European Union News - April 2012

The European Commission announced that the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi will be awarded with the first EU MEDIA prize in a ceremony celebrated during the 65th Cannes Film Festival, on the 20 of May.

Eurostat published the figures which show that in February 2012, compared with January 2012, it was registered an increase on the industrial producer price of 0.6% in the euro area and of 0.8% in the EU. With regard to the annual comparison, industrial producer prices have gained 3.6% in the euro area and 4.3% in the EU.

ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency, published a practical guide which focuses on continuous security monitoring throughout the life-cycle of a cloud contract. The guide intends to be an assurance framework and tool for IT teams to assess the security of service providers before making a decision to move to the cloud, and it is specially focused on public procurement.

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) launched the "Marketplace for Innovative ideas" website. According to developers, the website will help those that are interested and involved in the Partnership to work together and develop their innovative ideas.

The Commission welcomes the Member States decision to support its proposal to lift the prohibition on imports of fresh poultry meat from Thailand and prolonging certain protection measures for avian influenza from 1 July 2012. On the other hand, the Commission hosted on 2 of March a scientific seminar on the Schmallenberg virus (SBV).

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) launched the first ever online EU-wide survey to establish a picture of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (18 years or older). The European Agency has launched this survey because of lack of data collected across the EU about the everyday experiences of LGBT people with respect of discrimination.

The European Commission published a new update, in particular the 19th update of the European list of air carriers which are for safety reasons subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union. Among the most recently incorporations to the list, Conviasa, an air carrier certified in Venezuela.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on modernising EU rules governing insolvencies. In the light of the results, the Commission will later decide whether and how the existing Regulation needs to be revised in order to bolster businesses and strengthen the EU's Single Market.

The European Commission adopted two implementing decisions on the best available techniques (BAT) conclusions on industrial emissions from iron and steel production and glass manufacture and the full BAT reference documents. These conclusions define the reference for setting the permit conditions for these installations in Europe.

The European Commission will carry out a thorough assessment of national direct taxes to determine whether they create unfair disadvantages for workers that live in one Member State and work in another. More than 1.2 million people work cross-border in the EU and gross wages paid to cross-border and seasonal workers in 2010 amounted to €46.9 billion.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Respiratory Journal published a joint European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ESTC). These standards aim to guide clinicians and public health workers in their daily work to ensure optimal diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis (TB) in Europe.

Mr António Vitorino, appointed by the Commissioner Barnier, has launched the process which aims to identify the best manner to achieve coherence, effectiveness and legitimacy in the implementation and application of the principles and legal framework underpinning private copying and reprography levies.