§ Mr. Hawksleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Council of Ministers meeting on the internal market which took place on Wednesday 26 October.
§ Mr. ChannonThe meeting of the Council held on 26 October which I attended covered a wide range of topics affecting the operation of the internal market of the European Community, and in particular dealt with the priority issues identified by the two previous European Councils: Community certification of goods of third country origin, the proposed common commercial policy regulation and measures to reduce frontier formalities.
There was a useful discussion of the question of Community certification of products of third country origin, and it was agreed to resume discussion at expert level of the 21 proposals for directives which have hitherto been blocked, with the aim of establishing which might be adopted without the need for any clause to deal with third country goods. It is expected that this work will proceed in parallel with the further examination of the proposed 325W common commercial policy regulation with the objective of making progress towards solutions on both issues by the Athens European Council early in December.
Agreement was reached on all the main outstanding issues in the proposed frontier facilitation directive. When adopted this directive should bring a number of practical benefits to exporters and tourists to other Community countries in the form of improved procedures for resolving difficulties betwen member states, better co-ordination between customs posts at adjacent frontiers and reduced waiting times at frontiers, through streamlined checking procedures for goods vehicles and fast lanes for transit traffic. Agreement was also reached on the funding for a three-year Community programme to improve the infrastructure for innovation and technology transfer. Ten million ecu will be made available but there will be a review after 18 months to determine, in the light of the programme's track record, whether any additional funding would be justified. Uses to which the funds will be put include pump-priming support for closer links between academic research and industry such as science parks, improved mobility of researchers and collaborative programmes to exploit technological advances.
Agreement was reached on a number of other measures, including a directive on textile names and labelling which will enable consumers throughout the community to be informed more precisely than hitherto about the materials from which garments have been manufactured; a directive on proprietary medicinal products which is a modest but useful step to facilitate intra-Community trade in these products and directives on cosmetics and measuring instruments which update Community standards for those products.
The Commission of the European Communities outlined a substantial programme of further work on the internal market, and in particular proposals for improvements in European standards marking to facilitate trade within the Community. This programme will be discussed at future Meetings of the Council, the next of which will be towards the end of November.