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  • Title: [Legal requirements for health protection from the European viewpoint--uniform regulations or reciprocal recognition of public health norms?].
    Author: Schlüter P.
    Journal: Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed; 1996 Dec; 199(2-4):105-18. PubMed ID: 9409912.
    Abstract:
    Are uniform legislative measures and complete harmonization of i.a. sanitary standards required or is the application of the principle of mutual recognition to be preferred when it comes to ensure the protection of public health in the context of the creation and further development of the single market? As a matter of fact, we can neither ensure the proper functioning of an internal market without technical barriers nor satisfy the necessary requirements of health protection without having recourse to legislative measures. However, the adoption and implementation of community legislation does imply--as we have seen in the past--an extensive harmonization of technical standards which in turn may involve the dual risk of a harmonization of health protection standards at the lowest level and/or, in certain cases, of an "over-implementation" of the Community standards in the Member States. In order to counter this dual risk, a more flexible approach has been adopted in various sectors. Yet, a decentralized implementation of the community measures does undeniably involve a certain risk of distorting competition within the single market. Two groups of experts, known as the Sutherland-Group and the Molitor Group, have dealt with these issues at some length in two reports, which were published in October 1992 and in June 1995 respectively. In the light of these reports and on the basis of the conclusions of the European Council in Edinburgh (December 1992) and the so-called "Brussels Programme" of the European Commission (December 1993), a certain number of measures have now been taken with a view to overcome the above-mentioned problems. Thus, framework directives are now more generally applied instead of detailed legislative measures. Moreover, as a sort of alternative to further legislation, certain measures have been proposed in order to ensure the proper operation of the principle of mutual recognition and thus a less cumbersome management of the single market. The creation of an EU-wide network of independent "consumer ombudsmen" could contribute substantially to ensure the implementation of health and safety standards throughout the European Union. And last, but not least, legal sanctions must be imposed on those Member States that do not comply with the community legislation to the detriment of the health and safety of the EU citizens.
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