European Union News - 31 October 2012

The European Commission announced that from 1 November 2012 on new safety requirements for new types of motor vehicles will be mandatory. The requirements include safety belt reminders, safety requirements for electric vehicles, easier child seat anchorages (ISOFIX), better protection of passengers against the displacement of luggage in case of the accident and tyre pressure monitoring system.

The revised import preference scheme - known as the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) - for developing countries most in need, and which will take effect from 1 January 2014, was published by the EU. The new scheme will be focused on fewer beneficiaries (89 countries) to ensure more impact on countries most in need.
 

Eurostat informed that compared with August, in the euro area the unemployment rate was slightly higher in September. The EU unemployment rate was 10.6% in September 2012, stable compared with August. The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands, and the highest in Spain (25.8%) and Greece (25.1% in July 2012).

Ministers reached a political agreement at the meeting held on 29 October on the new regulation on the tachograph used in road transport. One delegation, however, it is not supporting the text because it would have liked to see a wider exemption from the obligation to use the tachograph for small and medium-sized enterprises. The aim of the new draft legislation is to make fraud more difficult and to reduce the administrative burden by making full use of new technologies and introducing a number of new regulatory measures.

The negotiation box on the EU long-term budget for 2014-2020 presented by the Cypriot Presidency is not supported by the European Commission nor by the European Parliament. Parliament's negotiators expressed their concern on the proposed cut of €50 billion as compared to the Commission's initial proposal.