| Author (Person) | Chapman, Peter |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.23, 24.6.04 |
| Publication Date | 24/06/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Peter Chapman Date: 24/06/04 COMMISSION President Romano Prodi has taken the wheels off Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein's controversial proposals to liberalize the EU's €10 billion-per-year market for replacement car panels. The Italian, who recently met some of Europe's motor industry chiefs, including VW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder and PSA Peugeot Citröen President Jean-Martin Folz, has removed the proposals from the EU executive's agenda. Publicly, officials say the move is intended to give the car manufacturers, who fiercely oppose the law, time to offer more evidence proving its adverse affects on the European economy. This follows claims by the industry that Bolkestein's department failed to conduct a proper impact assessment. But Bolkestein's officials believe Prodi has bowed to industry pressure and that the move is a ploy to delay adoption of the law. This would be until the free- market-minded Dutchman is replaced in November - possibly by a protectionist-leaning French or German "super commissioner" for competitiveness. "As of several days, mysteriously the proposal has disappeared off the list of decisions to be taken at forthcoming Commission meetings," said one source. "The game plan is straightforward: to keep on postponing it until after the summer. Then it would be "unacceptable" for such a proposal to be [adopted] by the Commission just before the end of its mandate." An aide to Commission Secretary-General David O'sullivan, whose department helps draw up the College's agenda confirmed "it is possible" the proposal could be dropped until the new commissioners take office. "I would think it will, at least, be after the summer," he added. Alfredo Filippone, spokesman for ACEA, the European car industry association, said he was unaware of a plot to scrap it before industry has presented its evidence - due on commissioners' desks at the end of the month. He told European Voice: "We continue to think it is a bad proposal. We would be giving away a business out of Europe without any benefit at all to anyone. Europe will be flooded with parts from China and other places. This will hurt industry and competitiveness." However, Laurence Eeckhout of the International Federation of Automotive Aftermarket Distributors, a group campaigning for greater competition, said it was clear there was a concerted attempt to bury the law. "That is the only possibility. It has already been delayed three times, once in April and twice in June. Now it is not on the agenda," she said. Currently the UK, Ireland, Benelux countries, Spain, Italy, Latvia and Hungary allow independent companies to produce and supply components for the repair market. But, in other countries, the original manufacturer - such as car companies Peugeot or BMW - is granted the exclusive right of supply. National laws bestow legal protection to the actual design of parts that affect the look and style of the car. In France, suppliers of "illegal" parts can be sent to jail - even though the components, for example a light lens, may be freely available across the border in neighbouring Spain. Under the proposals, Bolkestein wants to get rid of the hotchpotch of rules, creating an exemption from design protection for all of the external parts of a car that need identical components to preserve the original look of a vehicle after a crash. The Dutchman's department argues that the internal market is hindered by the different legal regimes fin each country. It also claims that keeping protection effectively grants car companies an unfair monopoly on a large slice of the repair market - by shutting out the rival firms capable of producing parts that are indistinguishable from the original. The proposal would mean car parts, along with some other complex components, would be permanently exempted under a special "repair clause" from an EU law on community designs which entered into force last year. This allows companies to register their designs with the EU's office for harmonization in the internal market in Alicante, Spain. Once registered, they are granted legal protection from deliberate copying and "independent development of a similar design" for 25 years. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry, Internal Markets |
