WRITTEN QUESTION E-0701/00 by Francesco Turchi (UEN) to the Commission. Rules on information.
13. 2. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 46 E/29 Article 24 of the above Directive, the first paragraph of which lays down that áthose Member States in which commitments or guarantees of operation given before the entry into force of this Directive may not be honoured on account of the provisions of this Directive may apply for a transitional regime which may be granted to them by the Commission, taking into account, amongst other things, the size of the system concerned, the level of interconnection of the system and the structure of its electricity industry. The Commission shall inform the Member States of those applications before it takes a decision, taking into account respect for confidentiality. This decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communitiesí. At the same time the Spanish authorities notified these measures, as required, under Article 88(3) (former Article 93) of the EC Treaty (state aid). On 8 July 1999, the Commission took a decision stating that these measures were not covered by Article 24 of the Directive but should be examined in the light of the rules relating to state aid and, in particular, Article 87(3)(c) (former Article 92) of the EC Treaty (2). The Spanish authorities lodged an action for annulment of this decision, currently pending before the Court (3). The Commission is also examining the case as a non-notified aid, because the measure came into force before it was notified under Article 88(3). The Commission will take a decision as soon as possible. (1) OJ L 27, 30. 1. 1997. (2) OJ L 319, 11. 12. 1999. (3) Case C-369/99 Kingdom of Spain v. Commission. (2001/C 46 E/034) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0701/00 by Francesco Turchi (UEN) to the Commission (17 March 2000) Subject: Rules on information Directive 98/34/EC (1), amended by Directive 98/48/EC (2) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, requires each Member State, with effect from 5 August 1999, to notify the Commission at the drafting stage of any new rules on information society services, so as to prevent the emergence of barriers to the free movement of on-line services, Given that any adoption of draft national rules without first notifying the Commission would be an infringement of Community law by the Member State concerned, regardless of the substance of the national legislation, will the Commission say whether or not Italy complied with this procedure when adopting Law 4197 B of the Senate (known as ápar conditioí) and, if not, whether it intends to initiate infringement proceedings against that Member State? (1) OJ L 204, 21. 7. 1998, p. 37. (2) OJ L 217, 5. 8. 1998, p. 18. Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (27 April 2000) In its answers to Written Questions P-1608/99 of Mr Tajani (1) and E-1734/99 of Mr Ferri (2), the Commission noted that the draft Italian law on information and political and campaign advertising (referred to as the ápar condicioí law) contained, at that time, provisions on information society services. C 46 E/30 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 13. 2. 2001 However, it appears that those provisions are no longer included in the definitive text of Law No 28 of 22 February 2000, adopted by the Italian Parliament, which governs only communication and political messages on radio broadcasting channels (see Articles 2 and 4). In view of the fact that on-line information and political and campaign advertising (for example via the Internet) are therefore not covered by the Italian law referred to and that radio broadcasting and audio- visual services are specifically excluded from the scope of Directive 98/34/EC (as amended by the Transparency Directiveí 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations) (3), the adoption of the Italian law on ápar condicioí does not constitute infringement of the prior notification procedure provided for under that Directive. (1) OJ C 27 E, 29. 1. 2000. (2) OJ C 170 E, 20. 6. 2000. (3) OJ L 217, 5. 8. 1998. (2001/C 46 E/035) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0710/00 by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (17 March 2000) Subject: Implementation of the electricity directive 1. Has sufficient unbundling taken place in the electricity industry ü particularly with regard to the separation of transmission and distribution networks for the production and sale of electricity ü to ensure fair competition, on a footing of equality, in the industry? Has attention been paid to making it possible to keep transaction costs as low as possible, in the 2. interests of small suppliers? 3. 4. How are levels of transit charges monitored on the basis of unbundling? (a) Have transit of 1 Kilowatt-hour over 150 km? any comparisons yet been made between EU Member States, for example of the cost of (b) If not, why not? How else can the fairness of competition be monitored if there are no comparative data? 5. 6. Is there an explanation for the differences in transit charges? If there is no monitoring in this field, how is the electricity directive implemented? Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission (3 May 2000) 1. Unbundling in the electricity industry is key to ensuring fair competition, as the Honourable Member rightly points out. According to Directive 96/92/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (1), the Member States are obliged to unbundle the operation of the transmission system operator (TSO) in the accounts and in management terms. There is no obligation on the Member States to legally unbundle transmission system operation or to require separate ownership of the natural monopoly activities from generation and supply. The distribution activities are subject to obligations relating to non dissemination of commercially sensitive