Brussels, 28/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has issued a formal request to Italy to amend its law on usury. This law, as amended in December 2000, establishes that interest rates for long-term loans cannot be higher than the average yield on national bonds (BTP) for the period 1996-2000. The Commission comments: "In practice, this means that the courts could consider as usurious interest rates of more than 9.96% per year, whereas at the time the 1996 law entered into force...