Question for written answer E-014957/2015 to the Commission
Rule 130
Julie Girling (ECR)
Subject: Service charges
It has been brought to my attention that consumers using the website fly.co.uk are facing unexpected and disproportionately high service charges once payments are issued.
Can the Commission clarify the legality of such practices and inform me of the procedures in place by way of consumer protection?
EN E-014957/2015 Answer given by Ms Jourová on behalf of the Commission
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC protects consumers against misleading commercial practices. In accordance with Articles 6(1)(d) and 7(4)(c) of that Directive, traders have to clearly specify the price inclusive of taxes. Breaches of these rules can be considered unfair under the Directive, on the condition that the practices are likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise. Whether this is the case must be assessed by national authorities and courts.

In accordance with Article 19 of the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83 , when such fees for the use of credit cards are charged, traders are prohibited from charging consumers fees that exceed their own actual cost for the acceptance of such cards.

In addition, Article 22 of the Air Services Regulation 1008/2008 ensures that air carriers may freely set their price while Article 23(1) of the said Regulation provides that the final price to be paid shall be indicated from the beginning of any booking process and shall include the applicable air fare as well as all applicable taxes, charges, fees and surcharges which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication while optional price supplements shall be communicated in a clear, transparent and unambiguous way at the start of any booking process. These rules are applicable both in case an airline directly sells tickets and/or through online ticket agents.

Whether a change of the price during the booking process is contrary to these rules, is to be assessed by the competent national authorities on a case-by-case basis, taking all relevant circumstances into account.

Question for written answer E-015694/2015 to the Commission
Rule 130
Julie Girling (ECR)
Subject: Mis-sold timeshares
I have been contacted by a number of constituents regarding their timeshares across Europe. Whilst purchased in good faith, it had become apparent that the timeshares were mis-sold. Constituents are finding themselves trapped in contracts charging exorbitant management and other fees which will be passed onto their children.
I understand the Commission was looking into the practical application of Directive 2008/122/EC and had commissioned an external study for this purpose.
Can the Commission please confirm what findings have been made and what action constituents should take if they find themselves victims of such malpractice.
EN E-015694/2015 Answer given by Ms Jourová on behalf of the Commission
On 16 December 2015 the Commission adopted a Report on the evaluation of Directive 2008/122/EC on the protection of consumers in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts. A study supporting the Commission Report was published on the website of the Directorate-General for Justice together with the Report.

The Report concludes that, regarding aspects falling under the scope of the Directive such as the right to pre-contractual information and the right of withdrawal, the Directive appears to overall be a useful tool for protecting consumers in this specific holiday sector. Survey results show that the percentage of problems faced by traditional timeshare owners has significantly dropped since the application of the Timeshare Directive .

Regarding aspects falling outside its scope, such as the presence of ‘in perpetuity clauses’ which deprive the consumer from his/her right to terminate the timeshare contract and the unilateral increases of maintenance fees, problems still occur . However, the analysis carried out by the Commission shows that these aspects can be successfully addressed through targeted interventions at national level, efficient self-regulatory measures and a stepped up enforcement of other relevant EU consumer law instruments, most notably the Unfair Contract Terms Directive .

Consumers trapped in their timeshare contracts clauses therefore should bring their matter before the relevant national authorities or courts .

Question for written answer E-015925/2015
to the Commission
Rule 130
Julie Girling (ECR)
Subject: Implementation of the Tobacco Products Directive
Within the answer from the Commission to my Written Question E-011090/14, it was stated that a ‘timely adoption’ of implementing acts relating to the Tobacco Products Directive would take place. To date, only three implementing acts have been completed, with little transposition by Member States, causing concern to the packaging industry, which has to commit to major pre-production investments in printing cylinders and other items of expensive tooling.
Can it be confirmed how many Member States have transposed the implementing acts into national law?
Secondly, have any Member States raised issues of timing as a result of the delay resulting from the adoption of secondary legislation?
EN
E-015925/2015
Answer given by Mr Andriukaitis
on behalf of the Commission
The Commission would like to inform the Honourable Member that the two Implementing Acts related to labelling and packaging were adopted in September and October of last year . In addition to this, the required technical files were sent to all Member States in October 2015 to allow them to add their national cessation information and to give industry adequate time to adjust the design of their packaging in accordance with the applicable requirements.

Regarding the transposition of the new Tobacco Products Directive , some Member States have already informally indicated that their transposition process is completed; many others are in an advanced stage of transposition. The Commission expects formal notifications that the transposition process is completed following expiry of the transposition deadline of 20 May 2016.

