WRITTEN QUESTION E-3828/02

by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 January 2003)

Subject: Dansk Retursystem A/S as a technical obstacle to trade

Articles 1 and 7 of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC(1) on packaging and packaging waste state that obstacles to trade and distortion and restriction of competition in the Community must be avoided, and that systems must be set up in such a way that imported goods have access to the market under non-discriminatory conditions.

It is therefore surprising that such an obstacle to trade and discrimination against imported goods is allowed to take place in Denmark, where Dansk Retursystem A/S is obstructing free competition.

One of the ways in which this takes place is by stipulating that imported products may not be placed on the market until at least four weeks after they have been registered with Dansk Retursystem A/S (§9, paragraph 3 of Order No 713 of 24 August 2002 concerning deposits on and collection of packaging for beer and certain soft drinks).

Furthermore, importers are required to declare their forecast sales for the first two months after registration or to declare actual sales on a weekly basis (§11, paragraph 2 of the above Order), which is suspicious given that the 10 members of the Board of Dansk Retursystem A/S include two from Carlsberg and two from Bryggerigruppen which have a combined share of the market in beer of some 90 % (www.carlsberg.com/www.bryggerigruppen.dk). This system thus gives the two biggest companies on the beer market free access to data concerning expected quantities of imports.

In addition, imported products must be individually labelled with various instructions concerning deposits which, together with the administrative costs entailed by the numerous forms involved, increases importers' costs considerably.

The above provisions make it practically impossible to import foreign beer into the Danish market. Will the Commission therefore say what steps it intends to take to put an end to this obstruction of trade and discrimination?

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(21 February 2003)

Directive 94/62/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 1994, on packaging and packaging waste has two main objectives: to protect the environment and to protect the functioning of the

internal market. To this end, the Directive lays down measures which have as their first priority preventing the production of packaging waste and have as additional fundamental aims reusing packaging, recycling and other means of recovering packaging waste, hence reducing the final disposal of such waste.

During 2002, Denmark notified to the Commission pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations(1) national draft legislation concerning deposits on and collection of packaging for beer and certain soft drinks(2). The national legislation in question was examined by the Commission in relation to the requirements of the EC Treaty as well as secondary legislation, including Directive 94/62/EC. An examination of the notified draft legislative text and the information sent by the Danish authorities did not allow the Commission to conclude that there was infringement of the provisions of the EC Treaty regarding the free movement of goods nor of Directive 94/62/EC. However, the Commission considered that once the system has been put in place, it will have to be ensured that it does not create any trade barriers which show themselves disproportionate to the desired objective and that it would be appropriate to monitor the practical operation of the system in order to ensure compliance with the above-mentioned Community legislation.

Thus far no information has been made available to the Commission which would demonstrate that infringements exist as a result of the Danish legislation concerning deposits on and the collection of packaging for beer and certain soft drinks. The new information provided by the Honourable Member has been examined by the Commission. The situations described regarding registration procedures, declarations of sales and labelling do not, on the basis of the available information, constitute as such an infringement of the provisions in the EC Treaty on the free movement of goods or of Directive 94/62/EC. In order to assess whether any infringement exists in this case, further evidence would be necessary. If information was submitted that could prove an infringement of Community law, the Commission may open and investigate an own-initiative case and if necessary decide to initiate infringement proceedings under Article 226 of the EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998.

(2) More information about the Danish notification is available at the Commission web site:http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/tris/pisa/app/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=pisa_notif_overview&iYear=2002&inum=98&lang=EN&sNLang=EN.