WRITTEN QUESTION E-2345/00 by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission. Taiwanese membership of the WTO.
Date: 2000-07-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, Taiwan, World Trade Organisation, accession to an agreement, bilateral agreement, international negotiations, report

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.

C 81 E/190

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.3.2001

From a practical point of view, the accession negotiations have been completed. Taiwan(cid:146)s trade commit-
ments for both goods and services are of the highest quality. The EU is also extremely pleased with the
positive outcome of its bilateral negotiations with the Taiwanese. They have made commitments which
more than satisfy the minimum criteria for admission to the WTO.

As part of the accession process, Taiwan and the Commission have also negotiated a bilateral agreement
on market access. The agreement was concluded in October 1998 and submitted to the WTO. Tariff
concessions will become (cid:145)multilateral(cid:146) on accession.

The EU has always been strongly in favour of Taiwan(cid:146)s early accession to the WTO. However, certain
political factors have played and continue to play an important role.

Now that China is also on the point of joining the WTO, Taiwan(cid:146)s accession is closer than ever.
The Commission expects that the WTO working party will soon adopt the report.

Nevertheless, the procedural arrangements for Taiwan(cid:146) Protocol of Accession still need to be finalised. Both
Chinese accessions are planned to take place consecutively at the same WTO General Council meeting, one
immediately following the other.

In any case, the Commission is sure that Taiwan(cid:146)s admission will go ahead relatively easily since WTO
accession does not raise questions of national sovereignty.

(2001/C 81 E/244)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2356/00

by Reinhold Messner (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(13 July 2000)

Subject: Asti-Cuneo motorway link

On the grounds that the act was incompatible with the provisions of Directive 89/440/EEC (1), the deadline
for the transposition of which had already passed when the act was adopted, the Italian Council of State
declared unlawful the (cid:145)additional act(cid:146) of 1991 extending the concession granted to the firm SATAP to the
Asti-Cuneo section of the Turin-Piacenza motorway. Following this judgement the government announced
that SATAP(cid:146)s concession for the Asti-Cuneo section would probably be withdrawn.

With regard to the Commission(cid:146)s answer to Question P-1378/00 (2) on the issue of environmental impact
assessment, the modified motorway project cannot be considered an adequate response to the criticisms
levelled at the original project during the EIA procedure. In fact, the route of the second project was not
substantially modified (cid:129) only 2 km of an approximately 77 km stretch were revised and the route
continues to follow to a great extent the course of the River Stura, a torrential river subject to severe
flooding. Furthermore, the project was approved by the Italian cabinet in September 1994 without the
submission of justifying evidence (cid:129) the alleged technical findings of the Ministry for Public Works were in
fact never published (cid:129) and on the basis of the misguided technical opinion of an official in the secretariat
of the Ministry for the Environment, which was not consistent with the provisional unfavourable opinion
issued by the EIA ministerial committee in June 1994. This episode is being investigated by the Italian
Audit Commission. As requested by the Commission itself, the questioner is supplying information in an
annex to this question and would refer the Commission to the national highways authority ANAS
(via Monzambano 10, Rome) for details of the stretch of motorway under dispute.

Does the Commission intend to bring infringement proceedings against Italy, in the light of the recent
opinion of the Council of State, if the Italian State does not withdraw the concession from SATAP?

What steps will the Commission take to challenge the declaration by the Italian cabinet authorising the
construction of the motorway link despite the negative outcome of the EIA procedure?

How can a Member State be allowed to authorise the construction of public works ignoring the negative
outcome of the EIA procedure? Is such an act acceptable in the light of Community legislation on the
subject?

(1) OJ L 210, 21.7.1989, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 374 E, 28.12.2000, p. 218.