WRITTEN QUESTION P-0810/00 by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Commission. Situation of dentists in Italy.
21. 11. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 330 E/215 within the Community (1) provides that A worker who is a national of a Member State may not, in the territory of another Member State, be treated differently from national workers by reason of his nationality in respect of any conditions of employment and work, in particular as regards remuneration, dismissal, and should he become unemployed, reinstatement or re-employmentí. According to the information available to the Commission, the protection against individual dismissals in Belgium depends, in some cases, on the earnings of the individual employee. For employees above a certain earnings ceiling the protection against dismissal is agreed in the individual contract of employment. (1) OJ L 257, 19. 10. 1968. (2000/C 330 E/250) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0809/00 by Harlem DØsir (PSE) to the Commission (10 March 2000) Subject: Condemnation by the WTOís body of appeal of the tax treatment of foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the USA On 24 February 2000 the WTOís body of appeal published its report on the tax treatment of foreign sales corporations (FSCs) in the USA. This report upholds the condemnation of the tax arrangements under which some 50 % of American exports benefit from a tax refund which is tantamount to an export subsidy totalling some $ US 4 billion annually. Although European companies are not the only ones affected, they are among those hardest hit. Will the Commission say why, having condemned these practices, the WTO has not fixed the amount of compensation due to the European Union and why the Commission itself which is responsible for protecting the Unionís commercial interests has failed to take any action vis-à-vis the United States to obtain compensation, bearing in mind that the latter is continuing to take retaliatory measures against the European Union over bananas and beef treated with hormones and the WTO itself has acknowledged that the commercial losses incurred by the EU are far higher? Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission (30 March 2000) Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on Foreign Sales Corporations (FSC), the United States have until 1 October 2000 to bring their legislation into line with the conclusions of the panel and the appelate body. If, at that date, the United States have not abolished the FSC status or amended it so as to bring it into line with WTO regulations, the Community will be able to exercise its rights as laid down in article 22 of the memorandum on dispute settlement, and either obtain compensation from the United States, or suspend equivalent concessions, as the United States themselves have done in the cases of hormone-treated beef and bananas. (2000/C 330 E/251) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0810/00 by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Commission (10 March 2000) Subject: Situation of dentists in Italy In 1985 Italy transposed the 1978 EU directive on dentistry by means of Law 409/85, which was to apply, inter alia, to graduates in medicine who had registered at university prior to 28/1/1980. This gab between 1978 and 1985 meant that thousands of young people took up medical studies after 1980 with the to do so by the 1985 law intention of becoming dentists and were retroactively denied the right C 330 E/216 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 21. 11. 2000 transposing the directive. The rights of these young medical graduates who were working as dentists were reinstated by means of Law 471/88, which was challenged by the European Court of Justice following an appeal. On 8 October 1998 the Italian Government approved a legislative decree requiring dentists who were registered at university between 1980 and 1985 to sit an aptitude test as a precondition for continuing to work as dentists despite the fact that they had already been active in the profession for 10 years. The dentists in question feel that they are being unjustly penalised for Italyís failure to transpose the directive on time. Replying to a question put to the Commission in November 1998, Commissioner Monti stated on 14 January 1999 that the aptitude test requirement had not been imposed by the Commission, but was the result of negotiations between the Commission and the Italian authorities. Failure to pass the test leads to automatic exclusion from the dentistsí register for qualified dentists who have been practising for more than ten years. 1. Would the Commission have any objections to tackling the problem facing these dentists by organising training and refresher courses without any selective final examination (a procedure applied to other professional persons, such as psychotherapists and lawyers ü Law 93/16 ü and general practitioners ü Law 277/91)? 2. More generally, does the Commission not agree that the rights of qualified dentists who have been practising for more than ten years should be properly protected? Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (3 April 2000) As stated in the reply to Mrs Muscardiniís written question E-3352/98 (1), which was quoted by the Honourable Member, the aptitude test as a means of recognising those medical graduates called into question by the Court of Justice judgment of 1 June 1995 (2) was the result of negotiations between the Commission and the Italian authorities, held at In the absence of such negotiations, and on the basis of Article 228 (ex Article 171) of the EC Treaty, Italy would have had to take all necessary measures to comply with the above judgment and, as a result, would have had simply to withdraw the licence to practise dentistry from all those involved. the request of the latter. The Commission has agreed to authorise the medical graduates concerned to practise dentistry ü notably on the basis of an aptitude test ü and has presented a proposal to amend to this effect Directive 78/686/ EEC on the mutual recognition of dentistsí qualifications (3) in view of the proposal, as part of the SLIM initiative, for a European Parliament and Council Directive of 2 December 1997 (4). This proposal is being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council under the codecision procedure. This will allow these medical graduates to retain the right to practise dentistry. (1) OJ C 182, 28. 6. 1999. (2) European Court Reports 1995, page I-1319. (3) OJ C 233, 24. 8. 1978. (4) OJ C 28, 28. 1. 1998. (2000/C 330 E/252) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0828/00 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission (10 March 2000) Subject: Television set fire safety Is the Commission aware that a recent report from the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute allegedly shows that, as a result of the lowering of fire safety levels for TV set enclosures during the 1990s, televisions sold in Europe pose a greater fire risk than those sold in the United States?