European Union News - Internal Market

Directive 2009/12/EC of March 11th 2009 on airport charges, was published by the Official Journal of the European Union on Marcha 15th 2009, with the objective to set common principles for the levying of airport charges at Community airports. Following this objective a common framework regulating the essential features of airport charges and the way they are set will be established for EC airports whose annual traffic is over five million passenger movements.

The Official Journal of the European Union, DOUE of March 12, 2009 has published Regulation (EC) No 192/2009 of 11 March 2009 on implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and Council, which establishes a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes, as regards the exchange of confidential information between the Commission (Eurostat) and Member States.

The "Erika III" package, aimed at protecting Europe's coasts from maritime disasters and improving passenger and crew safety, was adopted by the European Parliament on March 11th 2009. The eight regulations and directives will tighten safety requirements for ships flying an EU Member State flag or navigating in European waters and thus help prevent disasters such as the Erika and Prestige shipwrecks from spoiling European coasts.

The Council of Economics and Finance Ministers, ECOFIN, met in Brussels between March 9th and 10th 2009. During this meeting, which was focused on discussions over the economic situation and outlook in the euro area, in light of the recent economic and financial developments, the Council reached a political agreement on the use of reduced rates of value-added tax (VAT) in certain sectors. Council also endorsed terms of reference for the EU's participation in the meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors on March 14th that will prepare the April London G-20 summit.

The European Parliament's Industry Committee,  meeting in Brussels on March 9th 2009, agreed on a maximum charge for making mobile phone calls while abroad. These charges  should fall from the current €0.46 to €0.40 per minute (excl. VAT) in summer 2010. However, MEPs rejected some proposals to set further and lower price caps for 2010-2013.

The 2006-2009 scheme for the restructuring of the European sugar industry resulted in the renunciation of 5.8 million tonnes of quota, very close to the initial objective of 6 million tonnes. At the end of this 4-year process, a key element of the 2006 sugar reform, EU quota for sugar and isoglucose has been lowered to 14 million tonnes (of which 13.3 million tonnes for sugar).

The Official Journal of the European Union has published in the edition of 6 march of Explanatory note with regard to the definition of a ‘parent carrier’ in Regulation (EC) No 80/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Code of Conduct for computerised reservation systems and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89.

A new report on "Barriers to E-commerce", presented by EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva shows that online shopping is increasingly popular in the EU, but warns that barriers to cross border trade are holding back its development. The report published on March 5th 2009, presents a detailed analysis of current trends in e-commerce across the EU; including per country, most purchased items and obstacles for consumers and business online.

The ban should apply to the placing on the market and the import to, transit through, or export from, the European Community of seal products, says the report approved by the committee on March 3rd 2009. According to EP's Internal Market Committee, the ban should also cover meat, oil, blubber, organs, and raw fur skins and fur skins. In practice, seal products such as bags, hats, boots and gloves used by motorcyclists, skiers and boxers would be outlawed, as would parapharmaceutical products sold as Omega 3 fatty acid supplements.

The Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, has published on February 28th 2009, Commission's authorisation for the announced concentration between Johnson & Johnson Consumer France, Vania and Laboratoires Polivé.

The European Commission has put forward a new proposal which would allow Member States to completely abolish financial reporting obligations for the EU's smallest companies. In a deteriorating economic climate, the new rules are designed to alleviate the regulatory burden on micro entities. The aggregate administrative burden reduction potential is estimated at around € 6.3 billion.