European Union News - Internal Market

On the 16 April 2008 the European Commission published in th OJ (Official Journal of the EUropean Union) three texts account for three different prespectives concerning the concentration between Sony/BMG and its compatibilty with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement. The concentration is otherwise known as Case COMP/M.3333 — Sony/BMG.

On 8 April 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Arrow Electronics, Inc. (‘Arrow’, United States of America) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation control of the whole of Logix SA (‘Logix’, France) by way of purchase of shares.

On 7 April 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 by which Autogrill SpA (‘Autogrill’, Italy) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation control of the whole of World Duty Free Limited (‘WDF’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) information communicated by Member States regarding the State aid "Shetland Cast Ewe Welfare Scheme", granted under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises active in the production of agricultural products. The overall amount of individual aid granted to the company has be set at 50,000 Pounds

On 15 April 2008 the Official Journal of the European Union has published the Commission repection of a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation 139/2004 by which the undertaking and Gonvarri (Spain) and Arcelor Mittal (Luxembourg) acquire joint control of Gonvarri Brasil Produtos Siderúrgicos SA (‘SSC Brazil’, Brazil) by way of purchase of shares.

On 15th  April 2008 the Official Journal of the European Union has published the Commission repection of a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation 139/2004 by which the undertakings Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd acquires within control of Samsung Opto-Electronics GmbH (‘Samsung Opto-Electronics’, Germany), Samsung Opto-Electronics France S.A.S. (‘Samsung Opto-Electronics France’, France) and Samsung Opto-Electronics UK (‘Samsung Opto-Electronics UK’, United Kingdom), which are all indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd (‘Samsung Techwin’, Korea) by way of purchase of assets.

On the 14th April 2008 the European Commission published its official decision concerning a technical specification for interoperability relating to the ‘energy’ sub-system of the trans-European high-speed rail system (notified under document number C(2008) 807). The Decision shall apply from 1st October 2008.

In recent years, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) have developed in many fields. The hallmark of this form of cooperation, which is generally geared to the longer term, is the role of the private partner, who is involved in the various phases of the project (planning, implementation and operation), who is intended to bear risks that are traditionally borne by the public sector and who often contributes to financing the project.

On 11 April 2008 the Official Journal of the European Union has published the Commission repection of a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation 139/2004 by which the undertakings EADS NV (‘EADS’, the Netherlands) and Sita France SA acquire the joint control of the undertaking T.A.R.M.A.C. Aerosave  SAS (‘T.A.R.M.A.C. Aerosave’, France) by way of purchase of shares.