WRITTEN QUESTION P-2822/00 by W. G. van Velzen (PPE-DE) to the Council. Credit card fraud on the Internet.
Date: 2000-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: common commercial policy, computer crime, electronic commerce, electronic money

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/13

(2001/C 174 E/013)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2822/00

by W. G. van Velzen (PPE-DE) to the Council

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Credit card fraud on the Internet

Credit card fraud has been found to occur far more frequently on the Internet than in traditional shops.
Major credit card companies confirm that this is a big problem, which may jeopardise the further
development of and confidence in the new Internet economy. According to a publication by the Nether-
investigating credit card fraud involving the Internet has low
lands Public Prosecutions Department,
priority, both within the EU Member States and internationally, despite the large number of victims.

Can the Council indicate the state of affairs in this regard (how much Internet credit card fraud is
1.
reported, what are the figures for credit card payments in traditional shops)? Can the Council confirm that
credit card fraud is approximately three times as common in connection with Internet transactions as in
normal credit card transactions?

2.
Is such credit card fraud indeed an obstacle to the development of e-commerce and e-europe? How is
the Council minimising the adverse consequences and, bearing this situation in mind, how is the Council
ensuring the attainment of the objectives formulated at the special ICT summit in Lisbon?

In the light, inter alia, of the special summit in Lisbon on ICT policy in the EU, what priority is

3.
currently assigned to investigating such fraud and prosecuting offenders?

4.
Can the Council confirm that the low priority assigned to investigating such fraud in the EU impairs
public confidence in the Internet economy in the EU and that the good intentions stated at the special ICT
summit in Lisbon may consequently be jeopardised?

5.
How can the priority assigned to investigating such fraud and other Internet-related fraud and
prosecuting offenders be raised in order to continue to promote the development of e-commerce in the EU
as fully as possible?

6. When will the Council raise this priority?

Reply

(8 March 2001)

The extent of credit card fraud has not been quantified by the Council, but the European Parliament
produced the following figures in its report on the draft framework Decision (1):

Globally, the payment-card industry has a turnover of some USD 2 000 billion, between 0,1 % and
0,2 % of which is lost to various forms of payment card fraud; in other words, some USD 3 billion is
siphoned off annually from the normal economy by criminals. About 25 % of all losses are incurred
by issuers in the European Union. Most credit-card crime is committed on an organised basis.
Eurocheque fraud also causes considerable losses (in 1995 some ECU 41 million).

C 174 E/14

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

The need to combat this type of fraud was taken into account in the action plan of the Council and the
Commission of 3 December 1998 on how best to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam
on an area of freedom, security and justice (2). That action plan mentions high-tech crime among the types
of criminal behaviour which should be approached in an equally efficient way throughout the European
Union and for which (cid:145)the possibilities of
improving coordination of prosecution, whenever greater
efficiency can be reconciled with respect for individual rights, must be examined.(cid:146)

The Honourable Member will also note that, at its special meeting in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000,
the European Council stated that (cid:145)the rules for electronic commerce must be predictable and inspire
business and consumer confidence(cid:146). It called on the Council, along with the European Parliament where
appropriate, to adopt as rapidly as possible during 2000 pending legislation on the legal framework for
electronic commerce and suggested that the Commission and the Council consider how to promote
consumer confidence in electronic commerce. (3)

The Council has since reached provisional agreement, at its meeting on 29 May 2000, on a draft
framework Decision on combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash means of payment. The aim of
the draft is to ensure that fraud in respect of non-cash means of payment is recognised as a criminal
offence and is punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties in all the Member States. It
also aims to introduce suitable cooperation mechanisms so that such offences can be prosecuted
effectively, without prejudice to the Member States(cid:146) right to criminalise other forms of fraud in respect of
non-cash means of payment. In its Opinion of 5 July 2000, the European Parliament agreed to this draft,
which is still the subject of parliamentary scrutiny reservations in some Member States. Those reservations
will probably be withdrawn very soon, and formal adoption is planned for early 2001.

(1) Report by the Committee on Citizens(cid:146) Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs on the proposal for a Council
framework Decision on combating fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash means of payment (COM(1999) 438-
C5-0066/2000 (cid:129) 1999/0190(CNS)).

(2) OJ C 19, 23.1.1999, p. 1-15.
(3) Presidency conclusions.

(2001/C 174 E/014)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2882/00

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(13 September 2000)

Subject: Population trends in Spain and Galicia and EU harmonisation of the legal, economic and social

conditions of women(cid:146)s work

According to demographic forecasts by the EU(cid:146)s statistical services, the population of the Spanish state is
likely to diminish considerably over the next fifty years (by as much as 10 million), should the current,
extremely low birth rate be maintained. Numerous specialists, expressing views which common sense itself
confirms, believe that the main cause of the low birth rate lies in the problems faced by women in trying
to reconcile the world of work with their family responsibilities and the upbringing and education of
in the face of the unacceptable rigidity of employers who prefer to recruit women without
children,
children, thus deterring women who would otherwise want more children from having them; a further
factor lies in the financial penalties attaching today to extended maternity leave, given the lack of creche
facilities and the obstacles to women improving their technical and professional skills during their
maternity leave.

The demographic problems obviously have numerous additional causes (cid:129) one of them being men(cid:146)s
continued unwillingness to help in the home (cid:129) which are independent of the specific problems faced by
women. They are also to be found to some extent in most of the Member States, although they are hitting
the Spanish state (cid:129) and within it, regions such as Galicia (cid:129) particularly hard. However, the nature of the