WRITTEN QUESTION E-1859/97 by Roberta Angelilli (NI) to the Commission (30 May 1997)

Subject: Airline crew transport services provided by Alitalia S.p.A. and Alitalia Team S.p.A.

The company Alitalia Team S.p.A., which is a subsidiary of Alitalia S.p.A., has introduced a shuttle service between the control centre at Magliana in Rome and the Leonardo da Vinci airport for the purpose of transporting the crews of the two above-mentioned companies.

In order to provide this service Alitalia Team concluded in November 1996 a contract of a value of 500 million lire per year with a company named RAMP. Recently, Alitalia concluded contracts for the same service with two cooperative companies, SAR and SIAT, for a value of around 10 billion lire for the Rome area alone.

In neither case was an invitation to tender issued by Alitalia S.P.A. and Alitalia Team for the service contracts in question, thereby preventing other companies in this sector from making bids and ruling out any possibility of a more financially advantageous bid being selected.

Will the Commission say whether, in awarding the contracts for this service, the companies Alitalia S.p.A. and Alitalia Team S.p.A. have fully respected Community rules on free competition and service contracts, bearing in mind that 90% of Alitalia's capital is held by the public holding company IRI.

If not, will the Commission say whether it intends to take steps to ensure that Community law is observed?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1858/97 and E-1859/97 given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (11 July 1997)

In accordance with Article 2(2)(b)(ii) of Council Directive 93/38/EEC of 14 June 1993 co-ordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors ((OJ L 199, 9.8.1993. )), contracting entities subject to the obligations of the Directive are those which exercise the activity of exploitation of a geographical area for the purpose of the provision of airport, maritime or inland port or other terminal facilities to carriers by air, sea or inland waterway.

Recital 18 of the Directive also states that the scope of this Directive, defined in particular in Article 2, does not include entities offering air transport services to the public.

According to the information in the Commission's possession, Fiumicino airport is managed by Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A. and not by the Ufficio amministrazione scalo aeroporto di Fiumicino de l'Alitalia S.p.A.

In the absence of additional information from the Honourable Member, the Commission considers that the said administrative office of Alitalia, the party that has concluded the contract, is not an entity required to comply with Directive 93/38/EEC.

Nor is Alitalia S.p.A a body governed by public law within the meaning of Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the co-ordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts ((OJ L 209, 24.7.1992. )). In accordance with Article 1(b) of the said Directive, a body governed by public law must be any body established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, which is not a characteristic of Alitalia S.p.A.

The Commission therefore considers that neither Alitalia's agreement with the taxi co-operative '3570' nor its contract with RAMP fall within the scope of Directives 93/38/EEC and 92/50/EEC.