WRITTEN QUESTION P-0870/04 by Wolfgang Ilgenfritz (NI) to the Commission. Work permits for workers contracted out in Italy.
Date: 2004-03-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Austria, Italy, application of EU law, free movement of workers, freedom to provide services, labour law, protectionism, temporary employment agency

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/689

Specifically, if a region within the EU were to become an independent state (therefore outside of the EU),
what would happen to the European funding it had been receiving? Would the funding stop immediately,
or would it continue to the end of the funding programme, for example the 2000-2006 Structural Funds
programme?

What EU funds would a newly independent state be eligible for?

(1) See page 421.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(22 April 2004)

If part of the territory of a Member State ceases to be part of that State, for example, because that territory
becomes an independent state, it would no longer covered by the Treaty of accession. Accordingly, the
EC Treaty will no longer apply to that territory, including Article 158.

Article 158 of the EC Treaty states that the Community shall aim at strengthening its economic and social
cohesion. Article 159 provides for that action to be supported through the Structural Funds. This article
clearly rules out the use of the Structural Funds outside the territory of the European Union.

The principal
instruments for Community support for countries outside the Union are found under
Heading 4 of the budget, ‘External Action’, or, in the case of aid to candidate countries, under Heading 7,
‘Pre-accession instruments’.

(2004/C 84 E/0775)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0870/04

by Wolfgang Ilgenfritz (NI) to the Commission

Subject: Work permits for workers contracted out in Italy

(15 March 2004)

An Austrian firm contracts out workers, the majority of whom are from Austria or the other current
Member States of the EU, to companies in the EU, including some in the South Tyrol. The authorities in
the South Tyrol have pointed out on numerous occasions that workers from Austria and the rest of the EU
require work permits. This decision is impeding the activities of the firm concerned.

Is it possible that work permits are required in Italy on the basis of existing transitional

1.
arrangements, for example?

2.

Or are the Italian authorities in breach of the law by impeding the activities of the Austrian firm?

Answer given by Mr Dimas on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2004)

the Parliament and of

Article 3(1)(d) of Directive 96/71/EC of
the Council of 16 December 1996
concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (1) obliges Member States
to ensure that undertakings which,
in the framework of the transnational provision of services, post
workers to their territory, respect the conditions of the hiring-out of workers laid down in its legislation.
With regard to their content, these rules have to be motivated by the protection of workers or other
overriding requirements relating to the public interest, appropriate for securing the attainment of the
objective which they pursue and not going beyond what is necessary in order to attain this objective.

C 84 E/690

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Whether a specific national measure fulfils these criteria or not, depends on its precise content, the
concrete situations affected by it and the conditions to fulfil
in order to comply with the relevant
provision.

In general terms, the Commission would like to note that a requirement to obtain work permits for
nationals of Member States is not compatible with Article 49 of the EC Treaty. There are no transitional
arrangement with regard the application by Italy of the Directive 96/71/EC and the transitional measures
provided for by the Accession Treaty are not applicable with regard the relation between the current
Member States.

According to the information at the disposal of the Commission, Italian legislation (in particular Article 4
of decree-law No 72 of 25 February 2000 and Article 2 of Law No 196 of 24 June 1997) obliges
undertakings supplying temporary work to a user undertaking established in Italy to obtain registration on
a list kept for that purpose by the competent department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
To be registered on that list, those companies must obtain a licence, which is granted initially on a
temporary basis, then, after the business has operated for two years, for an unlimited period. The granting
of that licence is in turn subject to meeting certain conditions aiming at the protection of workers. A
licence is however not required, if a temporary employment undertaking can show that it operates under
an equivalent administrative measure issued by the competent authority of a Member State other than
Italy.

As the Court of Justice has underlined in its case law, the provision of manpower is a particularly sensitive
matter from the occupational and social point of view, affecting both relations on the labour market and
the lawful interests of the workforce concerned. Consequently, the Court has considered it permissible,
under Community law, and amounting to a legitimate choice of policy pursued in the public interest,
to subject the provision of manpower to a system of licensing, provided that the host State takes into
account the evidence and guarantees already furnished by the provider of services for the pursuit of his
activities in the Member State of his establishment.

The Italian Decree-law No 72 of 25 February 2000, transposing Directive 96/71/EC, does not contain
additional authorisation requirements with regard to the transnational hiring-out of workers who are
nationals of a Member State, and the Commission is not aware of other parts of legislation prescribing
work permits for such workers.

(1) OJ L 18, 21.1.1997.

(2004/C 84 E/0776)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0871/04

by José Pacheco Pereira (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Distortion of competition in the wine sector

(15 March 2004)

On 23 February 2004 the Commission approved new rules on the labelling of wine in the European
Union, which will enable third countries to use, within the Community, traditional descriptions for wine
such as ‘tawny’, ‘vintage’, ‘ruby’ etc. and to export such wines to the EU.

The following facts should be borne in mind:

(cid:1) the port wine-producing area has always used the descriptions ‘tawny’, ‘vintage’, and ‘ruby’;

(cid:1) Madeira wine-producers have also always used the descriptions ‘canteiro’,

‘frasqueira’ and ‘reserva

velha’;

(cid:1) both these wines have consolidated their quality and international image using these expressions;

(cid:1) the new labelling rules will ‘trivialise’ the use of these expressions to the detriment of port and Madeira

wine producers and their products, which in effect constitutes a distortion of competition;