Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-031"
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"en.20080219.5.2-031"2
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"(
Madam President, while wishing Mr Harbour a happy birthday, I have to say that we appear to have travelled back in time here to the 1990s. Back then we were busily churning out legislation in preparation for the single market, and apparently we are still at it, because today we have before us two further regulations and a decision for ensuring the free movement of goods. There is no getting away from facts, and the fact is that governments are keen on protection – not to say protectionism. Technical standards and form filling and safety requirements all make for non-tariff barriers. In car-producing France, for example, we had years of insistence on yellow headlamps instead of white ones as a means of limiting the number of foreign vehicles on our roads.
Now we have the Commission proposing a common framework for the free marketing of bicycles and ladders – for dads to fall off; toys that place children in mortal danger; kettles for scalding their mums; and various appliances on which grans and grandads can get themselves electrocuted.
We were under the impression – 23 years after the signing of the Single European Act – that it was all done and dusted: that the Cassis de Dijon judgment in 1979, followed by a couple of hundred more Court of Justice rulings, had ensured mutual recognition of everyone’s products by everyone else. Well, we were wrong! The single market is still a multiple market and so, to eliminate all the regulatory and technical niggles that have the effect of subtly re-erecting borders, the Commission suggests we adopt the principle that importers bear the cost: importers are to be responsible for the safety of the products they import, and the burden of proof is to be reversed.
That said, the texts before us are an exercise in stating the obvious: they reassert the concept of mutual recognition; they bow to the mania for labelling – which is termed marking – with the CE logo, its approved dimensions and sanctions for its improper use; and low and behold, 15 years after the dismantling of borders and customs controls, our rapporteur André Brie demands more resources for customs officers. Reinstating customs officers in a free-trade zone is quite something, although apparently Adam Smith, that doyen of free trade, did spend his last days strolling round his hometown in his father’s customs uniform!
So I say, let’s do it: let’s bring back customs officers complete with traditional peaked caps. We will probably need to import the caps from China but at least we will make sure they are safe. After all, we wouldn’t want to be responsible for any members of the Commission catching sunstroke!"@en1
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"Jean-Claude Martinez (NI ). –"1
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