WRITTEN QUESTION E-3607/02 by Mary Banotti (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Interchangeability of postage stamps of the euro zone.
Date: 2002-12-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: deepening of the European Union, euro area, postal and telecommunications services, postal charges, postal service

C 88 E/298

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

My questions to the Commission are now:

1. What rules determine that the Commission cannot answer a question about its present contractors

only because there is an ongoing OLAF investigation into its former contractors?

2. What is the name of the Eurostat contractor? Is it Eurogramme Limited or Eurogramme? And if it is
Eurogramme, could you please then tell me how this change of contractor is compatible with the rule
that Eurostat only enters into contracts with companies that can show three years’ full and correct
accounts?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(6 February 2003)

As a matter of principle, the Commission does not wish to comment on this file which is subject to
investigation by European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the
the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by OLAF (1),
Parliament and of
governing the investigations of OLAF, the information obtained in the context of OLAF investigations is
subject to confidentiality and the protection of data rules.

The name of
the contractor is Eurogramme SARL. This company signed an Addendum with the
Commission at the end of 2001, by which it succeeded to all contractual rights and obligations of
Eurogramme Limited Succursale Luxembourg.

There is no rule that the Commission may only enter into contracts with companies that can show three
years’ accounts. Article 31 of Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 (2) relating to the coordination
of procedures for the award of public service contracts sets out a number of alternative methods for
proving financial capacity. Such alternative methods are appropriate, for example, in the case of newly
created companies.

(1) OJ L 136, 31.5.1999.
(2) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.

(2004/C 88 E/0305)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3607/02

by Mary Banotti (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 December 2002)

Subject: Interchangeability of postage stamps of the euro zone

Given that postage stamps are now the same price in many countries of the euro zone, will there be a
possibility of interchanging stamps within the euro zone (e.g. using an Irish stamp in Belgium)?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2003)

It appears that there are a number of preconditions for stamps to become interchangeable. The prices
would have to be identical, the services the same, and the possibility of easily administered and non
controversial stamp revenue allocation between postal operators assured.

As the Honourable Member is aware, there remain differences in postal tariffs across the Community. This
reflects the Postal Directive 97/67 requirement that tariffs should ‘be geared to costs’, in that different
postal service providers incur different levels of cost in the provision of postal services, due for example to
national conditions, such as geography or cost of living, and also to different domestic quality of service
standards.

8.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 88 E/299

Further, some operators also price differently according to the weight, size or dimensions of the postal
item.

Many postal operators now offer a wide range of services to their customers, with a wide range of prices.
This would make it difficult to easily compare and price identically like- for-like services.

Finally, the allocation of stamp revenues across postal operators would be extremely difficult to assess were
stamps to become interchangeable. For example, if Irish stamps were used in Belgium, the postal operator
in Ireland would benefit from the stamp revenue but incur no costs towards the delivery of the postal item
in Belgium. Tackling this distortion would imply a complex, costly and potentially controversial system of
revenue reallocation between postal operators.

In light of the above, the preconditions for the ‘interchangeability’ of stamps do not seem to be present, or
look likely to be present in the near future.

However, the Honourable Member question raises an interest point about one possible future development
in the postal services market and the Commission will continue to monitor the issue.

(2004/C 88 E/0306)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3626/02

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 December 2002)

Subject: Implementation by Greece of Directive 1999/70/EC

Under Council Directive 1999/70/EC (1) of 28 June 1999 on fixed-term work, the Member States are
required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with
this Directive by 10 July 2002. Three months after the deadline for Greece to comply with Directive 1999/
70/EC, the Greek Government published a draft Presidential Decree which unlawfully exempts from the
scope of the directive individuals employed on contract by the public administration,
legal persons
governed by public law, local government and many other sectors of economic activity.

In its opinion on the Presidential Decree, with which employees and employers fully agreed, the Economic
and Social Committee of Greece rejected the above exemptions introduced by the Presidential Decree as
‘contrary to the letter of the Directive’. Given that Directive 1999/70/EC affects many thousands of
workers in Greece who work under insecure and uncertain conditions, will the Commission say why it
does not initiate proceedings against the Member State in question in the Court of Justice for its failure to
comply with the deadlines for implementing Directive 1999/70/EC and for the Greek Government’s
unacceptable restriction of the scope of that Directive?

(1) OJ L 175, 10.7.1999, p. 43.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 2003)

As Greece has not communicated to the Commission any information regarding the transposition of
Directive 1999/70/EC concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC,
UNICE and CEEP, the Commission will be obliged to examine the possibility of launching infringement
proceedings against Greece on these grounds.