European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission adopted today a proposal that will facilitate the efficient management of animal by-products, while preserving at the same time the current high levels of protection against risks to public and animal health and the environment. Thousands of slaughterhouses, farms and dairy plants across the EU produce more than 15 million tonnes of animal by-products every year.

Europe and the United States of America are two super powers in terms of business and economics. Working together there is potential for growth and development seen from both sides of the Atlantic. Here are some facts and figures concerning trade and investment between the two continents.

On the 10th June 2008, the European Commission released notification of non-opposition to a concentration between ArcelorMittal and Borusan. Dating back to the 3rd June 2008 when the Commission decided not to oppose the above notified concentration and to declare it compatible with the common market.

On the 6th June 2008 the EC published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), the Council regulation (EC) No 479/2008 of 29 April 2008 on the common organisation of the market in wine, amending Regulations (EC) No 1493/1999, (EC)
No 1782/2003, (EC) No 1290/2005, (EC) No 3/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2392/86 and (EC) No 1493/1999.

The European Commission has decided to pursue infringement procedures against 15 Member States for failure to implement the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive in national law. The Commission will send formal requests to Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Slovakia. These formal requests take the form of "reasoned opinions", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. The Directive should have been implemented by 15 December 2007.

This Energy Council will be held on Friday 6 June, in Luxembourg. It will start at 10.00 and last the whole day, depending on the outcome of the discussions. It will be followed by a press conference.

On the 6th June 2008, the European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), Prior notification of a concentration between AVNET, a distributor of IT products and technology services and Horizon Technology which specialises in technical integration and distribution of IT products.

The European Commission has decided to pursue infringement procedures against 11 Member States for failure to implement the Cross-Border Mergers Directive in national law. The Commission will send formal requests to Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia. These formal requests take the form of "reasoned opinions", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. The Directive should have been implemented before the end of 2007.

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Norwegian company Trolltech by the Finnish company Nokia. Nokia is mainly active in the development and supply of mobile handsets and Trolltech is a supplier of software development tools, that is software used to develop software. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or a substantial part of it.

On 29th May 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration between Eramet, the Frecnh mining group and the Norwegian company Tinfos by which the undertaking Eramet SA (‘Eramet’, France) acquires control of part of Tinfos A/S (all the assets of Tifnos excluding a 60 % in Tinfos' hydropower business) (‘Tinfos’, Norway) by way of
purchase of shares.