92000E4003

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4003/00

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(21 December 2000)

Subject: Abolition of the current system of vehicle retail monopoly

The Commission is currently drawing up a directive designed to increase competition by abolishing the current vehicle retail monopoly, to come into force at the end of next year. How will the entry of new players hitherto unconnected with the business of vehicle retail, benefit this market? How does the current system limit and stifle competition? Would the Commission actually claim that in the field of vehicle distribution in Europe, the situation as regards competition is imperfect, and therefore, in the last analysis, prejudicial to consumers' pockets? Does the Commission believe that the current system which in the case of the Spanish market, for example, guarantees access to 49 makes, 235 models and over 2 200 versions of vehicles, in addition to providing professional service to the user actually prejudices the interests of consumers to such an extent that we should allow superstores to enter a market sector which in Spain alone involves 10 000 largely small and medium-sized undertakings, and employs some 150 000 people?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(9 February 2001)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1475/95 of 28 June 1995 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of motor vehicle distribution and servicing agreements(1) will expire on 30 September 2002. The Commission has recently adopted the report evaluating the application of this Regulation(2). This Report is a factual analysis of the current regulatory regime. It does not contain any proposal for the future legal framework for motor vehicle distribution, but will form an essential basis for the discussion which will start in 2001 about the future regime.

The question of effective competition in the motor vehicle industry has been one of the issues treated in the report, as it is one of the assumptions underlying the current Regulation. The Commission believes that currently effective inter-brand competition exists in the Community. The report identifies however certain factors limiting intra-brand competition within a Member State or across the Community between dealers of the same brand. The question of whether the sector and consumers should benefit from the emergence of other distribution channels, such as e-commerce and sales via supermarket chains, will indeed have to be assessed in the analysis which will be carried out in 2001 in view of determining the future regime for motor vehicle distribution.

(1) OJ L 145, 29.6.1995.

(2) See IP/00/1306 of 15.11.2000. The Report has been published in the internet under the following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/car sector.