WRITTEN QUESTION E-2135/96 by Susan Waddington (PSE) to the Commission (3 August 1996)

Subject: Pluralism in the media

Small circulation newspapers and magazines in the UK including the Methodist Recorder, Tribune and the Morning Star fear that their distribution is to be severely restricted as a result of proposals by the proprietors of newspapers and the distributors WH Smith in England and Menzies in Scotland. These proposals could seriously affect the ability of European citizens to read newspapers produced in their Member State whilst residing in the UK.

What proposals does the Commission have to ensure that pluralism in the media and circulation of Union newspapers is not harmed by restrictions by UK newspaper proprietors and distributors?

What steps is the Commission taking to ensure that the newspaper proprietors' and distributors' actions do not breach Community competition policy, in particular Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty, and place a possible restriction on the free movement of people?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (13 September 1996)

The Commission is currently working on a possible initiative ((Pluralism and media concentration in the internal market: As assessment of the need for Community action, COM(92) 480 final. Follow-up the consultation process to the Green Paper on 'Pluralism and media concentration in the internal market: An assessment of the need for Community action' COM(94) 353 final. )) concerning the harmonisation of specific national media ownership rules aiming to safeguard pluralism. However, these rules do not regulate the behaviour of economic operators in the newspaper distribution market.

Furthermore, the Commission has no intention at present to investigate under the Community competition rules (Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty) the practice of distributors of refusing to distribute for retail purposes publications with limited circulations. This is for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there is no indication that trade between Member States is being affected. The question raises the issue of whether European citizens, while residing in the United Kingdom, are able to read newspapers produced in their Member State, in view of the distribution policy of british proprietors and distributors. The publications referred to, the Methodist Recorder, Tribune and the Morning Star, are all british published titles, so the practices referred to appear to be limited to a single Member State, the United Kingdom. No complaints have been received by the Commission from the publishers of these publications, nor from any other small circulation publications within the Community, that the distribution policy of british distributors and proprietors may affect trade between Member States.

Allegations of anti-competitive behaviour in individual Member States fall for consideration by national competition authorities. In the United Kingdom following the publishing of a report in December 1993 by the Monopolies and mergers commission (MMC) on newspaper distribution, remedies were introduced to address a number of competition problems identified by the MMC. The Office of fair trading has been monitoring the changes that have since taken place in the distribution of publications in general.

Secondly, technological developments in recent years, such as desk-top publishing, have resulted in a multiplication of the number of titles available to consumers. Consequently, commercial decisions have to be made as to which titles are economically viable for retail distribution and should be stocked in retail outlets which are subject to limitations on display space.

Although some low-circulation publications may no longer be sold through the usual outlets, it is nevertheless normally possible to obtain titles on a subscription basis direct from publishers or their distributors.

For these reasons and in the absence of information to the contrary, consideration of the use of the Community competition rules is not warranted.