European Union News - Internal Market

Following the provisions of the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation concerning the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application, and development of the Schengen acquis, the Council of the European Union published on December, 5th, 2008, Decision 2008/903/EC, on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in the Swiss Confederation.

The European Commission presented to the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on November, 28th, a Communication proposing an “Action Plan on e-signatures and e-identification to facilitate the provision of cross-border public services in the Single Market” COM(2008) 798 final.

The Competitiveness Council of Ministers met in Brussels at a meeting haired by Hervé Novelli, the French Minister for State for Business, Trades, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Tourism and Services. The main points on the agenda of the working session were the adoption of the 'Small Business Act for Europe' and the European response to the economic crisis.

By establishing a framework for joint Eurosystem procurement, the European Central Bank (ECB) aims at fostering the participation of the ECB and the national central banks of the Member States that have adopted the euro in such joint procurement. For that purpose, the ECB adopted on November, 17th, a Decision laying down the framework for joint Eurosystem procurement (ECB/2008/17).

The European Commission has decided to pursue infringement procedures against several Member States for failure to implement certain Internal Market Directives into national law. These procedures involve a Directive on Statutory Audit, the Eligible Assets Directive, and a Directive on public procurement.

The European Central Bank, ECB, has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on November, 25th, 2008, ECB/2008/18 Guideline on temporary changes to the rules relating to eligibility of collateral. This new Guideline aims to widen the eligibility criteria for collateral, as laid down in Annex I to Guideline ECB/2000/7, the so called “General Documentation”.

The Health Check will modernise, simplify and streamline the CAP and remove restrictions on farmers, thus helping them to respond better to signals from the market and to face new challenges. Among a range of measures, the agreement abolishes arable set-aside, increases milk quotas gradually leading up to their abolition in 2015, and converts market intervention into a genuine safety net; and aims to  allow a better response to the new challenges and opportunities faced by European agriculture.

The European Commission published on November, 13th, a Proposal for a Council Directive  amending Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments.

A European Commission report recently published shows that mobile workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 had a positive impact on Member States' economies and have not led to serious disturbances on their labour markets. For that reason, the Commission asks for the elimination of worker's mobility restrictions.

The European Commission's latest State Aid Scoreboard shows that Member States are increasingly using the possibilities offered by the recently revised EU state aid rules to better target their aid. Member States awarded on average 80% of their aid to horizontal objectives in 2007, compared with around 50% in the mid-1990s with increased spending on R&D and environmental aid. Faced with the current financial crisis, coordinated action by Member States and the Commission has ensured that support schemes for the financial sector could be implemented quickly in compliance with EU state aid rules.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on control structures in audit firms and on the possible ways forward. The purpose of the consultation is to examine possible ways for finding catalysts to stimulate the emergence of new players in the international audit market. This may include deregulation of the capitalisation of audit firms, unbundling, and other catalysts related to human capital of audit firms. The Commission invites stakeholders to give their views on the issues involved by February, 28th, 2009.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November, 17th, 2008, the codified version of Decision 2008/861/EC setting the list of European ports for the purposes of statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea.