WRITTEN QUESTION E-2342/00 by Isidoro Sánchez García (ELDR) to the Commission. Postal services and extremely remote regions.
Date: 2000-07-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: competition law, peripheral region, postal service, prices policy, principle of subsidiarity, provision of services, single market

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/189

(2001/C 81 E/242)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2342/00

by Isidoro SÆnchez Garc(cid:237)a (ELDR) to the Commission

Subject: Postal services and extremely remote regions

(13 July 2000)

Is the Commission willing to take the (cid:145)extreme remoteness(cid:146) factor into consideration in its amendments to
Directive 97/67/EC (1) (which seeks to open up the EU(cid:146)s postal services to competition) when establishing a
pricing policy which will enable the same tariffs to be charged for postal services between the regions
concerned, the other parts of the Member States to which they belong and the rest of the European Union?

(1) OJ L 15, 21.1.1998, p. 14.

Answer by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

With regard to tariffs for each of the services forming part of the provision of the universal service and in
accordance with Article 12 of Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal
services and the improvement of quality of service (1), Parliament and the Council adopted two general
principles, while granting the Member States freedom to decide on their pricing policy on the basis of the
specific national context. Firstly, prices must be affordable; and secondly, they must be geared to costs. In
this regard, Member States may decide that a uniform tariff should be applied throughout their territory.

In its proposed amendment to Directive 97/67/EC, the Commission has not planned any changes to this
approach, which is based on subsidiarity.

(1) OJ L 15, 21.1.1998.

(2001/C 81 E/243)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2345/00

by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission

(13 July 2000)

Subject: Taiwanese membership of the WTO

The Republic of China (Taiwan), which is a model for its region in its consolidation of democracy and the
rule of law and in its economic development, is still awaiting admission to the WTO.

What information can the Commission provide concerning the state of the multilateral negotiations on
WTO membership for Taiwan? What stage has been reached in the bilateral Taiwan-EU negotiations?
What guarantees can the Commission provide that the forthcoming accession of the People(cid:146)s Republic of
China to the WTO will in no way delay nor block Taiwanese membership to the same body?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

The WTO working party on Taiwanese membership met for the last time on 30 July 1999. The Chairman
concluded that all of the main issues had been dealt with. The WTO secretariat distributed a consolidated
version of the working party(cid:146)s report so that members could undertake the verification work. The
Commission informed the WTO of the completion of the verification process on 29 January.