WRITTEN QUESTION E-3828/02 by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Dansk Retursystem A/S as a technical obstacle to trade.
Date: 2003-01-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, beer, import, marketing standard, packaging, technical barriers to trade, trade restriction, waste management

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7.11.2003

However, the Commission would like to point out that the Community requirement that Member States
shall accord every facility to family members of Union citizens in obtaining a visa should allow the
interested party to obtain a visa with a long period of validity. This would at
least alleviate the
inconvenience of having to make a new visa request for every trip.

(1) Council Directive 68/360/EEC of 15 October 1968 on the abolition of restrictions on movement and residence
within the Community for workers of Member States and their families, OJ L 257, 19.10.1968 and Council
Directive 73/148/EEC of 21 May 1973 on the abolition of restrictions on movement and residence within the
Community for nationals of Member States with regard to establishment and the provision of services, OJ L 172,
28.6.1973.

(2) The list of third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa figure in the Council Regulation (EC)
No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001, OJ L 81, 21.3.2001. This Regulation is applied by all Member States, except the
United Kingdom and Ireland, who apply national legislation in this respect.

(2003/C 268 E/055)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3828/02

by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Dansk Retursystem A/S as a technical obstacle to trade

(9 January 2003)

Articles 1 and 7 of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC (1) on packaging and packaging
waste state that obstacles to trade and distortion and restriction of competition in the Community must be
avoided, and that systems must be set up in such a way that imported goods have access to the market
under non-discriminatory conditions.

It is therefore surprising that such an obstacle to trade and discrimination against imported goods is
allowed to take place in Denmark, where Dansk Retursystem A/S is obstructing free competition.

One of the ways in which this takes place is by stipulating that imported products may not be placed on
the market until at
four weeks after they have been registered with Dansk Retursystem A/S
(§9, paragraph 3 of Order No 713 of 24 August 2002 concerning deposits on and collection of packaging
for beer and certain soft drinks).

least

importers are required to declare their forecast sales for the first

Furthermore,
two months after
registration or to declare actual sales on a weekly basis (§11, paragraph 2 of the above Order), which is
suspicious given that the 10 members of the Board of Dansk Retursystem A/S include two from Carlsberg
and two from Bryggerigruppen which have a combined share of the market in beer of some 90 %
(www.carlsberg.com/www.bryggerigruppen.dk). This system thus gives the two biggest companies on the
beer market free access to data concerning expected quantities of imports.

In addition, imported products must be individually labelled with various instructions concerning deposits
which,
increases
together with the administrative costs entailed by the numerous forms involved,
importers’ costs considerably.

The above provisions make it practically impossible to import foreign beer into the Danish market. Will
the Commission therefore say what steps it intends to take to put an end to this obstruction of trade and
discrimination?

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(21 February 2003)

Directive 94/62/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 1994, on packaging and
packaging waste has two main objectives: to protect the environment and to protect the functioning of the

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internal market. To this end, the Directive lays down measures which have as their first priority preventing
the production of packaging waste and have as additional fundamental aims reusing packaging, recycling
and other means of recovering packaging waste, hence reducing the final disposal of such waste.

During 2002, Denmark notified to the Commission pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the Parliament and
of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of
technical standards and regulations (1) national draft legislation concerning deposits on and collection of
packaging for beer and certain soft drinks (2). The national legislation in question was examined by the
Commission in relation to the requirements of the EC Treaty as well as secondary legislation, including
Directive 94/62/EC. An examination of the notified draft legislative text and the information sent by the
Danish authorities did not allow the Commission to conclude that
the
provisions of the EC Treaty regarding the free movement of goods nor of Directive 94/62/EC. However,
the Commission considered that once the system has been put in place, it will have to be ensured that it
does not create any trade barriers which show themselves disproportionate to the desired objective and
that it would be appropriate to monitor the practical operation of the system in order to ensure
compliance with the above-mentioned Community legislation.

there was infringement of

Thus far no information has been made available to the Commission which would demonstrate that
infringements exist as a result of the Danish legislation concerning deposits on and the collection of
packaging for beer and certain soft drinks. The new information provided by the Honourable Member has
been examined by the Commission. The situations described regarding registration procedures, declarations
of sales and labelling do not, on the basis of the available information, constitute as such an infringement
of the provisions in the EC Treaty on the free movement of goods or of Directive 94/62/EC. In order to
assess whether any infringement exists in this case, further evidence would be necessary. If information
was submitted that could prove an infringement of Community law, the Commission may open and
investigate an own-initiative case and if necessary decide to initiate infringement proceedings under
Article 226 of the EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998.
(2) More information about the Danish notification is available at the Commission web site:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/tris/pisa/app/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=pisa_notif_overview&iYear=2002
&inum=98&lang=EN&sNLang=EN.

(2003/C 268 E/056)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3848/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 January 2003)

Subject: Taking measures in advance to avoid accusations of partiality in the use of public funding in

connection with referendums in the applicant countries on accession to the EU

1.
Are referendums to be held in all ten of the applicant countries which are scheduled to join the EU
on 1 May 2004 to ascertain whether the electorate accepts or rejects accession, or are there exceptions? In
which States where the government intends to accede is no referendum planned?

2. Who is responsible for financing these referendums and who distributes any grants to pay for
information or propaganda between the pro- and anti-accession camps?

3. What is being done to avert the risk that any businesses which are interested parties or any funds to
which businesses make contributions may be given the opportunity to spend large sums on propaganda
for a referendum result which they consider to be in their own interests?

4.
Is the former member of the Estonian Parliament Ivar Raig right to say that 99,9 % of the funding
which his country receives from the Commission to organise a referendum is going to the ‘Yes to the EU’
camp and 0,1 % to the ‘No to the EU’ camp? What are the criteria for allocating any referendum-connected
EU funding to beneficiaries?