European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission has presented to the European Parliament its regular report on the openness of the European market to imports from developing countries.

People should not be criminalised for the file-sharing of copyrighted material if they are not profiting from doing so, the European Parliament has recommended.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published last 19th April 2008 a Commission Decision prolonging the validity of Decision 2006/502/EC requiring Member States to take measures to ensure that only lighters which are child-resistant are placed on the market and to prohibit the placing on the market of novelty lighters.

The number of dangerous products removed from the EU market rose by 53% in 2007 compared to in 2006, the Commission's annual report on the Rapid Alert System (RAPEX) reveals today. This rise from 1 051 notifications in 2006 to 1 605 last year shows that Member States' surveillance capacities are improving year on year

The European Commission has opened a detailed investigation under the EU Merger Regulation into the proposed acquisition of certain parts of GBI of The Netherlands by the UK-based company Associated British Foods (ABF). Both companies produce dry, compressed and liquid baker's yeast.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on possible changes to the Capital Requirements Directive (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC). The purpose of this consultation is to collect comments of the industry and other stakeholders on these modifications. The Commission is also conducting an impact assessment related to the modification of certain provisions. Stakeholders are invited to give the Commission their views on the issues by 16 June 2008.

The European Commission (EC) have published a report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliment concering Progress in creating the internal gas and electricity market [SEC(2008) 460]. The report  which was approved on the 15th April 2008 was published on the 17th April 2008 in the OJ (Official Journal of the European Union).

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Hungarian insurance company OTP Garancia by the French insurance and banking group Groupama. The Commission concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in any substantial part of it.

The EC has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Activision Inc., a US publisher of game software, by Vivendi S.A. of France. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area ("EEA") or any substantial part of it.