European Union News - Internal Market

Statistics just published by the European Commission relating to counterfeit and piracy show a significant increase in customs activity last year. In 2007, customs registered over 43,000 cases of fake goods seized at the EU's external border, compared to 37,000 in 2006.

Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities released  its figures on EU27 Foreign Direct Investment for 2007. In 2007, EU27 FDI (foreign direct investment) in extra-EU27 countries (outflows) rose by 53%, from 275 billion euro in 2006 to 420 bn in 2007, while FDI into the EU27 from the rest of the world (inflows) increased by 89%, from 169 bn to 319 bn. In 2007, intra-EU27 FDI flows rose by 13% compared with 2006.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of World Duty Free Limited (WDF), a UK-based airport shop operator, by the Italian-based travel service provider Autogrill S.p.A.. After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.

The European Commission has published is the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ),a decision to propose appropriate measures, which were subsequently accepted, for state aid to Ireland. The Decision was adopted on the 2nd of February 2008 will finance Radio Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and Teilifís na Gaeilge (TG4) with 220 meros.

The first estimate for the euro area (EA15) trade balance with the rest of the world in March 2008 gave a 2.3 bn euro deficit, compared with +7.5 bn in March 2007. The February 2008 balance was +0.8 bn, compared with -1.6 bn in February 2007. In March 2008 compared with February 2008, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 2.9% while imports remained stable. These data are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

On the 16th May 2008 a report on the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee concerning three main topics was punlished in the Official Journal of the European Union. These topics were:

1. ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down procedures relating to the application of certain national technical rules to products lawfully marketed in another Member State (Regulation (COM(2007) 36 final).
2. ‘Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a common framework for the marketing of products’ (Decision (COM(2007) 53 final) .

‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products’ (Regulation (COM(2007) 37 final).

On the 16th May 2008, the European Commission published in the OJ prior notification of a concentration between Renolit, Evonik Degussa and Suncoat.

On 7 May 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration by which the undertaking Ineos Group Limited (‘Ineos’, United Kingdom) acquires control of a plant of the undertaking BASF plc, controlled by BASF SE (‘BASF’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of assets.

Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has released figures on inflation within the Euro area for April 2008.

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Tele Atlas by TomTom, both of the Netherlands. Tele Atlas is a provider of navigable digital maps and TomTom produces portable navigation devices (PNDs – often known as satellite navigation devices or SatNavs). After an in-depth examination, launched in November 2007, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.