INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS (13501/06)
Letter from the Chairman to Caroline Flint
MP, Minister of State for Public Health, Department of Health
At its meeting of 23 November 2006, Sub-Committee
G considered the above document and your accompanying Explanatory
Memorandum dated 23 October 2006.
We note that the IHR (2005) explicitly provide
for co-operation between State parties to facilitate the application
of the Regulations. We agree that it is appropriate to undertake
co-operation where that would help speedy and effective application.
It is clear that the Regulations do touch on policy areas pertinent
to the Community and it is clear too that the Community already
has certain mechanisms in place that could usefully be employed
in these circumstances.
We do, however, have a number of concerns. The
Commission is not precise in its communication with regard to
the extent of Community competence in this area. Please could
you set out the Government's views on this matter? Second, is
the Government aware of any Community involvement in the negotiations
on the IHR(2005)? If so, by whom was the Community represented
and on what legal basis? Finally, the Commission proposes that,
on behalf of the Community, it draft, negotiate and sign an administrative
Memorandum of Understanding with the WHO on the application of
the IHR(2005). What competence does the Government consider the
Commission has to negotiate and conclude such a Memorandum? Does
the Government know what the Commission envisages would be contained
within it?
We will retain the Communication under scrutiny,
pending your views on the above points and in the light of the
Council discussion on 30 November.
23 November 2006
Letter from Caroline Flint MP to the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 23 November following
your Committee's consideration of the above document and accompanying
Explanatory Memorandum dated 23 October 2006.
The Committee asked:
(i) What the government's views are on Community
competence in the areas covered by the IHR?
(ii) Whether the Government is aware of
any Community involvement in the negotiations on the IHR 2005?
If so, by whom was the Community represented and on what legal
basis?
(iii) What competence does the government
think the Commission has to draft, negotiate, and sign an administrative
Memorandum of Understanding with WHO on the application of the
IHR 2005? Does the Government know what the Commission envisages
would be contained within it?
On the first point, we agree that the Commission's
Communication is not precise about the extent of Community competence
in this area. However, setting out precisely what Community competence
is or might be in all the areas on which the IHR (including recommendations
that might be issued under them) could have an impact would be
a major task. We note that, as explained in your letter, the Committee
consider it clear that the Regulations do touch on policy areas
pertinent to the Community. As and when any specific proposals
are made, we shall certainly want to consider what they assume
about Community competence and whether we agree with those assumptions.
On the second point, the Department of Health
provided information to the Committee about progress with negotiating
the new text of the IHR, because of the EU involvement in this
process, on a number of occasions (including the Explanatory Memorandum
on the Commission's communication 13074/03 in 2003; the letters
of 21 October 2004, 26 January 2005[146]
and 7 April 2005[147]
from John Hutton, and that of 3 June 2005[148]
from Rosie Winterton). There has been some EU co-ordination on
a flexible and pragmatic basis in the past, and there may be a
place for similar activity in future.
On the third point, in the discussions that
have taken place on the Communication since my Explanatory Memorandum
was submitted, it has become clear that several Member States,
like the UK, have concerns about some of the Commission's proposals,
and the Presidency have produced a note which highlights the need
for further clarification from the Commission and discussion by
Member States before we can agree to a Community role. Nevertheless,
we should not ignore the possibility, as suggested in my Explanatory
Memorandum, that there may be ways in which European bodies can
enhance our ability to implement the IHR effectively. As the Committee
themselves have noted, it is appropriate to co-operate where that
would help speedy and effective application.
30 November 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Caroline Flint
MP
Your letter of 30 November 2006 on the above
Communication was considered by Sub-Committee G at its meeting
of 11 January.
We note that there are concerns amongst the
Member States about some of the Commission proposals and that
clarification has been sought from the Commission.
We will therefore retain the Communication under
scrutiny. Do please provide us with further information once the
Commission has clarified the outstanding issues to that we can
continue our scrutiny.
11 January 2007
146 Correspondence with Ministers, 4th Report of Session
2005-06, HL Paper 16, pp 394--395. Back
147
Correspondence with Ministers, 45th Report of Session 2005-06,
HL Paper 243, p 689. Back
148
Correspondence with Ministers, 45th Report of Session 2005-06,
HL Paper 243, p 690. Back
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