European Union News - Internal Market

The course from CEPOL, the European Police College on identifying and fighting counterfeit medicine and pharmaceutical crime and organised by the Central Office for Coordinating Environment and Health Crime in France on 26-30 March, attracted fourteen participants from eleven different Member States. Participants enjoyed of a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of this kind of organised crime.

The Danish Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament's negotiating team agreed on giving more and powers to the European Agency for Maritime Safety (EMSA) to step up cooperation against piracy, prevent maritime pollution, improve training for seafarers and help establish an EU maritime space without barriers. The informal deal needs to be formally approved by the Council and the Parliament.

A new EU research led by Professor Rebecca Cassidy who an ERC Starting Grant proposes a new approach to gambling focusing on its social and cultural aspects rather than on its pathological implications. The research team focuses on four case studies representing some of the most important features of gambling in Europe. Gambling in Europe is estimated to be worth €89 billion.

The European Commission is targeting the 'Generation 1992', i. e. young adults born in 1992, with a creativity competition aimed at tapping into the view, experiences, insights and expectations of what the single market means to young Europeans today. The competition is one of the number of events organised across the EU to mark the 20th anniversary of the European single market.

According to a Commission's report, although the existing legislative framework appears to work well and that no fundamental shortcomings have been identified which would require substantial changes, some modifications are necessary to adapt to the evolving threats on money laundering.

According to the data released by Eurostat, the volume of retail trade decreased by 0.4% in the European Union in February 2012 compared to January of the same year. In addition, in February 2012, compared with February 2011, the retail sales index fell by 1.1%
in the EU.

The College of Commissioners agreed on the legal submission of ACTA to allow the European Court of Justice to carry out a detailed examination of whether ACTA is in line with European Fundamental Rights such as the freedom of expression and information or data protection and the right to property including that of intellectual property.

ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency, published a practical guide which focuses on continuous security monitoring throughout the life-cycle of a cloud contract. The guide intends to be an assurance framework and tool for IT teams to assess the security of service providers before making a decision to move to the cloud, and it is specially focused on public procurement.