Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Whereas:

Article 157(1) of the Treaty assigned the Community and the Member States the task of ensuring that the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of the Community’s industry exist. Article 157(2) in particular calls upon the Member States to consult each other in liaison with the Commission and, where necessary, to coordinate their actions. The Commission may take any useful initiative to promote such coordination.

In its Communication ‘Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme: a policy framework to strengthen EU manufacturing — Towards a more integrated approach for industrial policy’^f1, the Commission announced the intention to set up a High Level Group concerned with the competitiveness of the European chemicals industry.

It is therefore necessary to set up a group of experts in the field of competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry and to define its tasks and structure.

The primary task of the group should be to conduct economic and statistical analysis of the factors determining the rapid structural changes in the chemicals sector, as well as other factors that influence the competitive position of the European chemicals industry. Based on this analysis the group should formulate a set of sector-specific policy recommendations with a view to enhancing the competitiveness of the chemicals industry in accordance with the objective of sustainable development. Given that Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f2 concerning REACH enters into force only on 1 June 2007 and its main operational provisions will apply only 12 months later, it would not be appropriate that matters directly related to REACH should be examined.

The group should be composed of representatives of the Commission, the Member States, the European Parliament and relevant stakeholders notably from the chemicals industry and downstream users, as well as civil society, to be drawn, inter alia, from representatives of consumers, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and research/academia.

Rules on disclosure of information by members of the group should be provided for, without prejudice to the Commission’s rules on security as set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom^f3.

Personal data relating to members of the group should be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data^f4.

It is appropriate to fix a period for the application of this Decision. The Commission will in due time consider the advisability of an extension,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: