Brussels, 23/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Jonathan Todd, Spokesman for European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, confirmed on Monday that the Commission has addressed letters of notice to France, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium because these countries concluded bilateral agreements with Washington enabling American officials to identify (with their European counterparts) containers that may contain biological or nuclear weapons earmarked for the United States in the ports of Le Havre, Rotterdam, Bremen, Hamburg and Antwerp. The problem of the bilateral agreements is that they create a distortion of competition between ports, pointed out the spokesman, who explained that the Member State ports concerned now enjoy a competitive advantage in maritime traffic to the United States. Mr Todd also said the Comission is prepared to initiate similar procedures against the United Kingdom and Italy, which have also concluded bilateral agreements with the United States. He also announced that the Commission would soon be calling on the Council to extend the existing brief for EU/United States negotiations on customs matters, so as to include the issue of cargo security.