WRITTEN QUESTION E-3637/02 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Economic integration.
Date: 2002-12-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, direct investment, economic statistics, foreign investment, investment abroad

8.5.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 110 E/221

(2003/C 110 E/246)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3637/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 December 2002)

Subject: Economic integration

Following the Commission’s answer to question E-1816/02 (1), will the Commission please note that the
question referred to the stock (not the flow) of foreign direct investment in each Member State, and will
the Commission please now answer the question posed:

Will the Commission give figures for the most recent available year, for five years previously and for ten
years previously, for the stock of quoted equities held by non-residents in each Member State of the Union
as a percentage of that Member State’s GDP, and will it in addition break down that figure into non-
resident holdings of equities held by Member State residents and by non-Member State residents?

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 233.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(15 January 2003)

In the International Investment Position statistics, equity stocks held by non-residents are classified as
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stocks (if the non-resident holds at least 10 % of the equity capital of the
enterprise) or as portfolio investment stocks if this is not the case. Both types of stocks refer to quoted and
non-quoted shares. Data for Union equity stocks held by non-residents are available only for the FDI part
without distinction between quoted and non-quoted shares. They are a subset of total FDI inward stocks,
which also include stocks of FDI debt liabilities vis-à-vis non-resident parties.

All data available are given in the table sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s
secretariat. They are broken down by owner as required (intra-Union/extra-Union) and cover the period
from end-1994 to end-2000. The same kind of data is also given at the level of individual Member States,
in nearly all cases. Main exceptions are Belgium-Luxembourg and (as concerns the split between intra-
Union/extra-Union) also Spain and Ireland. For other Member States, the time series are not complete and/
or part of the distinction equity/total FDI is missing. Missing Member States are however counted in the
Union aggregate, either on the basis of non-publishable information sent by the Member States concerned,
or on the basis of Eurostat estimates made using all available information.

(2003/C 110 E/247)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3731/02

by Marianne Thyssen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 December 2002)

Subject: Report on the implementation of Directive 98/6/EC of 16 February 1998 on consumer protection
in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers (price indication per unit)

Directive 98/6/EC (1) made it compulsory to indicate the selling price and the unit price of products offered
to consumers. The directive should have been implemented by 18 March 2000 at the latest. Pursuant to
Article 6 of the Directive, however, a number of Member States made use of the transitional period of up
to 3 years during which firms were not required to indicate the price per unit for products other than
those sold in bulk.

Under Article 12 the Commission is required to submit a report by 18 March 2003 on the implementation
of the directive, particularly on the application of Article 6, together with a proposal.