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Community system of information on home and leisure accidents, 1994-1997

 
The present Decision to establish a Community system of information on home and leisure accidents follows the completion of the one-year phase established by Council Decision 93/683/EEC for 1993 and the demonstration project set up by Council Decision 86/138/EEC.

The Community information system on home and leisure accidents forms part of the Community's policy on consumer protection and the prevention of accidents. The system aims to support and complement actions being implemented by the Member States by identifying the products involved in accidents and the combination of circumstances which might lead to these accidents. This is of particular interest in the context of the free circulation of goods in the internal market. The results of the research conducted under the system will provide national authorities with sufficiently homogeneous instruments so that the conclusions of one Member State can, where appropriate, be used in other Member States as well as at Community level.

The Commission and the Member States will ensure that, in the course of the collection and processing of information, all identifying details or any information which would enable identities to be deduced, are removed so that the identities of the victims remain confidential.
To collect data on home and leisure accidents with a view to promoting accident prevention, improving the safety of consumer products and informing and educating consumers so that they make better use of products, at both national and Community level.
The basic information shall be obtained from the casualty departments of hospitals selected by the Member States. In the Federal Republic of Germany, Spain and Luxembourg, the collection of data is to be carried out by means of household surveys.
The Member States are responsible for implementing the system. They are required to process directly the data collected and submit to the Commission annual reports containing summaries and evaluations at the national level of the results obtained and the conclusions that they have drawn from those results. The Member States' reports must be forwarded by the end of the fourth month following the year in question and include, at a minimum, the following information:

- The place where the accident occurred;
- The data of the accident;
- The place of treatment;
- The activity of the victim at the time of the accident;
- The type of accident;
- The type of product involved in the accident;
- The age and sex of the victim;
- The type of injury and the parts of the body injured;
- The duration and type of treatment;
- A brief description of the accident and its causes.

If requested by the Commission, the Member States must also supply the available data on the safety of certain products or categories of product involved in home and leisure accidents and the circumstances surrounding such accidents. However, information gathered under the system of information on home and leisure accidents provides only general indications and cannot be regarded as statistical proof of the safety, or lack of safety, of a given product.

The Community financial resources deemed necessary for implementing the system are set at ECU 2.5 million for 1994 and ECU 2.808 million per year for the period 1995-1997. The Commission helps to finance the implementation of the system through the following:

- Community financial support for the hospitals participating in the collection of data, to be allocated at a standard rate representing 80% of the actual annual costs, up to a ceiling of ECU 28,000 per hospital;
- Community financial support for the household surveys in Germany, Spain and Luxembourg, to be allocated at a standard rate of 80% of the actual annual costs, up to a ceiling of: ECU 380,000 for Germany; ECU 225,000 for Spain; and ECU 95,000 for Luxembourg;
- Additional Community financial support to be provided as a contribution to the strengthening of the least developed national infrastructures, in particular through the development of appropriate computerized networks so that Member States with operational collection systems may give bilateral technical assistance to the other Member States (such support may not exceed 3.5% of the overall financial support granted by the Community).

The provision of Community financial support is tied to the submission of the Member States' annual reports referred to above.

The Commission will process, summarize and publish each year the data submitted by the Member States and will disseminate them at Community level, in particular to the Consumer Consultative Council, to European or national consumer associations, to European consumer information centres and to European standardization bodies. This information will be directly accessible to consumers in the Community. The Commission is to also undertake information campaigns, in so far as they are necessary, at Community level.

At the beginning of 1995, the Commission is required to draw up a report, together with any appropriate proposals for amendments to the system. This report must include details on the distribution among the Member States, from 1 January 1996, of hospitals participating in the system so as to ensure that the sample is as homogeneous as possible. At present, the 65 hospitals participating in the system are divided between the Member States as follows: Austria 4; Belgium 4; Denmark 5; Finland 3; Greece 4; France 8; Ireland 2; Italy 7; Netherlands 7; Portugal 6; Sweden 4; United Kingdom 11. The Member States are required to ensure the geographic representation of hospitals, taking into consideration both rural and urban communities.

A more general assessment report on the operation of the system, together with any proposals for amendments, where appropriate, to the arrangements for the allocation of financial support is to be drawn up by the Commission at the beginning of 1996. A final report on the implementation and effectiveness of the system will be drawn up by 31 December 1997 at the latest.

The Commission will be assisted in the execution of its tasks in support of the system by the Committee on Product Safety Emergencies established by Council Directive 92/59/EEC (Official Journal No L 228 of 11.8.1992).