We have unfortunately had to take the decision to cancel the South West Business Growth Conference event on Friday 4th March due to numbers falling far below our expectations. A decision we have not made lightly as we felt the event would be most worthwhile for businesses throughout the region.

On Friday 05 February, 2015, Ricardo Energy & Environment’s Air Quality & Environment practice hosted Julie Girling, MEP for South West England and Gibraltar, to discuss the key issues affecting air pollution, agriculture and transport emissions policy in Europe.
Mrs Girling’s visit came a few days after the European Parliament’s vote in favour of introducing real driving emissions (RDE), a method for testing car emissions that better reflects a vehicle’s use on the road. As the European Parliament’s ‘rapporteur’ for the National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD), Mrs Girling used the visit to discuss her support for RDE as a tool to improve air quality, alongside her wider priorities in national pollution control throughout Europe. Mrs Girling also met Ricardo Energy & Environment’s agriculture and National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) teams who shared technical insight into their work supporting the UK to monitor and report air emissions data.
“I was delighted to discuss my work in environmental policy with the team at Ricardo, particularly following the European Parliament’s decision to press forward with real driving emissions”, said Julie Girling. “The EU relies on the insight of scientists and technical experts to help shape and define policy, and I think there’s widespread acceptance across the scientific community that RDE is a step in the right direction for making vehicle testing more applicable, reducing pollutant emissions and improving air quality in Europe”.
Ricardo Energy & Environment provides a range of emissions monitoring services to countries, regions and organisations across Europe, including supporting the European Commission on a wide variety of policy studies, helping Gibraltar to meet its EU air quality obligations and working with Heathrow Airport Ltd to monitor black carbon in the atmosphere. The Ricardo group also supports the development of sustainable transport across the world with a variety of policy, infrastructure and technological solutions. This includes recent investment in the Ricardo Vehicle Emissions Research Centre (VERC) – a world-class facility focussed on advancing next-generation low-carbon and low-polluting technology.
Sean Christiansen, Air Quality & Environment practice director, said: “I would like to thank Julie for taking the time to discuss her work and ambitions for air quality in Europe with us. The emissions, modelling and measurement evidence that is generated by our specialists is key to informing decision makers such as Julie and supporting sound policy and strategy development at the national and international level. As such it is critical that our teams maintain a dialogue with those on the frontline of such policy development, helping to ensure that we continue to deliver the technical evidence and policy support necessary to help achieve air quality goals.”
Find out more about how Ricardo Energy & Environment’s team of consultants, scientists and engineers is supporting countries and organisations with effective solutions to their air quality and environmental challenges at http://ee.ricardo.com/cms/services-3/

Media contact:

David Williams
Ricardo Energy & Environment
Tel: +44 (0)1235 753 112
E-mail: David.Williams@ricardo.com

South West MEP Julie Girling is working to ensure that new and realistic vehicle exhaust-gas tests are not delayed in the wake of the VW emissions scandal.

She is warning today that a rejection by MEPs this week of changes to car emissions testing procedures would only hold up improvements to air quality. The European Parliament will tomorrow (Wednesday) vote on a proposal to block the introduction of so-called “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE) testing.

RDE tests aim to ensure that emissions tests take place in real-world operating conditions, and will help address the problem of high nitrogen dioxide emissions from diesel vehicles. This is a big change from the current “Type Approval” testing which only uses laboratory tests.

A committee of experts has said that real-world emissions of Nitrogen Dioxide should be phased in between 2017 and 2020 but has not identified an end date by which a variance from the norm would be set at zero. The blocking proposal has been put forward by Green and Labour MEPs who claim that these limits are excessive.

Mrs Girling, Conservative Environment Spokesman in the parliament, said: “Concerns about the limits proposed are valid, but blocking the whole process of moving to RDE would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, the concerns about emissions should be dealt with in parallel to the new tests being introduced. There is a review clause in place that will allow this to happen.”

“RDE for new cars will bring clear reductions in emissions of Nitrogen Dioxide and improve air quality therefore delaying its introduction by months, or even years, is not the right response. Emissions testing rules have not changed for almost thirty years, and it is vital that the European Parliament endorses this latest step towards improving the testing regime.”

Created: 02 February 2016
“Many people say this reform cannot be achieved. These same people also said no one could achieve a reduction in the EU budget, yet our Prime Minister has already shown that change is possible. David Cameron achieved an unprecedented cut to the EU budget in 2014. They said there was no way out of the UK supporting Eurozone bailouts but David Cameron vetoed an EU fiscal treaty which didn’t guarantee a level playing field for British businesses and achieved exactly that. I trust the Prime Minister to get the best deal for Britain.

