Showing papers on "Directive published in 1989"

The Medical Directive. A new comprehensive advance care document

Abstract: Living wills have been strongly endorsed in principle. Unfortunately, existing living wills are rarely used in clinical practice because they are vague and difficult to apply. To remedy this, we propose a new advance care document: the Medical Directive. The Medical Directive delineates four paradigmatic scenarios, defined by prognosis and disability of incompetent patients. In each scenario, patients are to indicate their preferences regarding specific life-sustaining interventions. The Medical Directive also provides for the designation of a proxy to make decisions in circumstances where the patient's preferences are uncertain. Finally, there is a section for a statement of wishes regarding organ donation. The Medical Directive provides an opportunity for significant improvement in the documentation of patients' preferences regarding life-sustaining care in states of incompetence. As an expression of a patient's wishes, the Medical Directive should be honored by courts and should facilitate physicianpatient discussions of critical and terminal care options. (JAMA. 1989;261:3288-3293)

Hospital policy on advance directives. Do institutions ask patients about living wills

Abstract: Surveys have shown that a substantial proportion of the population has prepared an advance directive. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the existence and nature of hospital policy regarding these documents. A survey questionnaire was sent to 394 randomly selected hospitals in the United States. Of the 219 responding hospitals, 146 (67%) reported having a formal policy regarding advance directives. The large majority of those with a policy require the patient to notify the hospital of an advance directive, while only 4% of the respondents actively inquire about these documents. Hospitals in states with legislation that sanctions advance directives were significantly more likely to have a formal policy regarding these documents than hospitals in states without such legislation. Forty-six percent of the respondents reported having an ethics committee; however, the presence of an ethics committee was not significantly associated with the presence of a formal policy. Of the 69 hospitals that had both a formal policy and an ethics committee, only 30 (43%) reported that the policy had been reviewed by the ethics committee. Ethical and legal issues regarding hospital policy on advance directives are discussed. Hospitals should adopt formal policies to ask all adult patients at the time of admission whether they have prepared a living will, durable power of attorney, or similar document; and ethics committees should play a more active role in policy development. ( JAMA . 1989;262:2411-2414)

Major Hazard Information Policy in the European Community: Implications for Risk Analysis

Abstract: The main impetus to the development of information about major industrial hazards in the European Community comes from the so-called Seveso Directive, which defines an information network and requires the generation and transmission of information as the basis for accident prevention and risk management. This important policy development, which calls for the formal identification and analysis of major hazards and the communication of risk information to members of the public, presents new opportunities and challenges to risk analysis and research in Europe. This paper briefly reviews the accidents that gave rise to the Directive and shaped its content, and then summarizes its requirements. The status of its implementation in the EC Member States is discussed, with special emphasis given to the comparison of safety analysis practices, the Major Accident Reporting System (MARS), and risk communication. Some new research directions stimulated by the Directive are identified.

The EC Directive on Drinking Water (EEC 80/778)

Abstract: The background to and technical deficiencies of the EC Drinking Water Directive are discussed. Although the inadequacies of the Directive are becoming increasingly recognized, there is no doubt that it has had a major impact on the UK water industry, much of which will be beneficial in the long term. However, it has provided a significant challenge to water suppliers on technical and environmental issues, as well as in new areas such as publicity and customer awareness. The water industry should be seen to be responding to the situation vigorously and positively to meet the spirit of the Directive, whilst seeking technical refinements which will make it a more practicable piece of legislation for the future.

Risk Communication at the Community Level: European Lessons from the Seveso Directive

Abstract: After the devastating accident at Seveso, Italy on July 10,1976 and the resulting confusion between the local authorities and the company’s representatives, the European Community issued a General Directive in 1982 that requires every chemical company to provide full information on hazardous sites, emergency plans, storage of dangerous substances, accidental release scenarios, and similar issues to the host community. In addition, the public has to be informed about the potential risks of the facilities and the protective actions necessary to undertake in an emergency. The Directive resulted in an increased effort to communicate the risks of hazardous facilities to community officials and to local residents. This article explores the strategies of and the experiences with the risk communication efforts in different European countries and describes the responses to these efforts by stakeholder groups and the general public. The political adoption of risk communication programs are strongly influenced by th...

Construction products directive

Abstract: The Construction Products Directive of 21 December 1988 — on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member states relating to construction products — provides for free trade in construction products throughout the European Economic Community. Implementation must be achieved by 27 June 1991. The directive has been made under a 1985 resolution of the Council of Ministers on the New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and Standards (‘the new approach’) which allows directives concerning harmonisation of product standards to be issued on a majority vote.

Let me decide : the health care directive that speaks for you when you can't

Abstract: What is an advance directive? the personal health care directive - an overview life-threatening illness feeding CPR the personal statement filling out the directive completed sample directive personal health care directive.

