Recommendation 2003/878 - Cancer screening

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Contents

  1. Current status
  2. Key information
  3. Key dates
  4. Legislative text
  5. 32003H0878
  6. Original proposal
  7. Sources and disclaimer
  8. Full version
  9. EU Monitor

1.

Current status

This recommendation has been published on December 16, 2003 and entered into force on December  2, 2003.

2.

Key information

official title

Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening
 
Legal instrument Recommendation
Number legal act Recommendation 2003/878
Original proposal COM(2003)230 EN
CELEX number73 32003H0878

3.

Key dates

Document 02-12-2003
Publication in Official Journal 16-12-2003; OJ L 327 p. 34-38
Effect 02-12-2003; Entry into force Date of document
End of validity 31-12-9999

4.

Legislative text

Avis juridique important

|

5.

32003H0878

Council Recommendation of 2 December 2003 on cancer screening

Official Journal L 327 , 16/12/2003 P. 0034 - 0038

Council Recommendation

of 2 December 2003

on cancer screening

(2003/878/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 152(4), second subparagraph, thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

  • (1) 
    Article 152 of the Treaty provides that Community action is to complement national policies and be directed towards improving public health, preventing human illness and diseases, and obviating sources of danger to human health. Such action shall cover the fight against the major health scourges, by promoting research into their causes, their transmission and their prevention, as well as health information and education. Community action in the field of public health shall fully respect the responsibilities of the Member States for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care.
  • (2) 
    Further development of cancer screening programmes should be implemented in accordance with national law and national and regional responsibilities for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care.
  • (3) 
    Cancer is a major disease and cause of death throughout Europe, including the future Member States. An estimated number of 1580096 new cancer cases, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, occurred in the European Union in 1998. Of these, 1,4 % were cervical cancers, 13 % breast cancers, 14 % colorectal cancers and 9 % prostate cancers. Cervical and breast cancer constituted 3 % and 29 %, respectively, of new cancers in women. Prostate cancer constituted 17 % of new cancers in men.
  • (4) 
    Principles for screening as a tool for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases were published by the World Health Organisation in 1968 and by the Council of Europe in 1994. These two documents form, together with the current best practice in each of the cancer screening fields, the basis for the present recommendations.
  • (5) 
    Additionally, these recommendations are based on the "Recommendations on cancer screening" of the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention together with the experience gathered under the different actions sustained under the Europe against Cancer programme where European collaboration has helped, for example, high quality cancer screening programmes to provide efficient European guidelines of best practice and to protect the population from poor quality screening.
  • (6) 
    Important factors which have to be assessed before a population-wide implementation is decided upon include, inter alia, the frequency and interval of the application of the screening test as well as other national or regional epidemiological specificities.
  • (7) 
    Screening allows detection of cancers at an early stage of invasiveness or possibly even before they become invasive. Some lesions can then be treated more effectively and the patients can expect to be cured. The main indicator for the effectiveness of screening is a decrease in disease-specific mortality. As in the case of cervical cancer, cancer precursors are detected, a reduction in cervical cancer incidence can be considered a very helpful indicator.
  • (8) 
    Evidence exists concerning the efficacy of screening for breast cancer and colorectal cancer, derived from randomised trials, and for cervical cancer, derived from observational studies.
  • (9) 
    Screening is, however, the testing for diseases of people for which no symptoms have been detected. In addition to its beneficial effect on the disease-specific mortality, screening can also have negative side effects for the screened population. Healthcare providers should be...

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This text has been adopted from EUR-Lex.

6.

Original proposal

 

7.

Sources and disclaimer

For further information you may want to consult the following sources that have been used to compile this dossier:

This dossier is compiled each night drawing from aforementioned sources through automated processes. We have invested a great deal in optimising the programming underlying these processes. However, we cannot guarantee the sources we draw our information from nor the resulting dossier are without fault.

 

8.

Full version

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The full version is available for registered users of the EU Monitor by ANP and PDC Informatie Architectuur.

9.

EU Monitor

The EU Monitor enables its users to keep track of the European process of lawmaking, focusing on the relevant dossiers. It automatically signals developments in your chosen topics of interest. Apologies to unregistered users, we can no longer add new users.This service will discontinue in the near future.

