§ Mr. HoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the outcome was of the Internal Market, Consumer and Tourism Council held in Brussels on 30 November; and if he will make a statement. [141627]
§ Dr. HowellsI represented the UK at the Internal Market, Consumer and Tourism Council in Brussels on 30 November.
The Council reached unanimous political agreement on: the General Product Safety Directive (with the UK receiving confirmation from the Commission that there would be no disproportionate burdens on charity shops); the Regulation on data protection within EU institutions; and on technical aspects, apart from the language regime, of the Community Design Regulation.
The Council discussed the proposals for simplifying, clarifying and modernising the public procurement directives on works, supplies and services; work will continue on this dossier. The Council agreed a declaration on Services of General Economic Interest to be sent to the Nice Council and welcomed the Commission's proposals for a European Food Authority, also to be endorsed at Nice.
The Commission gave a progress report on implementation of the eEurope Action Plan; the Council approved the Presidency's report and its list of indicators. Sweden and Belgium outlined Internal Market priorities for their Presidencies and the Commission presented the latest version of the Single Market Scoreboard, which records member states' performance in transposing Single Market directives.
78WThere was a series of progress reviews on: promotion of consumer confidence in electronic commerce; the Community Patent, where the Commission and a number of member states asked for speedy progress; distance marketing of financial services; and the labelling and traceability of genetically modified organisms. The Presidency reported the results of the Internal Market Forum on 28–29 November, which considered the participation of citizens and business in the Internal Market, and of the Lille conference on tourism and sustainable development.