WRITTEN QUESTION P-1041/02 by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission. Annual company accounts publication requirement — internet option.
Date: 2002-04-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet, company law, publication of accounts, simplification of formalities, simplification of legislation, single market, type of business

C 28 E/64

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2003

A list of all the cases which were cleared conditionally at Phase 1 in 2001, together with those cases into
which the Commission undertook an in-depth investigation is sent direct to the Honourable Member and
to Parliament’s Secretariat. Further anlysis of these cases will be presented to the Parliament when the
Commission presents its Annual Report for 2001.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between

undertakings, OJ L 395, 30.12.1989 (cid:1) whole text republished in OJ L 257, 21.9.1990.

(2003/C 28 E/070)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1023/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 April 2002)

Subject: Public finance data

Will the Commission state which Member States’ budget deficit figures and which Member States’ public
debt figures cannot be certified by Eurostat as being in line with ESA95 and in both cases for which years?

What measures is the Commission taking to remedy matters?

Will the Commission state the nature of Eurostat’s reservations in each case?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2002)

Eurostat, as a Commission service, has named, in its press release on deficit and debt in the Union dated
21 March 2002 (1), the Member States for which figures could not be certified due to lack of information
on some statistical issues.

The Commission intends to pursue the issue by asking for additional details and by discussing the issues
bilaterally with Member States. The next notification before the 1 September 2002 should contain certified
data for these Member States.

The nature of Eurostat’s reservations was explained in Eurostat’s above mentioned press release.

(1) http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-catalogue/EN?catalogue=Eurostat&product=2-21032002-

EN-AP-EN.

(2003/C 28 E/071)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1041/02

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 April 2002)

Subject: Annual company accounts publication requirement (cid:1) internet option

European company law requires business operators to confirm that their annual accounts have been
lodged with their Chamber of Commerce by publishing an announcement in a newspaper specified by
their Member State. Changes in business operations and management also have to be published. In the
Netherlands, Mr Stef Blok, a Member of the Second Chamber of the States-General, has argued that these
requirements place an administrative burden on business operators over and above the publication costs
incurred. In the present state of technology, such paperwork imposes an unnecessary burden on business
and runs counter to the objective of turning Europe into the world’s most dynamic knowledge-based
economy by 2010. Is the European Commission prepared to submit a proposal for this publication
requirement to be simplified by authorising internet publication?

6.2.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/65

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(6 May 2002)

The requirements in respect of compulsory filing and disclosure of a series of documents and particulars
by limited liability companies are set out in the First Council Directive 68/151/EEC of 9 March 1968 on
co-ordination of safeguards which, for the protection of the interests of members and others, are required
by Member States of companies within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 58 of the Treaty,
with a view to making such safeguards equivalent throughout the Community (1) (‘the First Company Law
Directive’).

In the context of the fourth phase of the Simplification of the Legislation on the Internal Market (SLIM)
process, a Working Group issued in September 1999 a Report on the simplification of the First and
Second Company Law Directives. The main recommendations relating to the First Directive consisted
notably of the need to accelerate the filing and disclosure of company documents and particulars by the
use of modern technology.

The Commission is currently working on a proposal for a directive amending the First Company Law
Directive on the basis of the SLIM recommendations. The proposal is expected to be adopted by the
Commission before the summer.

The modernisation of the First Directive will not only help to meet the important objective of making
company information more easily and rapidly accessible by interested parties, but will also simplify
significantly the disclosure formalities imposed upon companies.

More particularly, companies will be able to choose to file their documents and particulars by paper means
or by electronic means. Interested parties will be able to obtain a copy of such documents and particulars
by paper means and by electronic means. Member States will be able to decide to keep the national
gazette, appointed for the publication of company documents and particulars, in electronic form or to
replace this publication with equally effective means.

(1) OJ L 65, 14.3.1968.

(2003/C 28 E/072)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1042/02

by José Pomés Ruiz (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 April 2002)

Subject: Euronews and Gara: the only Spanish media which fail to call ETA a terrorist group

In its bulletin of 26 March 2002, Euronews once again referred to ETA as a ‘separatist organisation’ rather
than a terrorist group.

Objectivity and neutrality in the news media demand that in a report of a rape the word ‘rapist’ should be
used. If an armed robbery is reported, the authors should be termed ‘robbers’. What matters from the
information viewpoint is the offence committed in itself and not the reasons for the robbery or rape.
Nonetheless, certain Spanish media, when reporting terrorist attacks perpetrated by ETA, prefer to refer to
the motives put forward by the criminals themselves to justify their actions.

The media concerned are:

(cid:1) Gara, a newspaper with a small audience which is openly pro-ETA; and

(cid:1) Euronews, a television channel with a large audience which many Spanish people perceive as officially

representing the voice of the EU.

On 10 December 2001 the author of the present question tabled a question to the Commission on the
same subject (P-3466/01) (1). The Commission’s reply suggested that the President of the Commission is
clearly opposed to this unethical attitude on the part of Euronews, which has, however, persisted despite
this warning.

What action does the Commission intend to take to ensure that Euronews ceases to refer to ETA as a
‘separatist organisation’, and carries out its reporting on the same basis as the other media committed to
freedom and democracy?