Activites

• 1998/01/19 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1997/12/19 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0646/1997 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Simon Francis MURPHY (PSE, UK) Parliament considered that benchmarking was a basic instrument for guiding and improving European competitiveness. Parliament welcomed the Commission's proposal concerning the establishment of a high-level group on benchmarking, composed of industrialists, trade unions and consumers but also called for SMEs to be included through participants specifically representing them. It also asked that the European Parliament be directly involved with the work of this group through the granting of observer status to a small number of its Members. Parliament also asked the Commission to: - introduce an extra pilot project to investigate why certain European sectors such as food, drink, tobacco and furniture all outperformed their Japanese and American counterparts for industrial added value; -explore the benefits of benchmarking through the implementation of best practice on the employment market (cost of labour, adaptability of the workforce, investment in human resources); - investigate the possibility of an additional benchmarking project on infrastructure investment in the Union. �

• 1997/12/18 Debate in Parliament
• 1997/11/26 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0387/1997
• 1997/07/18 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #2001
• 1997/04/24 Council Meeting
  • 2001
• 1997/04/16 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1997)0153 summary

    OBJECTIVE: this communication from the European Commission seeks to propose measures to put the method of comparative evaluation of competitive performances ("benchmarking") into practice. CONTENT: in its communication of 9 October 1996 (COS0491), the European Commission advocated widespread use of benchmarking in the economy and in society in order to compare performances in key areas and factors which determine economic success, together with the development and use of benchmarking within the framework of the European strategy on employment. Benchmarking may be implemented at corporate level, sectoral level (e.g. the chemical or automobile industry) or at the level of the general economic or social environment (in particular the cost of factors, infrastructures, qualifications, innovation, the environment). Although benchmarking initiatives may be taken by anyone in the economic sector, the added value of the Community dimension is that it provides the expertise to develop and apply more complicated methodologies, makes optimum use of experience, pools the know-how of the various national systems and motivates the Member States. This is what the Commission intends to do in the field of benchmarking at the level of the general economic and social environment by developing pilot projects in the following areas: a) new technological and organizational context; b) financing for innovation, especially intellectual property; c) logistics and transport; d) development of human resources. Implementing these pilot projects will result in a working method which guarantees transparency, dialogue and expertise. The main elements of this working method are as follows: - the Commission will set up a high-level panel on benchmarking to help it lay down priorities, organize the participation of industry at a practical level, assist the Commission in interpreting results with Community implications and transmit to industry the results which concern it; - the group of directors-general of industry will monitor all the work and ensure that the approach is politically coherent; - finally, on the basis of the inventory of experiments conducted by the Member States, the Commission will call on public- and private-sector economic research centres with expertise in this field to set up a network of expertise in order to facilitate the implementation of benchmarking. The results will be made available to all the Member States, Community institutions and interested parties and will provide food for regular debate on industrial competitiveness.�

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1997)0153
• Debate in Council: 2001
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0387/1997
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0646/1997

History

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