WRITTEN QUESTION E-2510/00 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission. Discrimination by Italian banks.
Date: 2000-08-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, bank, bank deposit, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of capital

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/111

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(14 September 2000)

The Commission has not received any information about the scale of a possible reduction of sales of
Spanish and Italian wines in the United Kingdom as a result of increased cross-border purchases of wine
by British customers in France. As a consequence, the Commission cannot express itself on the figures
cited by the British brewing industry.

As part of its next report on the levels of the minimum excise duty rates and the excise duty rates applied
by Member States, which the Commission intends to submit at the beginning of 2001, the Commission
has to examine these rate levels in the light of the proper functioning of the internal market. To the extent
that data are available, phenomena such as that cited by the Honourable Member will be addressed in this
report as well as in the study that has been commissioned from external consultants. This study will deal,
more in particular, with the issue of competition between different categories of alcoholic drinks and will
try to identify and explain trends in their consumption. The Commission would therefore invite the
Honourable Member to submit any relevant information he has on this issue.

(2001/C 113 E/111)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2510/00

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(2 August 2000)

Subject: Discrimination by Italian banks

Will the Commission confirm that it is illegal for Italian banks to discriminate against EU citizens who
want to open a bank account in Italy by offering them (cid:145)foreign(cid:146) accounts at disadvantageous terms?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(2 October 2000)

The free movement of capital as provided for in Article 56 (ex Article 73b) of the EC Treaty is one of the
cornerstones of the single market. However, Article 58 (ex Article 73d) of the EC Treaty explicitly sets out
the Member States(cid:146) right to maintain or introduce certain measures for reasons of taxation (different
treatment of residents and non-residents) as well as for statistical and administrative reasons. However,
such measures may not be discriminatory.

information for establishing their balance of payments, most
Given the necessity to obtain statistical
Member States impose certain reporting requirements on their banks and financial institutions. Certain
transactions from and/or to a non-resident account as well as cross-border transactions in general have to
be notified to the authorities. This is the case in Italy.

Hence, operating a non-resident account calls for additional administrative procedures for the credit
institutions under present Italian legislation. If a provider decides to levy additional charges in order to
cover the cost of the necessary manual handling, this decision is made on the basis of profitability and
hence a commercial decision;
it is not a discriminatory decision. Neither national authorities nor the
Commission can intervene in the banks(cid:146) price policy.

Furthermore, should a provider decide that these additional administrative procedures are too burdensome
to enable the provision of non-resident accounts on a commercially viable basis, the provider is under no
obligation to provide such a service

It should be noted that there is also a tax issue to be considered in this context. Residents in Italy are
subject to Italian income tax on the interest from their bank accounts. Non-residents, on the contrary, are
not subject to Italian income tax on such income, but normally in their country of residence.