§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many complaints against failure by Italian companies to comply with EU directives have been brought to the attention of his Departments single market compliance unit in the past two years. [18349]
§ Mr. NeedhamThe single market compliance unit took up no complaints in 1993 and 1994 against Italian companies for non-compliance with EU directives.
§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the effect on United Kingdom companies of the Italian Government's failure to enforce EU directives with particular reference to the IT sector. [18350]
§ Mr. NeedhamMy Department's single market compliance unit, which helps British companies overcome illegal barriers to trade in other countries of the EU, is not aware of any particular problem with the non-enforcement by Italy of EC directives covering the IT sector. If companies have any information which points towards such a problem, the SMCU would like to hear from them.
§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he takes to satisfy himself that EU directives are being enforced in(a) Italy and (b) Spain. [18351]
§ Mr. NeedhamIt is for the Commission and all member states to seek to ensure that Community law is properly enforced. Officials from my Department participate in the Internal Market Advisory Committee,12W where the Commission chairs meetings of national single market co-ordinators with the tasks of ensuring transposition of legislation, dealing with specific complaints from member states, monitoring the system of co-operation between enforcement officials and exchanging the results of studies of the effectiveness of single market measures. Also in my Department, the single market compliance unit works to help British firms tackle illegal barriers to trade encountered in other member states.