changes made by the parties concerned. Cultural benefits may rank as advantages to consumers for the
purposes of these rules. To sum up, then, an exemption may be granted in the light of Article 151(4) ofthe EC Treaty only if the agreement or practice in question satisfies all the conditions laid down in Article81(3) of the EC Treaty. This means that the cultural benefits claimed must be clearly demonstrated.
(1) OJ 13, 21.2.1962; this Regulation was last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.
(2) Cf Article 19 of the abovementioned Regulation No 17 and Commission Regulation No 1999/63/EEC of 25 July
1963 on the hearings provided for in Article 19(1) and (2) of Regulation No 17 (OJ 127, 20.8.1963); the latter has
now been repealed and replaced by Commission Regulation (EC) 2842/98 of 22 December 1998 on the hearing of
parties in certain proceedings under (the former) Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty (OJ L 354, 30.12.1998).
(3) Cf. Commission decision of 25 November 1981, VBBB and VBVB (OJ L 54, 25.2.1982, p. 12); Commission
Decision of 12 December 1988, Publishers Association  Net Book Agreements (OJ L 22, 26.1.1989); Court of
Justice judgment of 17 January 1984 in Joined Cases 43/82 and 63/82, VBVB and VBBB v Commission (1984
Reports); Court of First Instance judgment of 9 July 1992 in Case T-66/89, Publishers Association v Commission(1992 Reports, II-1995); Court of Justice judgment of 17 January 1995 in Case C-360/92 P Publishers Associationv Commission, (1995 Reports).
(2000/C 27 E/055) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1401/99
by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Council
(1 September 1999)
Subject: Promoting and safeguarding lesser-used languages in the EU
Will the Council outline its policy on the safeguarding and promotion of lesser-used languages in the
European Union and will it back new initiatives aimed at promoting cultural and linguistic exchangesbetween, for example, young people in Ireland in the west of the Community, and young people in theeast of Germany who are living in peripheral regions?
Reply
(22 October 1999)
The Honourable Member is referred to the Councils reply dated 21/1/99 to oral question H 0038/99 put
by Mr Pat Gallagher on the same subject.
The Council would also like to point out that it awaits with interest the Commissions forthcoming
proposal for an action programme on regional and minority languages.
(2000/C 27 E/056) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1402/99
by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission
(1 September 1999)
Subject: EU approval number for vehicle registration
The registration of motor vehicles is known to involve a considerable amount of bureaucracy. The
introduction of the EU approval number was intended to reduce the number of administrative stepsrequired. However, the vehicle registration offices in the Member States do not possess the necessaryinfrastructure, so that the EU approval number cannot be used in Italy, for example. Since Italian vehicleregistration officials do not have access to the vehicles technical data and other information on which theEU approval number is based, purchasers are still required to present a large number of papers, from theEC certificate of conformity to the certificate of noise levels.C 27 E/48 EN 29.1.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities