11. 4. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 93/1 (Information) EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WRITTEN QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER WRITTEN QUESTION No 1023/84 The Commission is sending the texts of these Decisions to by Mr John Hume (S — GB) the Honourable Member and also to the Secretariat. to the Commission of the European Communities (!) OJNoC93, 15.4.1985. (12 November 1984) (88/C 93/01) Subject: Licensing arrangements for the import of ba­ nanas from the dollar area into the United Kingdom In view of the recent decision of the United Kingdom WRITTEN QUESTION No 2391/84 Government to review licensing arrangements for imports of dollar-area bananas into the United Kingdom, and in by Mr Ernest Glinne (S — B) view of the fact that Northern Irish license holders are to the Commission of the European Communities thereby restricted to a fixed percentage of a rapidly decreasing volume of dollar-area bananas and will (26 March 1985) consequently have to reimport 'preferential' bananas from (88/C 93/02) the United Kingdom at much greater cost, will the Commissioner state whether this new arrangement is in conformity with EEC trade and competition Regulations ? Subject: Regulations on the possession and sale of firearms in the Member States Urban society today, both in western Europe and in North America, is beset by a feeling of insecurity which is sustained by the evident increase in the number of acts of violence. The response to this major problem advocated in Supplementery answer given by Mr De Clercq certain quarters is a fairly drastic increase in protection on behalf of the Commission through the 'liberalization' of the sale and possession of various firearms. The McClure-Volkmer Bill, known as the (8 January 1988) 'Gun Decontrol Bill', currently before the US Congress is thus in conflict with another bill, the Kennedy-Rodino 'Handgun Crime Control Bill'. The confrontation is between the advocates of more extensive federal 'de­ Further to its answer of 12 February 1985 (*), the regulation' and even more flexible trading, on the one Commission would inform the Honourable Member that hand, and the supporters of federal legislation restricting its Decisions of 1 April 1985, 23 December 1985 and 22 the sale and possession of arms, on the other. December 1986 authorized the United Kingdom to take protective measures under Article 115 of the EEC Treaty The Community and 'The People's Europe' have not yet against bananas originating in the dollar area. reached the stage of preparing a federal penal code. However, since this problem is not unrelated to the However, the authorization was granted on condition that problem of terrorism, with which the Ten have recently the United Kingdom, in allocating import licences for been concerned, can the Commission give: bananas from the dollar area, take account of the interests of small importers and of traditional trade flows in free 1. a brief description of the legal and statutory situation circulation. with regard to the sale and possession of firearms for No C 93/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 11. 4. 88 'self defence' in the Community Member States, Spain Joint and supplementary answer to Written Questions and Portugal; No 2391/84 and No 809/87 given by Lord Cockfield on behalf of the Commission 2. some indication, even if only approximate, of the extent (13 November 1987) of this internal market over the last few years; 3. some indication, even if only approximate, of the Further to its answer of 11 June 1985 (*), the Commission is volume of sales of individual firearms, excluding now able to inform the Honourable Member of the results hunting weapons, to the United States of America ? of its research. On 28 July 1987 the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Directive on the control of the acquisition and 2 WRITTEN QUESTION No 809/87 possession of weapons ( ). The proposal is confined to laying down a set of rules to enable controls at internal by Mr Geoffrey Hoon (S — GB) frontiers to be abolished and replaced by a procedure to be to the Commission of the European Communities followed by persons transferring a firearm from one Member State to another. Its aim is therefore not the full (10 July 1987) harmonization of national firearms laws. The Commission (88/C 93/03) is aware that full harmonization is not necessary for the completion of the internal market and that it would be Subject: Regulation on the possession and the sales of extremely difficult in view of the great differences between firearms in the Member States the various sets of technical rules on the subject. In its reply to Written Question No 2391/84 by Ernest Different countries' laws give different definitions. For Glinne (J) the Commission promised to supply com­ example, only some provide for the concept of firearms for plementary information on the regulations on the posses­ self defence, and these differ in content. Each Member State sion and sale of firearms in the Member States 'as soon as classifies arms into one or two to nine categories and lays possible'. On 9 June 1987 no complementary reply had down special, specific rules on the purchase, the possession, been received by the Secretariat of the European Parlia­ which may be conditional upon various kinds of author­ ment. ization subject to declaration or which may be unrestricted, and the carrying of firearms. 