WRITTEN QUESTION E-0216/98 by María Sornosa Martínez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (11 February 1998)

Subject: Fraud in Spanish petrol stations

It is alleged that a large number of petrol stations in the Madrid region, all of which up to now having been identified as belonging to the Villanueva Group, have defrauded their customers by manipulating electronic petrol pump meters. These meters, which were introduced in the late seventies, were used to replace mechanical meters in the eighties.

With this new type of pump, the cable linking the electronic impulse emitter and the pump can easily be manipulated so as to by-pass official controls thus offering limitless opportunity to defraud. The fact that seals on such meters have been found to have been tampered with provides proof that the charges levelled to date by the Spanish Consumers' Association (Organizacion de Consumidores y Usuarios) and the Earth Movers' Association (Asociación de Empresarios de Movimientos de Tierra) are not unfounded.

Although the current investigation concerns petrol stations belonging to the abovementioned group, it is possible that the same manipulation could have been carried out in other petrol stations and in other regions since 268 managers of petrol Stations in Valencia asked the Regional Authority (Generalitat) in 1997 to carry out technical checks on their petrol pumps since they had noticed anomalies in the supply of fuel.

Given that this type of fraud has precedents in other Member States, e.g. Italy, and in view of the fact that the increasing degree of sophistication of measuring instruments does not reduce but rather increase the possibilities of fraud, and given that there are two Council Directives dating from 1971 concerning the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measuring instruments and metrological control (71/316/EEC ((OJ L 202, 6.9.1971, p. 1. )) and 71/319/EEC ((OJ L 202, 6.9.1971, p. 32. )),

1. What measures can the Commission take not only to standardize instruments and metrological control methods but also to prevent the possibility of fraud?

2. Does the Commission intend to propose a new Directive to bring the existing directives up to date and to protect consumers in this regard?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (23 March 1998)

The Commission intends to propose shortly a directive covering a wide range of measuring instruments including those used for dispensing fuel. This will lead to the replacement of the regime existing under the framework Directive 71/316/EEC and a replacement of Directive 71/319/EEC which did not cover instruments with electronic components. The proposal will take the form of a new approach directive and will therefore lay down performance requirements and choices of certification procedures that underpin the objective of a high level of consumer protection, which includes the evaluation of designs for the purpose of fraud prevention.

Technical solutions which will give presumption of conformity to the performance requirements will be established where necessary by the European standardisation bodies (the European committee for standardisation or the European committee for electrotechnical standardisation), or the recognised international organisation of legal metrology, (OIML). Instruments in conformity with the directive will bear the CE marking.

Furthermore, the proposal will contain a safeguard clause which empowers public authorities to take action against products placed on their market that are not in conformity with the directive.