Consumer protection: indication of prices of products offered to consumers

Meeting on 19 November 1997 in Strasbourg, Parliament's delegation approved the compromise package proposed at the Conciliation Committee meeting of 6 November 1997 (in spite of an agreement prematurely announced in the press before that date). The Conciliation Committee met on Thursday, 6 November to discuss the 8 remaining amendments, which concerned in particular the question of exemptions for small retail businesses. The compromise proposal involves an open-ended transitional period during which exemptions for small businesses could be maintained, but requires Parliament and the Council to take a decision on revision of the directive no later than 6 years after implementation thereof. The only outstanding matter concerned a Commission declaration, announced by Mrs BONINO at the Conciliation Committee meeting, the text of which had to be finalized subsequently. The co-chairmen established on 9 December 1997 that agreement had been reached, so as to permit the Directive to be adopted by Parliament and the Council in the course of the month (Parliament adoption scheduled for 15 December 1997 in Strasbourg).