Annexes to COM(2006)625 - EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol related harm - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2006)625 - EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol related harm. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2006)625  |
| date | October 24, 2006 |
As part of this approach, the impact of self-regulatory codes on young people’s drinking and industry compliance with such codes will also be monitored. Independent parties will be invited to verify the performance and outcomes of self-regulatory codes against the agreed benchmarks, thus allowing Social Responsibility Organisations to adjust objectives accordingly. (aims 1-9)
7. CONCLUSIONS
With this Communication, the Commission, in response to the Council’s invitation in 2001, presents a comprehensive strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm in Europe until the end of 2012, and explains what has already been done at national and Community level, what are the priority areas which deserve further action and how the Commission can further contribute to address this major public health concern. The Commission proposes that Member States and stakeholders should take this Communication as a basis to work forward, in particular within the framework of the Alcohol and Health Forum.
The Commission considers that its main contribution to the strategy should be based on the existing approach of complementing national policies and strategies in this area and therefore, does not intend to implement the strategy through specific new legislative proposals. The Commission will report regularly on the implementation of measures to tackle harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, as described in this Communication, as well as on the impact of the EU strategy set out in this Communication; this will be based on regular reporting from the Member States on the implementation of the relevant measures.
Certain existing Member States actions are to be considered as examples of good practice and have proven their effects. In respect of the principles of subsidiarity and better regulation, these actions need to be strengthened in order to achieve the goal of this strategy. The Commission will contribute through its role of complementing Member States efforts, by adding value to their actions and dealing with issues that Member States cannot effectively handle on their own.
[1] Hazardous alcohol consumption has been defined as a level of consumption or pattern of drinking that is likely to result in harm should present drinking habits persist (Babor, T., Campbell, R., Room, R. & Saunders, J., (1994) Lexicon of Alcohol and Drug Terms, World Health Organization, Geneva); however, there is no standardised agreement on the level of alcohol consumption that should be regarded as hazardous drinking. Harmful drinking is defined as ‘a pattern of drinking that causes damage to health, either physical (such as liver cirrhosis) or mental (such as depression secondary to alcohol consumption)’ (The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organisation 1992).
[2] These include actors as varied as health and consumer NGOs, self-help groups, producers and retailers of alcoholic beverages, the hospitality sector, schools, employers and trade unions, the advertising industry, the media…
[3] Franzen case (C-189/95), Heinonen case (C-394/97), Gourmet case (C-405/98), Catalonia (C-190 and C-179/90), Loi Evin (C-262/02 and C-429/02).
[4] Council Recommendation 2001/458/EC (OJ L 161, 16.6.2001, p. 38);http://eur-lex.europa.eu/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/l_161/l_16120010616en00380041.pdf
[5] Full report published at http://ec.europa.eu/comm/health
[6] Council Conclusions of 5 June 2001 on a Community strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm (OJ C 175, 20.6.2001, p. 1);http://eur-lex.europa.eu/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/c_175/c_17520010620en00010002.pdf;Council Conclusions on Alcohol and Young people of 1-2 June 2004(http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/lsa/80729.pdf).
[7] e.g.: What are the most effective and cost-effective interventions in alcohol?, WHO Regional Office for Europe’s Health Evidence Network (HEN) 2004; Alcohol Policy and the Public Good, Griffith Edwards 1994, Cochrane Library; EconLit and the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Science Database (ETOH), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA).
[8] Commission Recommendation 2004/345/EC of 6 April 2004 on enforcement in the field of road safety (OJ L 111, 17.4.2004); Commission Recommendation 2001/116/EC of 17 January 2001 on the maximum permitted blood alcohol content (BAC) for drivers of motorised vehicles (OJ L 43, 14.2.2001); Communication of the Commission (OJ C 48, 14.2.2004).
[9] Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006 - COM(2002) 118.
[10] UN Resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989.
[11] The WHO’s Global Burden of Disease Study (Rehm et al 2003a and b, Rehm et al 2004 and Rehm 2005).
[12] Alcohol in Europe - A public health perspective, P Anderson and B Baumberg, Institute of Alcohol Studies, UK 2006 - http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/news_alcoholineurope_en.htm (based on The WHO’s Global Burden of Disease Study, Rehm et al 2003a and b, Rehm et al 2004 and Rehm 2005).