  • 1. 
    Boyle P., d'Onofrio A., Maisonneuve P., Severi G., Robertson C. and Veronesi U.: Measuring progress against cancer in Europe - Has the 15% decline targeted for 2000 come about? Annals of Oncology 2003 in press.

     
  • 2. 
    Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 7 July 1986, on a programme of action of the European Communities against Cancer. OJ C 184, 23.7.1986. p.19.

     
  • 3. 
    Decision of the Council and of representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting with the Council of 21 June 1988 adopting a 1988 to 1989 plan of action for an information and public awareness campaign in the context of the Europe against cancer programme (88/351/EEC). OJ L 160, 28.6.1988 p. 52.

     
  • 4. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 5. 
    Decision No 646/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 March 1996, adopting an action plan to combat cancer within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996 to 2000). OJ L 95, 16.4.1996. p.9.

     
  • 6. 
    Decision No 521/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, extending certain programmes of Community action in the field of public health adopted by Decisions No 645/96/EC, No 646/96/EC, No 647/96/EC, No 102/97/EC, No 1400/97/EC and No 1296/1999/EC and amending those Decisions. OJ L 79 of 17.3.2001, p.1.

     
  • 7. 
    Commission Decision 96/469/EC of 30 July 1996, establishing an Advisory Committee for Cancer Prevention. OJ L 192, 2.8.96, p.31.

     
  • 8. 
    Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, prepared by the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention after the Conference on Screening and Early Detection of Cancer, Vienna 18th - 19th November 1999. Unpublished. Available on request from the General Directorate Health and Consumer Protection, Directorate Public Health, Unit Cancer, Drugs, and Pollution-related Diseases.

     
  • 9. 
    Position paper, Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention, Lynge E. corresponding author: Eur J Cancer 2000, 36, p.1473-1478.

     
  • 10. 
    Goetzsche PC and Olsen O. Is screening for breast cancer with mammography justifiable? Lancet 2000; 355: 129-134.

     
  • 11. 
    Olsen O, Goetzsche PC. Cochrane review on screening for breast cancer with mammography. Lancet 2001; 358: 1340-1342.

     
  • 12. 
    Nystroem L, Anderson I, Bjurstam N, Frisell J, Nordenskjoeld B and Rutqvist LE. Long-term effects of mammography screening: updates overview of the Swedish randomised trials. Lancet 2002; 359: 909-919.

     
  • 13. 
    IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Volume 7: Breast Cancer Screening. International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organisation, IARC Press 2002, ISBN 92 832 3007 8.

     
  • 14. 
    Global Summit on Mammographic Screening: Statement from the Chair. Published on the Internet at www.ieo.it/inglese/didattica/ state_1.htm

     
  • 15. 
    Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee on the Regions on the health strategy of the European Community (COM(2000) 285 final) of 16 May 2000.

     
  • 16. 
    Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease. Public Health Papers 34. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1968.

     
  • 17. 
    Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers. On screening as a tool of preventive medicine. Recommendation no. R (94) 11. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1994.

     
  • 18. 
    www.iarc.fr. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cancer Incidence Data Bases. EUCAN 1997. (retrieved 16 January 2003).

     
  • 19. 
    Evaluation and monitoring of screening programmes, edited by: Sankila R, Démaret E, Hakama M, Lynge E, Schouten LJ, Parkin DM for the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR), European Commission, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001, ISBN 92-894-0253-9.

     
  • 20. 
    Cervical Cancer Screening in the European Union, special issue of European Journal of Cancer; Guest Editors: A. Linos, E. Riza, M. van Ballegooijen, EJC 2000 36/17 pp. 2175-2275.

     
  • 21. 
    European guidelines for quality assurance in mammography screening, 3rd Edition. Eds: N. Perry, M. Broeders, C. de Wolf, S. Toernberg. European Commission, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg 2001, ISBN 92-894-1145-7.

     
  • 22. 
    Scholefield J H and Moss S.M., Faecal occult blood screening for colorectal cancer, J Med Screen 2002 9:54-55.

     
  • 23. 
    Koning HJ de, Auvinen A, Berenguer Sanchez A, Calais da Silva F, Ciatto S, Denis L, Gohagan J.K., Hakama M, Hugosson J, Kranse R, Nelen V, Prorok PC, Schröder FH; Large-scale randomised prostate cancer screening trials: programme performances in the European Randomised Screening for Prostate Cancer trial and Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovary cancer trial. (submitted) Int. J Cancer 2002 .

