European Union News - Internal Market

European Commission's Legal Certainty Group (LCG) has put forward solutions to legal barriers related to the cross-border holding and settlement of securities.

The Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security (Directorate D: Internal Security) has launched on the 20th August two tenders to study  the ICT Critical infrastructures and to analyse how to improve European emergency preparedness in the field of fixed and mobile telecommunications and Internet.

According to the lastest data published by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the annual inflation rate for the Euro zone remained stable during the month of July with a value of 4%. The same indicator for the whole EU zone showed an increase of 0.1% as against 4.3% in June.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on August 12th, the Commission's non opposition to a prior notified concentration between the manufactures of consumer electronics Wistron/Lite and On LCD Business.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union of August 11th a prior notification of a concentration between the companies Galp Energia España and Agip España. With this operation, that was already initiated and withdrawn early this year, Galp Energia seeks to double its retail presence in Spain.

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger Regulation into the planned acquisition of the Dutch manufacturer of basic chemicals DSP by US equity company Arsenal, which controls Velsicol Chemical Corporation. Both Velsicol and DSP are active in the manufacture of benzoic acid and sodium benzoate.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on August 6th the Council Regulation (EC) Nº 732/2008 of July 22nd 2008 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period from January 1st 2009 to December 31st 2011, and amending Regulations (EC) Nº 552/97, (EC) Nº 1933/2006 and Commission Regulations (EC) Nº 1100/2006 and (EC) Nº 964/2007.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on August 5th its non-opposition to a notified concentration between the British company De la Rue and The Carlyle Group of the USA. The operation was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

The European Commission presented on July 29th, the Proposal for the Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products, the single CMO Regulation. The wine CMO, Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 will be repealed by the present proposal and its substance be fully incorporated into the single CMO Regulation.

Following the codification strategy decided by the Commission in April 1987, the Council has proposed a Council Directive on the common system of taxation applicable to mergers, divisions, partial divisions, transfers of assets and exchanges of shares concerning companies of different Member States and to the transfer of the registered office of an SE or SCE between Member States.

The Official Journal of the European Union published in July 31st, the Regulation (EC) Nº 689/2008 of the Eropean Parliament and of the Council of June 17th, concerning the export and import of dangerous chemicals. This Regulation replaces Regulation (EC) Nº 304/2003, following the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 January 2006 in Case C-178/03.

The European Commission has presented a Report with the review of the transitional measures for the acquisition of agricultural real estate set out in the 2003 Accession Treaty (COM(2008) 461 final).