Agriculture and the EC Environmental Assessment Directive: Lessons for Community Policy‐Making

Abstract: The 1985 EC Directive on Environmental Assessment introduces a common set of decision-making procedures throughout the Community for authorizing specified classes of land-use projects. During the development of the Directive, projects involving agricultural intensification received a high profile, but were marginalized in the final text, in no small part due to opposition by the United Kingdom. Even then, implementation of the Directive in the United Kingdom in respect of agriculture has proved peculiarly troublesome, not least because of presumptions firmly entrenched in the country's long-established land-use planning system. The history of the Directive and its effect in one country has wider implications for the future development of Community environmental policy, particularly in the light of current concerns to secure more effective policy integration in areas hitherto largely unaffected by such considerations.

Elements of a horizontal product safety policy for the European Community

Abstract: The article discusses elements of a horizontal general product safety policy for the European Community and its relationship with the new approach to technical harmonization and standardization. The following particular elements are treated: (a) the adoption of a general obligation for manufacturers to produce and market products which are safe; (b) the European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System as an instrument for improving the construction of products and for instigating follow-up market controls; (c) follow-up market controls (improving the Community System for the Rapid Exchange of Informations on Dangers Arising from the Use of Consumer Products, harmonization of the means of control and intervention in the several Member States, interim measures at Community level in cases where products constitute grave and immediate dangers in more than one Member State); (d) setting up a Standing Committee for all questions on product safety policy; (e) consumer participation in the standard-setting process; (f) the complementary function of the Product Liability Directive. The case-law of the European Court of Justice relating to the free movement of goods and the remaining competences of Member States are taken into account. Finally, the example of the proposed Directive on machinery makes clear that the new approach to technical harmonization and standardization interferes strongly with the established structures of worker and consumer safety regulations in the several Member States as well as with traditional procedures of standardization and certification.

The Directive On Insider Dealing

Abstract: This Article discusses the Community directive on insider dealing strictly from the point of view of Community law, and more specifically of what may be called the Community’s constitutional law the powers of the institutions involved in the making and in the implementation of law rather than from the point of view of insider trading as an economic phenomenon and the ways it is perceived and dealt with in Community law. THE DIRECTIVE ON INSIDER DEALING Raffaello Fornasier *

The Significance of EEC Directives in UK Sex Discrimination Law

Abstract: The decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Case 152/84 Marshall v Southampton and South West Hampshire Area Health Authority (Teaching)' has shown how significant Community law, and particularly the 'equality' directives,2 can be for United Kingdom sex discrimination law. The differential, permissible in UK law,3 between male and female mandatory retiring ages was ruled to be contrary to Article 5 of the 1976 directive on 'equal treatment'.4 A second important aspect of the judgment was the reiteration of the ECJ's stance that directives can only create individual rights in the member states' courts against State agencies ('vertical direct effect') and not against private parties ('horizontal direct effect').5 This fundamental restriction on the significance of directives has overshadowed an equally important couple of cases on the effect of directives which, if properly applied in national courts, should have a profound effect on the interpretation of UK sex discrimination law.6 In Case 14/83 von Colson and Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, the ECJ decided that 'in applying the national law and in particular the provisions of a national law specifically introduced in order to implement a directive, national courts are required to interpret their national law in

The Anatomy of the Directive Capacity of the Socialist State

Abstract: This article discusses the problem of the directive capacity of the socialist state, defined as the ability to identify opportunities available within both the domestic and international political economy and to develop and implement policies. The focus is not on how the directive capacity of the socialist state is actually used by the elites but on the identification of basic mechanisms shaping it. The following questions are addressed: What is the relationship between politics and economics in state socialism, and how does it determine directive capacity? What are the underlying structures that shape the socialist state/economy interaction? What mechanisms have developed within the framework of state socialism that compensate for lack of pressures toward higher efficiency? What are the system's limitations and what strategies are available to increase the directive capacity?

Product Liability in the European Economic Community: The New Situation

Abstract: This article analyzes the provisions of the new E.E.C. directive on product liability and examines the complex evolution of such liability in Western Europe. Interpretations and criticisms are offered. All twelve members must revise their laws and meet the Directive's standards and spirit. The Directive is important not only because of the highly significant changes it presents to multinational companies operating in Western Europe but because it is an outstanding example of the trend towards more supranational business law and it represents a considerable accomplishment of the consumer movement.

The Official Inspection of Foodstuffs

Abstract: An overview of proposals for an EC Directive on the official inspection of foodstuffs is presented, an important step towards 1992.

The Common Market Prospectus

Abstract: Despite the rapid internationalization of the global securities market, regulatory disharmony has been a persistent obstacle to multi-jurisdictional offerings. However, the increased demand for comparable information in the analysis of investment risk necessary to the allocation of assets has facilitated a convergence between market enhancement and market integrity. The process of federalism in the European Communities (EC) has strengthened this will to harmonize, with Member States recognizing the necessity for reducing obstacles to the development of a single European capital market. The article addresses the EC’s major initiatives toward the achievement of regional regulatory harmony for multi-jurisdictional securities offerings. Specifically, this article describes the EC’s two major directives, which establish a mandatory disclosure regime for public offerings of securities, the Listing Particulars Directive and the Public Offer Prospectus Directive. These two directives, when implemented by the EC’s Member States, may result in a “common market prospectus,” which can be used in Member States, subject to minimal additional disclosure requirements. This article concludes that the EC, in seeking to establish a common market prospectus, has become the major force for global harmony in the field of securities regulation.