WRITTEN QUESTION P-2210/02 by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Award of ecopoints and application of the 108 % clause.
Date: 2002-07-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Austria, EU environmental policy, European Commission, Italy, common transport policy, operation of the Institutions, police checks, road transport, toll, tradeable emission permit

C 309 E/208

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

(2002/C 309 E/240)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2199/02

by Emilia Müller (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 July 2002)

Subject: Italian mobile phone and card denied to German nationals (cid:1) Written Question E-0808/02

Unfortunately, the Commission failed to reply to one of the questions which I put in my Written Question
E-0808/02 (1).

May an Italian mobile phone network operator deny a German national use of an Italian prepaid card with
an Italian mobile phone on the grounds of that person’s German nationality?

If so, what are the grounds for this action by the Italian mobile phone network operator?

If not, how can this deplorable state of affairs be remedied?

(1) OJ C 229 E, 26.9.2002, p. 140.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2002)

The Commission will write to the Italian authorities asking them:

(cid:1) to make enquiries as to the existence and the specific circumstances of the refusal by Italian mobile
phone operators to permit a German national the use of an Italian prepaid card with an Italian mobile
phone and,

(cid:1) if this is found to be the case, to request them to take action in order to bring such practices to an

end.

The Commission would also like to recall that, as explained in the previous response of the Commission to
Written Question E-0808/02 of the Honourable Member (1), the regime applicable to pre-paid mobile
phones remains a question of commercial practice by operators and of consumer choice in the absence of
european and national legislation on this issue.

Consequently, nationals of other Member States may bring actions before the national courts which can
decide, on a case by case basis, the legitimacy and justification of such commercial practice and take
appropriate action against
the practice constitutes a
discriminatory solution contrary to Articles 12 (ex-Article 6) and 49 (ex-Article 59) of the EC Treaty.

the commercial operator

they rule that

if

This has been confirmed by the Court of Justice and, for instance, in Walrave and LJN Koch v Association
‘the first paragraph of
Union cycliste internationale, C-36/74 (paragraph 16)
Article 59 (current Article 49) of the EC Treaty, in any event in so far as it refers to the abolition of any
discrimination based on nationality, creates individual rights which national courts must protect’.

the Court stated that:

(1) OJ C 229 E, 26.9.2002, p. 140.

(2002/C 309 E/241)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2210/02

by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Award of ecopoints and application of the 108 % clause

(12 July 2002)

In the document on the award of ecopoints submitted on 1 July 2002 the Commission announced that it
had decided to deduct as many as 350 000 ecopoints from Italy’s quota for transit journeys in 2001.

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/209

The reasons given for doing so relate to the application of the 108 % clause.

Given that in its new proposal for a revision of the ecopoints system submitted on 21 December 2002 (1)
the Commission itself announces that the 108 % clause is to be repealed since it has proved disastrous
owing to its adverse impact and to verification difficulties, would it now state:

(cid:1) on what basis it is announcing a cut in Italy’s quota of ecopoints even before the annual verification

for 2001 has been carried out;

(cid:1) how it can justify such a move on the basis of a clause (the 108 % provision) which, although not yet
officially repealed since consideration of the proposal within Parliament has not yet been completed,
has been repudiated by all concerned and has been declared impossible to implement in an official
Commission document;

(cid:1) how it intends to dissuade the Austrian police from carrying out overly-officious checks on non-
Austrian heavy goods vehicles, thus wasting an enormous amount of time and money, and how it
intends to go about reducing the disproportionate tolls charged at the Europabruck and the Arlberg
Tunnel?

(1) COM(2001) 807 final, 2001/0310(COD), OJ C 103 E, 30.4.2002, p. 230.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2002)

The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that, as of 1 July 2002, it has not decided to
reduce the number of ecopoints to be awarded to the Member States and that
the provisions of
Commission Regulation No 609/2000 (Article 6(3)) (1) have been fulfilled.

On 21 December 2000 (2),
the 108 % clause should be
removed. It was approved at first reading by Parliament in September 2001. The proposal is still before the
Council.

the Commission presented a proposal

that

Until the Council decides the matter, the Commission is obliged to ensure that the legislation currently in
force is respected and, like last year, has therefore set aside a number of electronic ecopoints in case the
108 % clause has to be applied this year. The transit journey statistics forwarded by Austria have been
examined by the Commission and by the ecopoints management committee. As a result, on 24 July 2002,
the Commission decided not to apply the clause for the year 2001 and not to reduce the number of
ecopoints for 2002. It has therefore gone ahead with the allocation of the remaining ecopoints.

The Commission has been informed of problems with police checks on Austrian roads, and has sent a
letter to the Austrian federal authorities asking for further explanation.

In its judgment of 26 September 2000 (3),
the
the Court of
infringement proceedings initiated by the Commission, Austria had failed to fulfil its obligations under
Council Directive 93/89/EEC (4) in respect of toll charges. Austria has, in the meantime, put an end to the
discriminatory Brenner toll charges, reducing them slightly. In addition, as announced in 2002 in the
White Paper on European transport policy, the Commission is currently drawing up a methodology for
setting transport infrastructure charges, and plans to publish a new directive on road infrastructure
charging by the end of 2002.

in the context of

Justice ruled that,

(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 609/2000 of 21 March 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 laying down
detailed measures concerning the system of rights of transit (ecopoints) for heavy-goods vehicles transiting through
Austria. OJ L 73, 22.3.2000.

(2) COM(2000) 862 final.
(3) Case C-205/98, Commission v Republic of Austria [2000] ECR I-7367.
(4) Council Directive 93/89/EEC of 25 October 1993 on the application by Member States of taxes on certain vehicles
used for the carriage of goods by road and tolls and charges for the use of certain infrastructures. OJ L 279,
12.11.1993.