§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 16 October (WA 134–135), whether any member states of the European Union have excluded discrimination based on colour from their domestic legislation implementing the Race Directive. [HL5023]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalWe have sought information from contacts in the European Commission and have received responses in respect of the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. A summary of the responses is as follows:
In Belgium the directive is rendered verbatim, i.e. without mentioning colour, but in a recent amendment (25 February 2003) to the Belgian law on discrimination, "colour" is included next to race and ethnic origin.
In Denmark, a new proposal for a law was put forward on 22 October by the Minister for Employment implementing Directives 2000/78/EC and 2000/43/EC. This Danish law concerns equal treatment on the labour market only, but this Bill does mention colour of skin. The Bill is an update of existing legislation, which already mentioned colour of skin in the text.
The Finnish transposition of the Race Directive makes no mention of colour. It refers to discrimination on the grounds of ethnic or national origin.
In France a law against discrimination of 16 November 2001 transposes the Race Directive into national law. This law makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of physical appearance, surname (implying a particular ethnic origin) and belonging or not belonging, whether real or supposed, to an ethnic group, a nation or a race.
Germany is in the process of drafting a Bill to transpose EU legislation on ethnic origin, sex, and age through one portmanteau law. Germany plans to follow the wording of the EU directives.
212WAThe Irish Government failed to meet the 19 July 2003 deadline for the implementation of the Race Directive 2003/43. Ireland has not included colour in its ground for discrimination to date.
In Italy the word colour was not included in its grounds for discrimination when the Race Directive was transposed into Italian legislation.
The Netherlands refers to "race" and not to "colour" in legislation. However in the explanatory memorandum with the implementation Bill it is mentioned that "race" implies also colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.
Portugal has not yet transposed the Race Directive. Sweden includes colour in its definition of ethnic affiliation. The law is not necessarily a direct (or complete) translation of the directive as Sweden has used this opportunity for a wider review of this area.