La Commission attend : Intérêt sur compte courant en France BANKING: COMMISSION CALLS ON FRANCE TO AMEND LAW ON CURRENT ACCOUNT INTEREST The European Commission has decided to ask France formally to amend its legislation ('Code Monétaire') that prohibits banks from offering interest on current accounts to their customers. The upshot of the legislation is that banks from another Member State which have a branch or subsidiary in France cannot offer banking services under the same conditions as in their home Member State. The Commission considers that the legislation is in breach of the EC Treaty rules on the freedom of establishment (Article 43) and does not correctly implement the Banking Directive's provisions on single licences. It has thus issued a reasoned opinion, this being the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. In the absence of a satisfactory reply from France within two months of receiving the reasoned opinion, the Commission may decide to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. This decision follows on from the ruling of 25 October 2004 ('CAIXA Bank', C-02/442) by the European Court of Justice, which held that legislation such as that in force in France impeded access by Community banks to the French market. The deposit of funds by the public represents one of the basic activities in the banking sector and this prohibition deprives Community banks of an instrument that can help them acquire new customers without the need for a well-established commercial network. According to the Court of Justice, the legislation in France, which had been justified on the ground that it made it possible to compensate for the practice of issuing cheques free of charge, does not in reality confer any specific benefit on customers, who would benefit more from commercial offerings on more flexible and varied conditions, leaving banks free, if they so wished, to continue issuing cheques free of charge. The French authorities had assured the Commission in December 2004 that the legislation would be amended in line with the view expressed by the Court of Justice. However, they have not as yet abided by this undertaking. ID: 38324 Auteur(s): iff Date de parution: 04/04/06

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