European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission welcomed the adoption of an opinion by the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) on the Commission’s proposals to reform the EU’s data protection rules. According to the Commission, the ITRE Committee backed the main innovations of the Commission's data protection reform.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on its proposal for revised competition regime for technology transfer agreements. The Commission highlights that the proposal aims to update the current regime in order to strengthen incentives for research and innovation, facilitate the diffusion of intellectual property and stimulate competition. Replies to the consultations can be submitted until 17 May 2013.

The European Parliament and the Council negotiators reached a draft deal on the two pack regulations focus on strengthening Commission surveillance of national budgetary and economic policy and further economic policy coordination. The so-called “two-pack” also lays down clear rules for countries seeking EU financial help.

The European Commission welcomed the draft report issued by the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) with regard to the optional EU-wide rules for businesses and consumers who are concluding contracts in the Single Market. According to the Commission, an optional EU-wide contract law would promote growth by making it cheaper for businesses to access new markets and offering consumers a greater choice of products at more competitive prices.

The international agreement for establishing a Unified Patent Court (UPC) was signed on the 19th of February. According to the Council, the new court will avoid the occurrence of multiple court cases with regard to the same patent in different member states. Bulgaria is expected to sign in the coming days once internal procedures have been completed. Poland and Spain did not sign the agreement.

The European Commission published the Internal Market Scoreboard that shows how the EU average transposition deficit – the percentage of Internal Market Directives that have not been transposed into national law in time – has decreased from 6.3% in 1997 to a record new level of 0.6%.

The Council held a policy debate on open access to scientific information of public-funded research projects. Member states agreed on the need to promote common implementation standards and criteria, including interoperable infrastructures, in order to achieve the maximum benefit from the open access in a sustainable way within a digital European Research Area.