European Union News - Internal Market

In the framework of its strategy to better combat tax evasion and fraud, the European Commission adopted on January 30th 2009 two proposals for new Directives aimed at improving mutual assistance between Member States' tax authorities in the assessment and the recovery of taxes. One of the key elements of the proposals is that Member States would no longer be able to invoke bank secrecy in order to refuse cross border co-operation.

The European Commission has authorised under state aid rules of the EC Treaty, a scheme offering reduced-interest loans to businesses investing in the production of green products. The aid, which is one of the measures adopted by France to tackle the current economic crisis, will support businesses faced with financing problems because of the credit squeeze, while at the same time making it easier for them to invest in products with an environmental benefit.

The Polish authorities notified in December 2007, a regional investment aid in favour of Dell Poland for a large investment project aiming at setting up a new plant for the production of desktops, notebooks and servers in an assisted Article 87.3 a) region in Poland and for the creation of 3.000 jobs. The project's eligible costs amount to 189,58 M€ and the proposed aid amount is 52,73 M€, which corresponds to an aid intensity of 27,81 % GGE.

In this opinion the ECB notes that the scope of the proposed regulation covers not only cross-border electronic payment transactions and credit transfers but also cross-border direct debits. This is in line with efforts to achieve the Internal Market for payment services and with the launch of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) in particular, and is highly welcomed by the ECB. However, the proposed regulation also raises some issues which require careful consideration.

Although the UCITS regulatory framework has proved to be very resilient during the current crisis, the depositaries of 4 UCITS funds who entrusted fund assets worth 1.6bn€ to Madoff entities, have not yet been recovered. The Commission considers that it is still premature to conclude if investors will not be indemnified, but will ensure that MS have dully implemented the provision of the Directive.

The Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, has published Directive 2008/121/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of January, 14th 2009, which is a recast version, of Directive 96/74/EC on textile names, and its subsequent substantial amendments. This Directives established the main rules with regard to the names, composition and labelling of textile products in order to ensure the proper functioning of internal market.

The European Commission presented on January, 21st 2009, a comprehensive ten year strategy plan to promote safe, secure, clean and efficient shipping. The long-term competitiveness of European shipping and related maritime industries in world markets, and the adaptation of the entire seaborne transport system to the challenges of the 21st century are at the heart of this strategy plan.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on January 21st 2009, the announcement of a prior notification of concentration procedure concerning the Irish airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus II. Interested thirds parties are invited to send their observations by January 31st.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published a summary of the non-confidential documents related to the operation of concentration between Nokia and Navteq, which was found to be compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement by Commission Decision on July 2nd, 2008.

The European Commission sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Microsoft on 15th January 2009. The SO outlines the Commission’s preliminary view that Microsoft’s tying of its web browser Internet Explorer to its dominant client PC operating system Windows infringes the EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant position (Article 82).
In the SO, the Commission sets out evidence and outlines its preliminary conclusion that Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice.