WRITTEN QUESTION E-1151/01 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Financial services and e-commerce.
Date: 2001-04-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: electronic commerce, financial institution, mutual recognition principle, third country, trade agreement (EU)

C 350 E/84

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

11.12.2001

(2001/C 350 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1151/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 April 2001)

Subject: Financial services and e-commerce

Will the Commission state what agreements have, to its knowledge, been negotiated between third
countries for the mutual recognition of financial services businesses taking advantage of the opportunities
of e-commerce?

Will it confirm that Australia and Singapore are among these countries?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 2001)

The Commission is not aware of any agreement between third countries for mutual recognition of
financial services that would take particular advantage of the opportunities of e-commerce.

The only Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Financial Services between third countries notified
before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Article VII, is the Agreement between the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Swiss Confederation on
direct insurance, which entered into force on 9 July 1998. In the case of Singapore: this country has
notified the WTO that it does not maintain recognition measures based on agreements or arrangements of
the type referred to in GATS VII, but that it accords recognition autonomously.

As to agreements currently under negotiation between third countries, the Commission has taken note of
press reports concerning trade talks between Australia and Singapore with the aim of establishing a free
trade area by the end of 2001. According to these sources, the negotiations should lead to improved
reciprocal market access for financial services and telecommunications.

(2001/C 350 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1160/01

by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 April 2001)

Subject: Regulatory framework video games

Recent research by the American Psychological Association (APA) has demonstrated that certain violent
video games can trigger aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviour in minors but also in adult users and
affect them much more than television or the cinema. It has also shown that many video games make
children more aggressive, and their effect on human psychology may be even more harmful than violent
scenes on TV or in the cinema, owing to the interactive nature of video games.

However, according to the Commission(cid:146)s evaluation report to the Council and the European Parliament
(COM(2001) 106 final, 27.2.2001) concerning the protection of minors and human dignity,
legislative
provisions concerning a rating system for video games exist in only six Member States.

There are substantial differences in the approaches adopted by the various Member States in this matter
(for instance, France has established a legislative framework to ban violent video games, Sweden is
considering grading material according to the age of users and only very few Member States practice self-
regulation for rating video games). In view of this, does the Commission intend to promote a uniform
scheme for regulating this area in all Member States and, if not, what measures does it intend to take to
ensure the protection of minors from the harmful effects of video games?