     
  • 24. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 25. 
    OJ C
     
  • 26. 
    OJ C
     
  • 27. 
    Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease. Public Health Papers 34. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1968.

     
  • 28. 
    Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers. On screening as a tool of preventive medicine. Recommendation no. R (94) 11. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1994.

     
  • 29. 
    Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, prepared by the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention after the Conference on Screening and Early Detection of Cancer, Vienna 18th - 19th November 1999. Unpublished. Available on request from the General Directorate Health and Consumer Protection, Directorate Public Health, Unit Cancer, Drugs, and Pollution-related Diseases.

     
  • 30. 
    Position paper, Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention, Lynge E. corresponding author: Eur J Cancer 2000, 36, p.1473-1478.

     
  • 31. 
    Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 7 July 1986, on a programme of action of the European Communities against Cancer. OJ C 184, 23.7.1986. p.19.

     
  • 32. 
    Decision of the Council and of representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting with the Council of 21 June 1988 adopting a 1988 to 1989 plan of action for an information and public awareness campaign in the context of the Europe against cancer programme (88/351/EEC). OJ L 160, 28.6.1988 p. 52.

     
  • 33. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 34. 
    Decision No 646/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 March 1996, adopting an action plan to combat cancer within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996 to 2000). OJ L 95, 16.4.1996. p.9.

     
  • 35. 
    Decision No 521/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, extending certain programmes of Community action in the field of public health adopted by Decisions No 645/96/EC, No 646/96/EC, No 647/96/EC, No 102/97/EC, No 1400/97/EC and No 1296/1999/EC and amending those Decisions. OJ L 79 of 17.3.2001, p.1.

     
  • 36. 
    The indicated age ranges are to be understood as maximum ranges
     
  • 37. 
    The indicated age ranges are to be understood as maximum ranges
     
  • 38. 
    Boyle P., d'Onofrio A., Maisonneuve P., Severi G., Robertson C. and Veronesi U.: Measuring progress against cancer in Europe - Has the 15% decline targeted for 2000 come about? Annals of Oncology 2003 in press.

     
  • 39. 
    Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 7 July 1986, on a programme of action of the European Communities against Cancer. OJ C 184, 23.7.1986. p.19.

     
  • 40. 
    Decision of the Council and of representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting with the Council of 21 June 1988 adopting a 1988 to 1989 plan of action for an information and public awareness campaign in the context of the Europe against cancer programme (88/351/EEC). OJ L 160, 28.6.1988 p. 52.

     
  • 41. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 42. 
    Decision No 646/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 March 1996, adopting an action plan to combat cancer within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996 to 2000). OJ L 95, 16.4.1996. p.9.

     
  • 43. 
    Decision No 521/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, extending certain programmes of Community action in the field of public health adopted by Decisions No 645/96/EC, No 646/96/EC, No 647/96/EC, No 102/97/EC, No 1400/97/EC and No 1296/1999/EC and amending those Decisions. OJ L 79 of 17.3.2001, p.1.

     
  • 44. 
    Commission Decision 96/469/EC of 30 July 1996, establishing an Advisory Committee for Cancer Prevention. OJ L 192, 2.8.96, p.31.

     
  • 45. 
    Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, prepared by the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention after the Conference on Screening and Early Detection of Cancer, Vienna 18th - 19th November 1999. Unpublished. Available on request from the General Directorate Health and Consumer Protection, Directorate Public Health, Unit Cancer, Drugs, and Pollution-related Diseases.

     
  • 46. 
    Position paper, Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention, Lynge E. corresponding author: Eur J Cancer 2000, 36, p.1473-1478.

     
  • 47. 
    Goetzsche PC and Olsen O. Is screening for breast cancer with mammography justifiable? Lancet 2000; 355: 129-134.

     
  • 48. 
    Olsen O, Goetzsche PC. Cochrane review on screening for breast cancer with mammography. Lancet 2001; 358: 1340-1342.

