WRITTEN QUESTION P-3291/03 by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission. Enforcement of Community decisions in Portugal.
Date: 2003-11-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, application of EU law, bank charges, exemption from restrictive-practice authorisation, financial legislation

C 78 E/512

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(4 December 2003)

The Commission would like to emphasise first of all that Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (1) coordinates the
national social security systems of the Member States in order to ensure that persons moving within the
Union enjoy the highest standard of social protection. This Regulation includes, in particular, a set of rules
establishing the applicable social security legislation in situations where workers have links with two or
more Member States. These rules are mandatory and do not allow insured persons to choose the social
security legislation which they would prefer to see applied.

In order to establish which legislation is applicable, the Commission intends to ask the Dutch authorities
for an explanation to determine whether this is a case of the posting of workers in the context of the
provision of services and whether Community law has been properly observed.

(1) Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to

employed persons and their families moving within the Community, OJ L 149, 5.7.1971.

(2004/C 78 E/0533)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3291/03

by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Enforcement of Community decisions in Portugal

(3 November 2003)

Commission Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC
Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case No COMP/29 373 (cid:1) Visa International (cid:1) Multilateral
Interchange Fee) was published in the Official Journal (1).

The Decision sets out maximum values which may be charged by VISA for the use of debit and credit
cards in the Eurozone.

Naturally the rates applied to transactions made within each country must be lower than those applied to
the Eurozone, given the lower cost of telephone calls.

1. Will the Commission specify what body is responsible for the implementation of this Decision in
Portugal?

2.
Given that there is only one company, owned by the Portuguese banks (cid:1) Unicre (cid:1) through which
virtually all debit and credit card transactions made in Portugal are processed, what body is responsible for
enforcing Community decisions in this field?

(1) OJ L 318, 22.11.2002, p. 17.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(5 December 2003)

By Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002, the Commission has exempted, under the Union competition
rules, certain multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border payments with Visa cards. The exemption
will expire in 2007.

In order to answer the questions of the Honourable Member, the Commission would first clarify some
aspects of Decision 2002/914/EC. The MIF is an inter-bank payment made for each transaction carried out
with a payment card. In the Visa system, it is paid to the cardholder’s bank by the retailer’s bank and
constitutes a cost for the latter which is normally passed on to retailers as part of the fee they pay to the
bank for each Visa card payment. The default level of the Visa MIF for cross-border transactions within the
European Region, which applies unless two banks agree otherwise, is set by the Visa EU Board and was
notified to the Commission for clearance. The exemption under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty was granted

27.3.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/513

by the Commission after Visa submitted a package of reforms, and it was the object of extensive
discussions and consultation with interested parties. More particularly, Visa committed itself, firstly, to
reducing the level of its MIFs for the different types of consumer cards: for Visa’s deferred debit card and
credit card payments, the weighted average MIF rate will be brought down in stages, to a level of 0,7 % in
2007; for debit card transactions, Visa will immediately introduce a flat-rate MIF of EUR 0,28. Secondly,
the MIF is capped at the level of costs for certain specific services provided by issuing banks, which in the
Commission’s view correspond to services provided by cardholders’ banks which benefit those retailers
who ultimately pay the cross-border MIF. Thirdly, Visa has allowed member banks to reveal information
about the MIF levels and the relative percentage of the three cost categories to retailers at their request.

1. Monitoring the respect by Visa of the modified MIF scheme for cross-border transactions in all
Member States (therefore also in Portugal) is under the responsibility of the Commission. Should any
infringement of the terms of the exemption decision come to the attention of the Commission, the services
of Directorate General Competition will investigate any possible deviation from the decision.

It is important to emphasise that the exemption decision of the Commission only applies to cross-border
payment transactions with Visa consumer cards at retailer outlets within the European Economic Area. The
decision does not apply to MIFs for domestic Visa payments within Member States. As a matter of fact, the
assessment of the exemptability of the reformed Visa MIF was carried out by the Commission in the
context of cross-border payments within the Visa payment scheme only. The assessment of Visa MIFs for
domestic payments in Portugal would have to be made in the light of the different market conditions in
the Member State.

2.
Community competition law applies where trade between Member States may be appreciably
affected. Therefore, if there were to be any indication of possible violation of Community competition law
in the Portuguese cards market, such information could be forwarded to the National Competition
Authority or the Commission.

A copy of the concerns raised by the Honourable Member has been sent to the Portuguese competition
authority (Autoridade da Concorrência).

(2004/C 78 E/0534)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3294/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission

(7 November 2003)

Subject: The European Commission’s 5th Framework Project

How does the Commission plan to utilise the findings of its 5th Framework Project ‘The Orientation of
Young Men and Women to Citizenship and European Identity’ (HPSE-CT-2001-00077)?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(12 December 2003)

Under the Second Call
for Proposals launched by the Key Action ‘Improving the Socio-economic
knowledge-base’ of the Fifth Framework Programme, the project ‘Orientations of Young Men and Women
to Citizenship and European Identity’
received a financial contribution of
(HPSE-CT-2001-00077)
EUR 995 000 with a duration of 36 months, from the Community. The project is co-ordinated by Prof.
Lynn Jamieson, University of Edinburgh and wishes to examine the constructions of European identity and
European citizenship amongst young people in six countries (cid:1) four current and two prospective Member
States.