WRITTEN QUESTION E-3760/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Rules governing debt collection.
Date: 2000-12-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, application of EU law, freedom to provide services, national law, redemption, right of establishment

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/1

I

(Information)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER

(2002/C 205 E/001)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0391/00

by Maurizio Turco (TDI) to the Commission

(8 February 2000)

Subject: Utilisation of Structural Funds in Italy 1994/1999

Recent statements by the Italian Court of Auditors have reopened the vexed question of the proper use of
the Structural Funds in Italy.

According to the information available to the Court, Italy is still seriously behind in the implementation of
the 1994-1999 programme.

Are reports to that effect accurate?

Could the Commission provide, as soon as possible, the most recent data at its disposal concerning
commitments and payments by region and by objective?

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2002)

The Commission is sending the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat the most recent data it
has received from the Italian authorities showing the practical situation at 30 June 2001 for commitments
and payments, by region and by Structural Funds Objective in Italy during the 1994-1999 programming
period. The data were provided by the Italian Economics Ministry’s monitoring system and can be
consulted also at their website at the following address: www.tesoro.it.

The Commission would point out that the deadline for payments for the 1994-1999 programming period
is 31 December 2001, save for extensions in exceptional circumstances. The national authorities must then
present, for each programme, before 30 June 2002 a final
implementation report and a request for
payment of the balance. It is only then that the Commission will be in a position to establish precisely the
extent to which the appropriations allocated to each programme have actually been used.

(2002/C 205 E/002)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3760/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 December 2000)

Subject: Rules governing debt collection

In Italy the business of debt collection is at present governed by Article 115 of the Act consolidating the
public safety laws (T.U.L.P.S.), adopted under Royal Decree No 773 of 18 June 1931.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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29.8.2002

In Ministerial Circular 559/C 22103.1205 of 2 July 1996 the Italian Ministry of the Interior restricted the
operations of debt collection agencies to the territory of the province where an agency’s licence was issued
and its head office is based.

Can the Commission say whether the above restriction is compatible with the Treaties and the Community
legislation whereby Member States have undertaken to refrain from obstructing the freedom to provide
services, the heading under which debt collection for third parties in fact falls?

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 December 2001)

As announced in its initial answer to this written question, the Commission sent a request for information
to the national authorities concerning Italian rules in the field of extrajudicial debt collection activities in
Italy.

This request for information, which was made in February 2001, has so far remained unanswered.

The Commission feels that doubts remain about the compatibility of the Italian rules with Articles 43 (ex
Article 52) and 49 (ex Article 59) of the EC Treaty, which sanction the abolition of restrictions on the
fundamental freedom of establishment and the fundamental freedom to provide services in the internal
market respectively.

The Italian rules do, in fact, stipulate the general obligation for prior authorisation to carry out such an
activity and that the validity of this authorisation is limited only to the province in which it has been
issued by the provincial police authorities.

In the light of the relevant legal provisions in this matter and in the absence of any other information, it
would appear in particular that this arrangement applies to all operators @ with no distinction made
between those established in Italy and those providing services @ and that no account is taken therefore of
obligations already fulfilled by operators in their Member State of origin.

The Commission, having formally recorded the written question by the Honourable Member in the register
of complaints, will decide in the near future whether to send a letter of formal notice to Italy under the
infringement proceedings laid down in Article 226 (ex Article 169) of the EC Treaty.

(2002/C 205 E/003)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2027/01

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(13 July 2001)

Subject: Third party taxes in Greece

In its endeavour to harmonise taxes in the Member States, the Commission has taken Greece to the Court
of Justice for not having abolished its third party taxes, which are statutory financial charges, imposed on
persons or firms paying tax or conducting business, in order to give financial support to third parties.

Given that third party taxes constitute revenue for a number of insurance funds, such as the Farmers’
Security Organisation, sports associations and cultural organisations, will the Commission say:

1. how the organisations deprived of the revenue from third party taxes will be given support, and

2. what proposals it has put forward to remedy this situation?