WRITTEN QUESTION No. 345/99 by Paul RÜBIG Discriminatory ferry tariffs applied by public undertakings
Date: 1999-02-23
Institutions: European Parliament, RUEBIG
Subjects: competition law, dominant position, ferryboat, horizontal agreement, private sector, public sector, transport company

29.11.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 341/97

(1999/C 341/136)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0345/99

by Paul Rübig (PPE) to the Commission

(23 February 1999)

Subject: Discriminatory ferry tariffs applied by public undertakings

I should like to thank the Commissioner responsible for his reply to question H-1068/98 (1) at the sitting of
15 December 1998 and in his letter (No 0207) of 1 February 1999. I agree with him that there has been a
breach of EU law by private undertakings without a dominant position on the market.

However, two aspects still require clarification:

1. Do the facts at issue not alo give grounds for suspicion of concerted practices in contravention of Article

85?

2. What difference would it make if a public undertaking were operating the ferry service? Would the ferry

operator in question have to be classified as a public undertaking?

(1) Debates of the European Parliament (December 1998).

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 1999)

In order to avoid misunderstanding, it should be noted that the reply and letter to which the Honourable
Member refers indicated that the Commission does not consider there has been a breach of the Community
competition rules by a non-dominant private undertaking.

As regards Article 85 of the EC Treaty, the Commission has no evidence of any horizontal cartel

1.
agreement between the operators.

Public undertakings are, like other undertakings, bound by the Community competition rules. Article 90
2.
of the EC Treaty requires that in the case of public undertakings Member States shall neither enact or maintain
in force any measure contrary to the competition rules, except for reasons given in Article 90, paragraph 2.
There does not appear here to be a breach of Community law by a private undertaking, and nor would the
situation be different if the ferry service were operated by a public undertaking.

In this case the ferry company to which the Honourable Member refers is a private company neither owned
nor controlled by the public authorities. It is therefore not a public undertaking.

(1999/C 341/137)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0349/99

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

(23 February 1999)

Subject: Pego-Oliva marshland

In its reply of November 1998 to a Written Question (E-3006/98) (1), the Commission said that it did not
consider that there was an infringement of Community law in the case raised previously with regard to
environmental damage in the Pego-Oliva marsh. The Commission said that the Spanish authorities had taken
legal and administrative steps to put an end to the deterioration of the zone, which constitutes one of the most
important wetlands in Spain.

However, over the past year, i.e. when the Spanish authorities said that these measures had been adopted, the
environmental situation of the marsh deteriorated considerably without any intervention by the same
competent authorities to stop such deterioration. In fact, a study carried out by experts at the University of
Alicante puts the damage caused in the area of the marsh at 1 500 million pesetas. Similarly, according to a
report by the Administration of the Nature Conservation Area, half of all the species of birds which nest in the
marsh have either disappeared altogether or have seen their population cut in half. In addition to the threat to
the bird population in the conservation area, the past year has seen the environment in the conservation area
come under attack in a number of other ways such as the killing of fish by water extraction pumps, the
dumping of agricultural pesticides, the death of cattle as a result of drinking contaminated water, the