I understand that in response to your petition, the European Commission has stated:
“Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that 'Union action shall respect the responsibilities of the Member States for the definition of their health policy and for the organisation and delivery of health services and medical care'. The responsibilities of the Member States shall include the management of health services and medical care and the allocation of the resources assigned to them.
The Commission has no specific policy on Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Patients with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome could benefit from actions developed under general rare diseases policy, which is set out in the Commission Communication of 11 November 2008 on Rare diseases and in the Council Recommendation on an action in the field of rare diseases (2009/C 151/02).
The key element for improving diagnosis and care in the field of rare diseases is to provide and disseminate accurate information in a format adapted to the needs of professionals and affected persons. In order to achieve this, the Commission is supporting the Orphanet portal, which is a global database containing information related to rare diseases; the data concern more than 6,000 diseases and are available in 6 languages. Orphanet’s aim is to help improve the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with rare diseases. The collected and disseminated data concern natural history of diseases, treatment, expert centres, medical laboratories, ongoing research and patient organisations.
On 30 July 2013 the Commission set up an expert group on rare diseases. This expert group is going to provide advice and expertise to the Commission in formulating and implementing the EU's activities in the field of rare diseases and foster exchanges of relevant experience, policies and practices between Member States and various parties involved.
Research on rare diseases has been addressed as one of the priority areas in the health field under the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development since the early 1990s. Over this period, funding for rare diseases at the EU level has been growing steadily. In the current Framework Programme, FP7, close to 100 projects related to rare diseases have been funded with the overall EU contribution of almost 500 million Euros. EU funded rare disease research projects have made a substantial contribution to advancing knowledge on rare diseases and will ultimately lead to better diagnostic methods, new treatments, better care and prevention strategies for rare diseases.
The Commission is not a Member of WHO and is not in a position to empower WHO to set up new committees and/or funding programmes. Such decisions are taken by the World Health Assembly on the basis of proposals by WHO Member States. The Commission has an observer status at the Assembly. This also applies to the UN.
Conclusion
Organisation of health care systems including training of professionals lies in the responsibility of the Member states. The Commission is proposing to address questions to the Commission's expert group on rare diseases in order to check if there is need for coordinated action especially for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome on the European level.
The Commission's strong commitment for supporting rare disease research will continue also in the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, and Health for Growth Programme, expected to start in 2014.
The Commission is not is not in a position to empower the WHO and the UN to set up new committees and/or funding programmes.”
You ask enquire into how a European law is made, please see this link to the attached briefing from the House of Commons: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/c...office/l11.pdf.
I hope this information is helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Bearder MEP

[RSD ME]

Thanks for the info Kevscar. I hope you're hand is feeling better too. Take care.