Internal Market Council (Hansard, 24 July 1991)

§ Mr. Leigh

I attended the Internal Market Council on 22 July, the first of the Dutch presidency. In the absence of texts being available in all the official languages, political agreement was reached on three directives covering medicinal products for human use and a fourth on pharmaceutical advertising. Major progress was made on a proposed sweeteners directive. The second phase of a Community programme to promote the development of trade electronic data interchange systems—TEDIS—was agreed, as was the size and duration of a budget for a separate programme—IMPACT 2—covering the information services market.

On medicinal products political agreement was reached on three proposals covering labelling and leaflets, legal

£ million
Region	1978–79	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90
Government expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry at current prices¹
Northern	158.8	147.8	151.6	176.6	158.5	129.0	122.6	94.6	136.4	109.6	134.6	117.3
Yorkshire and Humberside	37.4	32.1	52.9	61.6	52.9	35.6	42.5	35.4	41.4	39.0	50.5	32.5
East Midlands³	3.4	4.1	4.7	8.6	13.6	16.9	10.2	8.3	10.5	9.4	8.8	9.5
South West	9.6	10.3	12.6	14.8	16.4	11.9	14.2	12.0	22.7	14.9	14.8	10.7
West Midlands⁴	0.2	0.1	0.1	—	—	—	—	6.4	10.0	19.5	26.6	20.0
North West	⁶114.1	⁶89.4	⁶137.5	⁶173.8	⁶123.8	⁶103.1	⁶103.9	85.9	128.6	79.2	82.6	74.5
England²	323.5	283.8	359.2	435.4	365.2	296.5	293.4	242.6	349.6	271.6	317.9	264.5
Government expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry at 1989–90 prices^{1 5}
Northern	371.9	296.8	256.9	273.0	228.7	177.9	161.1	117.8	164.1	125.3	143.2	117.3
Yorkshire and Humberside	87.6	64.5	89.3	95.2	76.3	49.1	55.8	44.1	49.8	44.6	53.7	32.5
East Midlands³	8.0	8.2	8.0	13.3	19.6	23.3	13.4	10.3	12.6	10.7	9.4	9.5
South West	22.5	20.7	21.4	22.9	23.7	16.4	18.7	14.9	27.3	17.0	15.7	10.7
West Midlands⁴	0.5	0.2	—	—	—	—	—	8.0	12.0	22.3	28.3	20.0

718W

status and wholesale distribution of medicines. The labelling and leaflet directive will improve the information given to patients about medicinal products by harmonising requirements in all member states. By now setting the compliance date to 1 January 1994, industry will be able to meet the new requirements within a reasonable timescale. The wholesale distribution directive safeguards the fundamental interests both of United Kingdom wholesalers and their customers by allowing sensible procedures for tracing product sales. On pharmaceutical advertising to both the general public and professionals, political agreement was reached which met all outstanding United Kingdom concerns.

Significant progress was made on the proposed sweeteners directive. The United Kingdom achieved a successful outcome on cyclamates with agreement that scientific evidence must be available before the directive is implemented. We also achieved agreement on 30 per cent. as the definition of reduced energy level products. The proposed directive also ensures that the more exotic flavoured crisps can continue to be produced and consumed. The Council was not, however, able to resolve how best to provide for the continued practice of traditional manufacture of German beers while at the same time ensuring free circulation of goods and right of establishment. Further consideration will be needed before the proposal returns to the Council.

The TEDIS programme was agreed with a three-year budget of 25 million ecu; and there was agreement that the IMPACT 2 programme should extend for four years at a funding level of 16 million ecu per year. Failure to resolve some other outstanding, mainly technical, issues meant that final agreement was not, however, possible at the Council on IMPACT 2.