WRITTEN QUESTION No. 166/99 by Ludivina GARCÍA ARIAS Established rights of undertakings following the amendment of rules and the introduction of liberalisation measures
Date: 1999-02-11
Institutions: European Parliament, GARCIA ARIAS
Subjects: approximation of laws, competition law, derogation from EU law, electrical energy, energy production, energy transport, interpretation of the law, liberalisation of the market

C 348/28

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.12.1999

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission

(12 April 1999)

Regulations are directly applicable in the Member States and therefore do not require measures for their
transposition into national law.

In the case of Directives, at the beginning of March 1999 there were 64 infringement proceedings open against
Greece for failure to notify measures. For further details the Honourable Member is referred to the Sixteenth
annual report on monitoring the application of Community law ’ 1998, which will be presented to
Parliament in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, the Honourable Member is referred to the Fifteenth report ’ 1997 (1).

(1) OJ C 250, 10.8.1998.

(1999/C 348/033)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0164/99

by Ludivina García Arias (PSE) to the Commission

(11 February 1999)

Subject: Existence of documents interpreting Directive 96/92/EC which have not been forwarded to

Parliament

Can the Commission confirm that its services have already drawn up documents clarifying and interpreting
Article 24 of Directive 96/92/EC (1)? Can the Commission specify which of its services have drawn up these
documents and what legal status those documents have? When will the Commission forward them to
Parliament or inform Parliament of their substance, given that the above directive was adopted under the
codecision procedure?

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20.

(1999/C 348/034)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0165/99

by Ludivina García Arias (PSE) to the Commission

(11 February 1999)

Subject: Interpretation and further legislative development of Directive 96/92/EC

Is it true that the Commission has drawn up documents after Directive 96/92/EC (1) was adopted making an
interpretation possible whereby some transitional regimes concerning competition (Article 24) may be
intended to recover the costs arising from operating commitments or guarantees existing before the entry into
force of the Community text, and which would be impossible to recover under that directive? Can the
Commission supply those documents?

(1) OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20.

(1999/C 348/035)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0166/99

by Ludivina García Arias (PSE) to the Commission

(11 February 1999)

Subject: Established rights of undertakings following the amendment of rules and the introduction of

liberalisation measures

Does the Commission not believe that the legal principle put forward by some European electricity
undertakings according to which the costs of the transition to competition in the electricity sector are
established rights which must be recognised from the point of view of compensation, to be borne by
consumers, represents a serious legal precedent for all the liberalised sectors given that the principle of equal
treatment, inter alia, is enshrined in the Treaties?