. You cannot do that. I cannot do that and neither can you. I can do nothing more than say that the question of methodology in the measurement of possible limit values has been rigorously debated here in Parliament, in the Council and the Commission. Furthermore, the opinion of this German institute is not shared by any other scientific institute in Europe – not one! If you believe that I am obliged to follow the opinion of a single institute and ignore that of all the others, then please tell me so and you can reprimand me for this. I cannot assume this responsibility. Not one of you can do that either. However, I will say it once again: if any new findings come to light, the process will be set in motion.
Mrs Weisgerber, you said that the process should go quicker – unfortunately, it cannot go any quicker. These are very complicated scientific issues. Tests are needed. You are perhaps not aware of this, but extensive animal tests are needed, for example, in order to be able to verify this sort of claim. You cannot force scientists to produce findings within a particular timeframe. I am sorry, but that is not possible. I must therefore simply ask you to be satisfied with me telling you that the scientific committee has told us that it will be able to provide substantiated results by the middle of next year, and it will indeed do so. On the basis of these results, the Commission will immediately prepare new proposals if it should emerge that there are indeed new findings. I hope that makes it clear.
Mr Creutzmann, the principle of using the lowest possible risk is valid. I do not need the help of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment to find that out. The requirements that you derived from this are therefore also met.
Mrs Rühle, you say that I should have gone to the press sooner. It will surprise you when I say that I did exactly that. Just as I do not think that what I have said here this evening in Parliament will make it into the European media, and particularly not the German media, so my factual and, I thought, calm statement of the facts was not taken up by the German media. However, I issued the necessary statement and explained the facts of the matter. I would be happy to provide you with the text.
Mrs Davidson, we have the most stringent legislation in the world. That is something we can take pride in. This Commission will not allow itself to be outdone by anyone in the world when it comes to providing the highest possible level of safety for toys.
Mrs Schaldemose, I can only agree with you, and say that the responsibility of the Member States for market surveillance must not be called into question. I agree with you entirely that the question of implementation is crucial here. In this regard, too, we have made appropriate preparations.
The last question from Mrs Hedh is a very important one. With regard to the standards for different areas, you mentioned two examples, one of them being sources of noise. The relevant instructions have been sent to the European standardisation organisations. However, for standards, it is no different than for other scientific work. You cannot expect them to be available in a week or in one, or indeed several, months. It takes time. However, all of the standards that we have talked about are in progress and will be available in good time, and they will also allow us to develop an exact comparability of the products and to strengthen market surveillance."@en1
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