So I am delighted the hear today that The Prime Minister is on track to secure an agreement with Europe to give national powers the ability to block European legislation – delivering another manifesto commitment. The Prime Minister has strengthened the power of MPs and national parliaments to join forces to block unnecessary or unwanted EU laws.

The draft renegotiation includes a new red card for national parliaments to veto or amend European legislation and addresses concerns that the current yellow card system doesn’t go far enough. Crucially, the Prime Minister has persuaded Donald Tusk to propose to the Council that a red card could be exercised up to 12 weeks after the draft law is proposed – giving parliaments more time to raise concerns and increasing Westminster’s power. This will ensure that national parliaments’ voices are heard in Brussels and that they remain the true source of democratic accountability and legitimacy in Europe.

I will be campaigning with David Cameron to secure the best deal for the future growth and prosperity of the United Kingdom.”

Julie Girling (Conservative) & Clare Moody (Labour)

MEPs for South West England & Gibraltar

Invite you to attend:

“Enjoy, it’s from Europe”

Helping to promote European farm produce

Friday 11th March 2016

10 am – 1 pm

Somerset County Cricket Club,

The County Ground, St James St, Taunton, Somerset TA1 1JT

The European Commission has recently adopted 33 new promotional programmes to help European producers find new markets and promote consumption inside and outside the EU. Under the new rules, the available EU budget for promotion will increase gradually to €200 million (around £150 million) by 2019. The objective of this focused strategy is to help consumers discover more about the merits of European farm produce and about its quality control and standards.

Want to find out which kinds of products are included in the promotional programmes or how local farms will be affected by the new strategy? Join key speaker Diego Canga-Fano from the European Commission alongside your local MEPs Julie GIRLING and Clare MOODY, who are all committed to ensuring the future of the South West food and farming industry.

To register your attendance, sign up online now:

http://www.europarl.org.uk/en/uk-events/forthcomingevents/eufarmproduce

A vote by MEPs to block an important piece of legislation on the labelling, composition and advertising of processed cereal-based food and baby food is disappointing, say Conservative MEPs.

A number of British MEPs including Labour and Greens voted for the block, a move which could now delay important clarity to food legislation.

The proposed regulation would have allowed baby foods to provide 30% of their energy from sugar, prompting fears from some MEPs about the impact upon childhood obesity.

Conservative MEPs acknowledge that these levels seem high, but point out that the Commission is committed to reviewing the levels following an opinion on the composition of these foods from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), due out later this year.

There is an urgent need to clarify and simplify this legislation to achieve improved consistency of how the law is interpreted across the EU. Today’s result will only serve to delay these much-needed changes.

ECR Group coordinator on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, Julie Girling said: “Whilst I understand some of the concerns, these will not be dealt with simply by blocking the legislation.

“Unfortunately today’s vote by a coalition of Labour, Lib Dem and Green MEPs will undermine the consistent application of EU rules, as a revised proposal is now unlikely to be published before the summer.

“Indeed, following today’s objection, the existing rules will continue to apply, and these contain exactly the same requirements on sugars as those proposed in the new regulation.

“It is important to stress that the 30% figure is a maximum level, not the prescribed level, and that the sugar content of cereal-based food and baby food is generally much lower.

“These foods are the only foods which are formulated specifically to limit the amount of salt, sugar and saturated fats, and ensure the correct amount of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals for the relevant age group.

“The decision to object to the regulation is questionable, given that the Commission has stated it will revisit the final compositional levels once EFSA publishes its opinion later this year”

South West MEP Julie Girling has welcomed proposals from the European Commission to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy, with fairer penalties on farmers.

The Commission has proposed a new “yellow card” system, with penalties slashed for genuine mistakes by famers.

Mrs Girling said: “This should be very good news for farmers. Greater simplicity has to be the way forward and I hope this marks the start of a culture change for agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). I worked very hard to get this yellow card system included in the CAP proposals three years ago and was disappointed that it didn’t make the final agreement. I’m glad the Commission has now understood how unfair the current system is.

“When regulation is complicated, then mistakes creep in and the error rate for CAP applications soars.

“We need light and simple regulation together with fair and transparent penalties if we are not to to have distrust and fear.

“Some MEPs have been to quick to complicate things in the past. Now they must start to help farmers and make sure this proposal gets firmed up as soon as possible.”

ENDS