Activites

• 1997/09/22 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1997/07/15 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0370/1997 summary

    In adopting the report by Mrs Jessica LARIVE (ELDR, NL), the European Parliament welcomed the Green Paper, but considered that the Commission's proposals must be reinforced in order to reach the intended goal. It called for effective application of the rules laid down by the Treaty and derived law in the field of the internal market, so as to ensure that public interests were protected. It also called for more effective application of the principle of country of origin and a clearer definition of the terms 'commercial communications' and 'service provider'. Parliament supported the setting-up of a proportionality assessment committee, the legal status and terms of reference of which should be determined by the Commission. The Commission should base the method of assessing proportionality on: (a) the need to combine the objective of opening up the market with high standards; (b) the need for an appropriate balance between legislation and self-regulation, such as to reflect cultural differences between Member States. Parliament called on the commercial communications sector to ensure that its national and European self-regulatory procedures were publicly available, published and transparent, and that individual consumers could complain easily, without cost to themselves and in expectation of a prompt and satisfactory response. It encouraged the industries involved to include in the self-regulatory codes the principle of country of origin, mutual recognition and proportionality and to introduce minimum standards of consumer protection. The concept of a 'code of conduct' could, moreover, be developed at European level in accordance with the subsidiarity principle. Parliament further called on the Commission to: - study the obstacles which exist in the Union in the fields of multi-level marketing, brand diversification, packaging and especially sponsorship; - propose a regulatory framework for combating dishonest trading practices; - submit an assessment of the impact of commercial communications on children and on private life and an assessment of the mechanisms through which consumer cross-border complaints should be addressed; - bring forward specific measures to protect children and human dignity in audiovisual and information services; - report on measures which could improve the Treaty infringement procedures. The Council was called upon to adopt a decision to enable possible infringement proceedings to be heard in the Court of First Instance. Lastly, Parliament stressed the need to safeguard the development of the Internet, electronic commerce and related new media services and to create consumer confidence in the new services by applying the commercial communication legal and self-regulatory instruments to this sector. �

• 1997/07/14 Debate in Parliament
• 1997/06/09 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0219/1997
• #1969
• 1996/11/25 Council Meeting
  • 1969
• 1996/07/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1996/05/08 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1996)0192 summary

    OBJECTIVE: the Commission Green Paper relates to the creation of an integrated internal market in the field of advertising and other forms of commercial communications (direct marketing, sales promotions, sponsorship, public relations etc). CONTENT: the Commission emphasizes that cross-border commercial communication services in the internal market are a growing phenomenon (the sector employs some 250,000 people and had turnover ECU 75 billion in 1993). However, the differences between national rules might constitute obstacles for undertakings wishing to supply services of this nature, all the more so since the advent of the Information Society may well result in the creation of additional barriers. On the basis of that finding, the Green Paper sketches out the following basic guidelines for a commercial communications policy: 1 - A review of current rules might be necessary, should it appear that they hamper cross-border activity: we must determine the extent to which potential barriers to trade in commercial communication services are admissible under Community law and verify whether those barriers fulfil the condition of proportionality. The Green Paper also refers to three categories of potential barriers already identified: a) restrictions that involve a total ban on certain types of marketing activity; b) restrictions that limit marketing activities without banning them totally; c) restrictions that relate to certain specific product categories or types of services. 2 - It is important to curb the potential development of new barriers within the internal market: the Commission advocates the introduction of an early-warning system to identify any new regulatory development and the strengthening of cooperation between the regulatory authorities in the Member States to prevent the appearance of new barriers. 3 - Future national and Community measures must be developed in conformity with the principles of the internal market and other Community objectives. On the basis of these guidelines, the Commission suggests: - using a methodology to evaluate the proportionality of any future regulatory action in the field of commercial communications, since this would permit Community initiatives to be targeted precisely at specific public-interest objectives; - the establishment of a committee (consisting of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the Commission) with a view to improving exchanges of information between the Commission and the sectors involved.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0192
• Debate in Council: 1969
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0219/1997
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0370/1997

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)