WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3838/98 by Antoni GUTIÉRREZ DÍAZ to the Commission. Football transfers
Date: 1998-12-22
Institutions: European Parliament, GUTIERREZ DIAZ
Subjects: allowances and expenses, competition, free movement of workers, professional association, professional sport, recruitment, vocational training, work contract

C 297/106

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

15.10.1999

with Article 118a of the EC Treaty, is without prejudice to the maintaining or introduction by a Member State
of more stringent measures to ensure safe working conditions, as long as they are compatible with the Treaty.
This is specifically confirmed by Article 15 of Directive 93/104/EEC.

As this case concerns the transnational posting of workers, the Commission reminds the Honourable Member
that European Parliament and Council Directive 96/71/EC of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of
workers in the framework of the provision of services (3) contains a hard core of mandatory rules providing
minimum protection, which must be observed in the host Member State by employers posting workers to
another Member State as part of the provision of services. These mandatory rules include provisions on a
minimum period of paid annual leave.

Under these circumstances, the minimum provisions in force in the host Member State which must be applied
to posted workers may stipulate a period of annual leave which is longer than that provided for by Directive
93/104/EC, to the extent that this minimum period is fixed either by legislation or by generally applicable
collective agreements. The provisions of the Directive on the posting of workers must be implemented by the
Member States by 16 December 1999.

(1) OJ L 196, 26.7.1990.
(2) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.
(3) OJ L 18, 21.1.1997.

(1999/C 297/144)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3838/98

by Antoni Gutiérrez Díaz (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 December 1998)

Subject: Football transfers

As well as involving fantastic sums of money, transfers of professional players, particularly footballers, have
become a mechanism for speculation and for restricting the free movement of footballers within the European
Union.

What action will the Commission take to remedy this situation?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 1999)

Since the Court of Justice judgment of 15 December 1995 in Bosman (1), the payment of fees at the end of an
employment contract that are unrelated to training costs is prohibited for all international transfers within the
European Economic Area (EEA) of footballers who are or have turned professional. The Court of Justice did not
cover the question of the payment of fees in other situations, e.g. transfers of non-Community players,
transfers of players under contract and domestic transfers.

The Commission sees to it that the Bosman judgment is complied with. It also considers that any attempt to
continue to apply the international system of FIFA and UEFA transfers to situations other than those covered
by the judgment in question is liable to infringe Article 85 of the EC Treaty. The same holds for the obligation
imposed by FIFA on national associations to introduce national transfer systems.

For that reason, and recognising the need to encourage the recruitment and training of young players, the
Commission has, since the Bosman judgment, been encouraging the organisations responsible to present it
with an alternative to the international transfer system. With no acceptable proposal forthcoming, the
Commission sent a statement of objections to FIFA on 15 December 1998. Its aim was to obtain the definitive
abolition of all transfer systems based on fees unrelated to actual training costs. It is thus responding to
numerous complaints and hopes to encourage FIFA to devise a system that is compatible with the rules of the
EC Treaty and promotes the training of young players.

(1) Case C-415/93 [1995] ECR I-4921.