WRITTEN QUESTION E-2229/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Internet advertising trends.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet, advertising, expenditure, geographical distribution, statistics

C 26 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.1.2001

However, it does recognise the possibility, as pointed out by the Honourable Member, that, in certain
circumstances, specific grounds of historical and artistic protection should also be taken into consideration
by the national authorities, while of course meeting the criteria of non-discrimination, necessity and
proportionality, in accordance with the Court of Justice(cid:146)s consistent case law on the free movement of
services.

In the light of these considerations and the keen interest shown by the public in these infringement
proceedings, the Commission will seriously consider the suggestion made by the Honourable Member that
a document be prepared in the near
the interested parties
future to clarify,
(users, operators and national authorities), the scope and effects of Article 49 with regard to the use of
satellite dishes.

the benefit of

for

It should also be noted that the Commission recently adopted a communication on the strategy for
Europe(cid:146)s internal market which did in fact stress the outlook for the digital era and the promotion of
consumers(cid:146) economic interests (2).

IP/99/281 of 3 May 1999.

(1)
(2) COM(1999) 624 final.

(2001/C 26 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2226/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Internet access

What is the percentage of households in each Member State which have access to the Internet at the most
recent date, and what was the similar percentage one year, two years and three years previously? If it is
possible to indicate what proportion of households have access at home and what proportion through
their place of work, please do so.

(2001/C 26 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2229/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Internet advertising trends

What is the amount spent on advertising on the Internet in each Member State, and what was spent one
year, two years, and three years before?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2226/99 and E-2229/99 given
by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2000)

There are no official consolidated Community figures available, either for styles of Internet access or for
Internet advertising revenues. This is due to the very dramatic growth in the level of Internet usage and to
the speed of change in the form of usage.

There are figures available from a variety of other sources which provide an idea of the growth and
geographical distribution of Internet usage. The different sources however often provide quite different
estimates even when referring to the same country. Even from the same source the figures may not indeed
even be comparable year to year because the methodologies are changed and as what is being monitored
continues to change constantly.

26.1.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 26 E/5

The ITU (www.itu.int) has produced figures that underline the impressive growth at the global level:

Compound annual growth rate

1990-1998

(%)

Telephone lines

Mobile subscribers

Internet hosts

6

52

81

Years taken to reach 50 million users

Years

Telephone

Radio

PC

Television

WWW

74

38

16

13

4

Nua Ltd. in Ireland (www.unua.ie) provides a useful consolidation of various industry estimates related to
the Internet. They provide estimates for usage and for advertising revenue, from a number of sources.

GlobalReach in California (glreach.com) gives Internet usage figures in terms of the distribution between
countries. However it is interesting to note that they give prominence in their analysis to linguistic
groupings rather than national boundaries (i.e. to French-speakers rather than France, to Portuguese-
speakers rather than Portugal).

GVU (www.gvu.gatech.edu) has various figures related to the primary place of access to the Internet (cid:129)
workplace, home, etc. (cid:129) in Europe.

(2001/C 26 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2412/99

by Cristina GutiØrrez-Cortines (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 December 1999)

Subject: The Murcia region and the ERDF

By Decision C(94) 2586/3 the Commission approved the operational programme for tackling the specific
problems of the Murcia region, with the intention of making its economy more competitive by setting up
development areas which would allow the economic fabric to be modernised and diversified and attract
investment, while guaranteeing the protection of the environment.

Will the Commission supply full details of

1.

all the subsidies and funding made available pursuant to this Decision in the field of education and
training, and

2.

all the recipients of these monies?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2000)

The global grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the operational programme
(OP) for the Murcia region for the programming period 1994-1999 (1) is € 542,74 million