     
  • 49. 
    Nystroem L, Anderson I, Bjurstam N, Frisell J, Nordenskjoeld B and Rutqvist LE. Long-term effects of mammography screening: updates overview of the Swedish randomised trials. Lancet 2002; 359: 909-919.

     
  • 50. 
    IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Volume 7: Breast Cancer Screening. International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organisation, IARC Press 2002, ISBN 92 832 3007 8.

     
  • 51. 
    Global Summit on Mammographic Screening: Statement from the Chair. Published on the Internet at www.ieo.it/inglese/didattica/ state_1.htm

     
  • 52. 
    Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee on the Regions on the health strategy of the European Community (COM(2000) 285 final) of 16 May 2000.

     
  • 53. 
    Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease. Public Health Papers 34. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1968.

     
  • 54. 
    Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers. On screening as a tool of preventive medicine. Recommendation no. R (94) 11. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1994.

     
  • 55. 
    www.iarc.fr. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cancer Incidence Data Bases. EUCAN 1997. (retrieved 16 January 2003).

     
  • 56. 
    Evaluation and monitoring of screening programmes, edited by: Sankila R, Démaret E, Hakama M, Lynge E, Schouten LJ, Parkin DM for the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR), European Commission, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001, ISBN 92-894-0253-9.

     
  • 57. 
    Cervical Cancer Screening in the European Union, special issue of European Journal of Cancer; Guest Editors: A. Linos, E. Riza, M. van Ballegooijen, EJC 2000 36/17 pp. 2175-2275.

     
  • 58. 
    European guidelines for quality assurance in mammography screening, 3rd Edition. Eds: N. Perry, M. Broeders, C. de Wolf, S. Toernberg. European Commission, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg 2001, ISBN 92-894-1145-7.

     
  • 59. 
    Scholefield J H and Moss S.M., Faecal occult blood screening for colorectal cancer, J Med Screen 2002 9:54-55.

     
  • 60. 
    Koning HJ de, Auvinen A, Berenguer Sanchez A, Calais da Silva F, Ciatto S, Denis L, Gohagan J.K., Hakama M, Hugosson J, Kranse R, Nelen V, Prorok PC, Schröder FH; Large-scale randomised prostate cancer screening trials: programme performances in the European Randomised Screening for Prostate Cancer trial and Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovary cancer trial. (submitted) Int. J Cancer 2002 .

     
  • 61. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 62. 
    OJ C
     
  • 63. 
    OJ C
     
  • 64. 
    Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease. Public Health Papers 34. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1968.

     
  • 65. 
    Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers. On screening as a tool of preventive medicine. Recommendation no. R (94) 11. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1994.

     
  • 66. 
    Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, prepared by the Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention after the Conference on Screening and Early Detection of Cancer, Vienna 18th - 19th November 1999. Unpublished. Available on request from the General Directorate Health and Consumer Protection, Directorate Public Health, Unit Cancer, Drugs, and Pollution-related Diseases.

     
  • 67. 
    Position paper, Recommendations on cancer screening in the European Union, Advisory Committee on Cancer Prevention, Lynge E. corresponding author: Eur J Cancer 2000, 36, p.1473-1478.

     
  • 68. 
    Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 7 July 1986, on a programme of action of the European Communities against Cancer. OJ C 184, 23.7.1986. p.19.

     
  • 69. 
    Decision of the Council and of representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting with the Council of 21 June 1988 adopting a 1988 to 1989 plan of action for an information and public awareness campaign in the context of the Europe against cancer programme (88/351/EEC). OJ L 160, 28.6.1988 p. 52.

     
  • 70. 
    Decision the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 May 1990, adopting a 1990 to 1994 action plan in the context of the 'Europe against Cancer' programme. OJ L 137, 30.5.1990. p.31.

     
  • 71. 
    Decision No 646/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 March 1996, adopting an action plan to combat cancer within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996 to 2000). OJ L 95, 16.4.1996. p.9.

     
  • 72. 
    Decision No 521/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, extending certain programmes of Community action in the field of public health adopted by Decisions No 645/96/EC, No 646/96/EC, No 647/96/EC, No 102/97/EC, No 1400/97/EC and No 1296/1999/EC and amending those Decisions. OJ L 79 of 17.3.2001, p.1.

     
  • 73. 
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  • 74. 
    EUR-lex provides an overview of the proposal, amendments, citations and legality.