WRITTEN QUESTION E-3547/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Excessive increase in the price of paper.
Date: 2000-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, cartel, common commercial policy, price increase, pulp and paper industry, restriction on competition

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/75

(2001/C 174 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3547/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(15 November 2000)

Subject: Excessive increase in the price of paper

Is the Commission aware that, in Italy, the price of glossy paper and of newsprint paper (in particular (cid:129)
though not only (cid:129) paper used for newspapers) has gone up on account of the fact that there is no real
competition and the market is highly concentrated, being dominated by just a few companies?

What action is to be taken in order to remedy a state of affairs which is damaging not only to the
consumers of the product in question but also to the dissemination of information?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 2000)

The Commission is currently carrying out two investigations into the paper industry. Regarding glossy
paper and newsprint in particular,
it is obviously concerned about the occurrence of significant price
increases, which seem to be cyclical. In March 1999, having inspected several companies in the paper
industry and having requested information from them, the Commission sent a statement of objections to a
number of companies suspected of membership of a cartel. The geographical scale of the market is
European.

The Commission is also investigating a possible cartel in another sector of the paper industry (carbonless
paper) and at the end of July 2000 it addressed a statement of objections to a number of companies
operating on this market, which is also on a European scale.

Apart from those two particular cases, the Commission is systematically performing its supervisory role to
ensure that the industry complies with Community law, and in particular the competition rules.

(2001/C 174 E/077)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3548/00

by Umberto Scapagnini (PPE-DE), Raffaele Lombardo (PPE-DE),
Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE), Guido Viceconte (PPE-DE),
Guido Podest(cid:224) (PPE-DE) and Giuseppe Nistic(cid:242) (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(15 November 2000)

Subject: Mediterranean Basic

Does the Commission not consider that, as a matter of particular importance and urgency, the current
department within the Directorate-General for Research which is responsible for developing programmes
relating to the Mediterranean Basic should be upgraded?

The purpose of such an upgrading should not only be to increase the effectiveness of Community action
throughout the Mediterranean (pursuant to the process launched at the Barcelona Conference); it would
also reflect the political determination to increase and stimulate Mediterranean cooperation.

It should be emphasised that,
in the field of scientific and technological cooperation, the European
Community is in a position to cooperate with the countries of the Mediterranean in a way which is of
particular importance to the entire economic development of the region.