[13] Increasing trends are mostly reported among young adults (above legal drinking ages). Binge-drinking among under aged drinkers has levelled out in EU-15 but increased in EU-10.
[14] “Binge-drinking” is normally considered to be the drinking over 5 units of alcohol on one single occasion.
[15] The ESPAD Report 2003, Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Students in 35 European Countries, Björn Hibell et al, Stockholm 2004 http://www.espad.org/reports.asp.
[16] COM(2001) 370: "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide".
[17] In France for example, more than 700 children were born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome in 2001, and more than 60 000 persons are estimated to be living with this condition (data calculated by the INSERM - “Expertise collective” in September 2001 - after two epidemiological studies made in the North of France and La Réunion.
[18] Including Non-Governmental Organisations (health and consumer NGOs, self-help groups…) and organisations representing producers of alcoholic drinks.
[19] The EPC report on the alcohol round table is published on www.theepc.be.
[20] Published on the EU Health portal and web site alongside a report on the peer review meeting, comments from the peer review panel, stakeholders’ views on alcohol policy and on the implementation of the Council Recommendation (http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/news_alcoholineurope_en.htm).
[21] Furthermore, a more detailed economic analysis of the impact of alcohol on the economic development of the EU has been conducted as part of the impact assessment procedure by an external contractor: “RAND Report”, published on http://ec.europa.eu/comm/health
[22] The background paper used for the consultation is available on the Internet at http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/labellingnutrition/betterregulation/index_en.htm.
[23] English et al. 1995, Single et al, 1999, Ridolfo and Stevenson 2001, taken from Alcohol in Europe – a public health perspective - http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/news_alcoholineurope_en.htm
[24] RAND: An economic analysis of the impact of alcohol on the economic development in EU (Horlings, Scoggins 2006).
[25] This has been addressed by imposing a special tax or compulsory labelling for products such as “alcopops” (Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg).
[26] The Commission has involved young people in the consultation process of this Communication, in projects co-financed trough the Public Health Programme. The European Youth Forum has set up a working group to contribute to the ongoing work.
[27] Apart from road traffic, and in line with the general concerns regarding alcohol at the workplace as described in Section 5.3, there is obviously also a need to check alcohol consumption in other transport sectors, such as sea, rail and air transport. These are however not addressed specifically by the present Communication.
[28] A review of 112 studies provided strong evidence that impairment in driving skills begins with a departure from a zero blood alcohol concentration level (Moskowitz and Fiorentino 2000). A study that compared the blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of drivers in accidents with the BACs of drivers not involved in accidents found that male and female drivers at all ages who had BACs between 0.2 g/l and 0.49 g/l had at least a three times greater risk of dying in a single vehicle crash. The risk increased to at least 6 times with a BAC between 0.5 g/l and 0.79 g/l and to 11 times with a BAC between 0.8 g/l and 0.99 g/l (Zador et al 2000) All studies confirm that the positive effect of new legislation to lower BAC limits is higher if it is followed by public discussions, media campaigns and enforcement of the new laws.
[29] Alcohol in Europe - A public health perspective, P Anderson and B Baumberg, Institute of Alcohol Studies, UK 2006 - http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/news_alcoholineurope_en.htm
[30] RAND: An economic analysis of the impact of alcohol on the economic development in EU (Horlings, Scoggins 2006).
[31] In its Communication on “European policies concerning youth: Addressing the concerns of young people in Europe – implementing the European Youth Pact and promoting active citizenship” of 30 May 2005 the Commission confirms the importance of paying attention to the health of young people. One of the areas for action is the use of alcohol by young people.
[32] Minimum rates for excise duties are laid down in Council Directive 92/84/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the approximation of the rates of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages. Above these minima Member States are free to set their national rates at levels they consider appropriate and which may incorporate other policies such as health.
[33] Television advertising for alcoholic beverages is regulated by the Television without Frontiers Directive (Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities - OJ L 298, 17.10.1989, p. 23). Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices addresses misleading and aggressive practices, and practices which use coercion as a means of selling (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22). As far as self-regulation approaches are concerned, the multi-stakeholder and multi-sector Advertising Round Table established by the Commission services has identified some key elements for effective self-regulation, which are presented in the report available at: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/overview/report_advertising_en.pdf.