European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU on February 13th 2009, Regulation (EC) Nº 127/2009 laying down the procedure and conditions for the sale of cereals held by paying agencies or intervention agencies. This Regulation recognises that cereals held by the paying agencies or intervention agencies should be sold without any discrimination between Community purchasers, and that in principle invitations to tender permit that objective to be achieved although in certain cases it must be possible to use other methods of sale.

To ensure that 112 is known all over Europe, the European Commission, together with the European Parliament and Council, have declared February 11th the “European 112 Day”. This declaration follows the results brought up by an EU-wide survey which shows some differences between Member States in the 112 service implementation. In this sense, Commission and Member States will step up their efforts to publicise 112, especially before the summer holiday period.

The ECOFIN Council has met for the second time under Czech Presidency, and started preparations for the European Council to be held in March. These preparations concern some major issues in the economic scenario for the coming months such as the possible single market review, the implementation of national measures under the European Economic Recovery Plan, or issues of space for the execution of fiscal stimuli, reduced VAT rates and the appropriate timing of budget consolidation.

The Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union of February 10th 2009, the prior notification of a concentration between French undertakings Dassault Aviation, TSA and Thales, and invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations to the Commission no later than ten after this publication.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the review of the application of the Investor Compensation Schemes Directive, Directive 1997/9/EC, which aims to protect investors against the risk of losses in the event of an investment firm's inability to repay money or return assets held on behalf of their clients. Interested parties can reply to this call until April 8th 2009.

After carrying an extensive study into the economic and cultural impact of territorial spending obligations imposed in film support schemes, the European Commission has decided to keep its present policy about the State aid assessment criteria until new rules on State aid to cinematographic and other audiovisual works come into effect, or, at the latest, until December 31st 2012.

The European Commission (EC) has cleared the proposed acquisition of joint control of Porterbrook Leasing Company Limited and its subsidiaries (Porterbrook) of the UK by OP Trust Private Markets Group (OP Trust) of Canada, Deutsche Bank AG (DB) of Germany, Lloyds TSB Bank plc of the UK and Antin Infrastructure Partners FCPR, a UK investment fund controlled by BNP Paribas SA (BNP) of France. The EC concluded that the proposed operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in any substantial part of it.

As pointed out in its drafted report, the European Parliament believes that lack of trust in the security and safety of transactions and payments constitutes the most important danger for the future of e-commerce. MEPs call on the Commission to investigate the causes and to redouble its efforts to create mechanisms for strengthening businesses' and individuals' trust in international electronic payment systems, as well as establishing suitable means for resolving disputes related to illegal commercial practices.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of joint control of Porterbrook Leasing Company Limited and its subsidiaries (Porterbrook) of the UK by OP Trust Private Markets Group (OP Trust) of Canada, Deutsche Bank AG (DB) of Germany, Lloyds TSB Bank plc of the UK and Antin Infrastructure Partners FCPR, a UK investment fund controlled by BNP Paribas SA (BNP) of France.

The proposal of a Council Decision published in the OJEU on February 5th, follows an initiative of the French Republic, and aims to reinforce cooperation between customs administrations, by laying down procedures under which customs administrations may act jointly and exchange personal and other data concerned with illicit trafficking activities, using new technology for the management and transmission of such information.