WRITTEN QUESTION P-3619/97 by Riccardo Garosci (UPE) to the Commission (10 November 1997)

Subject: Situation of fuel retailers

At European level the poor protection of fuel retailers as a group has already seriously undermined their bargaining power vis-à-vis the petroleum industries. This situation is leading to unemployment and substantial social hardship. What are the Commission's operating guidelines in this connection?

Is the Commission aware, moreover, that the Italian Government is enacting a Decree Law 'on the rationalization of the fuel distribution sector' which would in fact prevent petrol stations (Article 7) from displaying the trade name of the supplier oil company? This prohibition would clearly conflict with the interests of the managers of petrol stations and of the oil companies themselves and would be in breach of the consumer's right to information, which has always been safeguarded by the EU (Article 129 of the Treaty of Maastricht, amended and confirmed by point 27 of the Treaty of Amsterdam).

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (11 December 1997)

From the information available to the Commission it would appear that there is a process of structural adjustment in progress in most Member States, as the number of service stations has been falling for several years, while service stations have been diversifying their activities.

The legislation implementing the competition rules in the EC Treaty includes a block exemption regulation which covers petroleum distribution agreements that contain an exclusive purchasing clause (Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1984/83 of 22 June 1983 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to categories of exclusive purchasing agreements) ((OJ L 173, 30.6.1983; corrigendum: OJ L 281, 13.10.1983. )). Agreements of this kind might otherwise be caught by the ban on restrictive practices laid down in Article 85(1) of the EC Treaty, but the Regulation exempts them provided they satisfy certain conditions.

The Regulation enables the Member States' own competition authorities and lawcourts to apply all the European competition rules governing these agreements. One of the objectives of such legislation is to ensure that compliance with Community competition law can be enforced by the national authorities; those authorities will generally be closer to the markets for the distribution of fuel, which are for the most part organised on a national rather than international scale.

The Commission has published a Green Paper dealing with the application of the competition rules to vertical restraints, and in particular distribution agreements ((Green Paper on Vertical Restraints in EC Competition Policy: COM(96) 721 final. )). The Green Paper looks at a range of options as part of an extensive review of the approach that competition policy ought to be taking towards agreements of this kind. It has provided the basis for a wide-ranging debate with interested parties. The conclusions will serve as guidance to the Commission when it comes to draft the measures that will be needed, not least in order to replace the block exemption mentioned above, which is to expire at the end of 1999 ((Its validity was extended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1582/97 of 30 July 1997 amending Regulations (EEC) No 1983/83 and No 1984/83 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to categories of exclusive distribution agreements and exclusive purchasing agreements respectively: OJ L 214, 6.8.1997. )).

The Commission does not believe that consumers would necessarily be deprived of proper information or that the interests of the supplying company would be damaged if service stations were to distribute goods under their own trade name.