WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3577/98 by Concepció FERRER Increased export quotas for automobiles from Japan
Date: 1998-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, FERRER
Subjects: European industrial area, GATT, Japan, World Trade Organisation, competitiveness, export restriction, international competition, motor car, motor vehicle industry, quantitative restriction

C 289/64

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

11.10.1999

(1999/C 289/084)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3577/98

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission

(1 December 1998)

Subject: Increased export quotas for automobiles from Japan

As part of the process of fulfilling the compromise arrived at between the EU and Japan in 1991 with regard to
limiting exports of Japanese automobiles to the EU, on Monday afternoon negotiators from the Commission
and the Japanese trade and industry ministry agreed on definite quotas for 1998. Under the agreement, Japan
will be able to export a maximum of 1 190 000 automobiles to the Community market this year, an increase
of 23 000.

Has the Commission weighed up the potential impact of this increase on the Community automobile industry?
Likewise, has it made provision for some kind of compensation of benefit to other sectors of Community
industry?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(8 February 1999)

The arrangement on motor vehicles agreed by the Community and Japan in July 1991 (‘the elements of
consensus’) provides that Japan will monitor exports to the Community and the five Member States that
previously restricted imports (Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and the United Kingdom), for a transitional period
ending by 31 December 1999.

The key objective for such period of transition is to offer Community manufacturers a clear period to take the
necessary measures to adjust in order to achieve competitiveness at an international level while progressively
opening the previously restricted markets to exports from Japan. This progressive opening is of course linked
to the evolution of demand for cars in those markets. This is why the underlying principles of the elements of
consensus are based on forecasts of exports from Japan which are linked to assumptions about demand for
cars in general.

The forecasts are to be worked out through twice-yearly consultations between the Commission and the
government of Japan. In the process they are to take account of market developments. The last such
consultations took place on 12 October 1998. As actual demand in 1998 was higher than was originally
assumed, both in Spain and in the Community as a whole, the demand and export assumptions were revised
accordingly.

The difference between the initial forecast made in March 1998 and the revised forecast made in October,
amounting to 23,000 units, is therefore the logical result of a higher demand for cars and was made, as every
year, in observance of the underlying principles of the arrangement.

This arrangement consists of an autonomous agreement under the GATT/WTO and relates exclusively to the
In fact, Community automobile manufacturers have during that transition period
automobile sector.
significantly improved their competitiveness which has also enabled them to improve their presence in
Europe and on the world market. This has also created opportunities for the Community automotive industry
as a whole including for original equipment automotive component and service suppliers.

(1999/C 289/085)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3578/98

by Angela Sierra González (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Tourist overcrowding and island regions

(1 December 1998)

In October of this year an international conference convened by the World Tourism Organisation on
sustainable tourism in small, developing island states and on other islands was held in Lanzarote. Speakers at
the conference warned of the potential environmental problems associated with the increasing interest
amongst tourists in small islands whose capacity to cope with visitors is limited, and the consequent danger of
their becoming overcrowded with tourists.