1. Can the Commission supply the promised com­ Even a brief description of the legal situation would call for plementary information now? a long, involved statement and this is beyond the scope of an answer to a Written Question. 2. If not, how can the Commission justify such a delay, particularly since it has announced that it is preparing a The Commission does not have any information on the proposal for a Directive on the approximation of volume of production or sales of firearms in the Com­ firearms legislation, which would seem to require a munity. These products are not itemized in production review of the situation in the Member States ? figures, which are listed under more general headings. 3. When does the Commission expect to put forward its According to the figures available to Eurostat, recent proposal in this field ? exports of individual firearms, excluding hunting weapons, from the Community to the United States of America were (!) OJ No C 208, 19. 8. 1985, p. 20. as follows (in million ECU): Nimexe code 1984 1985 1986 93.02 — Revolvers and pistols 26 483 25 748 27 751 93.04-90 — Other firearms, excluding guns, rifles and carbines 280 426 379 For a correct interpretation of the Community statistics, it must be borne in mind that, under Article 37 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1736/75 (3), Member States may, depending on national provisions, declare the data they compile to be confidential. 11. 4. 88 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 93/3 The Statistical Office of the European Communities has been informed that data on exports of revolvers and pistols (93.02) from the BLEU, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland falls under this heading. (!) OJ No C 208, 19. 8.1985. (2) OJ No C 235, 1. 9. 1987. (3) OJ No L 183, 14. 7.1975. WRITTEN QUESTION No 2415/85 For this purpose, the Commission has put forward five priority objectives on which operations under the Struc­ by Mrs Colette Gadioux (S — F) tural Funds should concentrate: to the Commission of the European Communities (16 January 1986) — promoting the development and structural adjustment (88/C 93/04) of the less-developed regions, — promoting the conversion of regions affected by Subject: Compliance with the objectives of Community industrial decline, regional policy The Commission's announcement that it intends to — combating long-term unemployment, concentrate ERDF funding on 30 % of the population of the enlarged Community, confining its operations to — facilitating the occupational integration of young smaller geographical areas, raises the problem of compli­ people, ance with the objectives of Community regional policy, in particular that of a more evenly balanced distribution of economic activity throughout the Community. — speeding up the adjustment of agricultural structures and promoting the development of rural areas, in the What does the Commission propose to do to uphold its context of reform of the common agricultural policy. objective of supporting disadvantaged areas with poor infrastructure and a declining population while basing its future action on a reduction in the number of eligible areas Action under the ERDF would concentrate on the first two when the population concerned is increasing (from 70 to objectives and would also contribute to achievement of the 100 million) ? fifth objective. The Commission envisages that by 1992 the total resources of the Structural Funds will be doubled and Could the Commission specify the criteria which will be that up to 80 % of ERDF resources will be devoted to the used as a basis for determining which new areas will qualify development and structural adjustment of the less- for intervention ? Can it guarantee that the disadvantaged, developed regions. The Commission has proposed that the sparsely populated areas will not be penalized in com­ list of regions eligible for such assistance should comprise parison with the industrial regions undergoing regener­ those whose per capita gross domestic product, at ation, which traditionally are more highly populated ? administrative level NUTS II and in purchasing power parities, is less than 75 % of the Community average. Northern Ireland and the French overseas departments would be added to that list. This means that some 20 % of the Community population would be covered. Supplementary answer given by Mr Schmidhuber on behalf of the Commission The Commission has proposed that the list of regions or (29 October 1987) areas affected by industrial decline should be established on the basis of objective socio-economic criteria, in particular the seriousness of industrial problems and the unemploy­ Further to its answer of 25 February 1986 (J), the ment rate.