European Union News - Internal Market

The European Parliament Internal Market Committee agreed on 22 March that country of origin labels should be made mandatory for textiles imported from third countries and sold in the EU. This amendment to the new draft on textile labelling, which would provide for consumers not to be misled, would be compulsory for products from third countries and voluntary for EU products.

The European Railway Agency (ERA) issued on 21 March its Technical opinion regarding the safety related aspects of the Channel Tunnel Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) conclusions on the operation of rolling stock in the tunnel. The European Commission has welcomed this technical opinion as it paves the way to introduce more competition in the Channel Tunnel, ensuring the highest level in safety standards.

Although all Member states are currently experiencing difficult situations due to the economic crisis, the new Internal Market Scoreboard shows that most Member States are effectively transposing internal market provisions into national law. According to the Scoreboard, most Member states are meeting the target set by Heads of State and Government about the amount  Internal Market Directives for which the implementation deadline has passed, which stands at 0.9%.

The European Economic and Social Committee has suggested in its opinion on energy supply and neighbourhood policy, that the European Union should consider the security of its energy supply as one of the priorities of its external policy. In this opinion, the Committee came out in favour of appointing a high representative for energy policy to ensure that Europe speaks with one voice in this area.

The aim of this proposal is to significantly reduce the administrative burden, compliance costs and legal uncertainties that businesses in the EU currently face in having to comply with up to 27 different national systems for determining their taxable profits. The proposed Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), would mean that companies would benefit from a "one-stop-shop" system for filing their tax returns and would be able to consolidate all the profits and losses they incur across the EU. Member States would maintain their full sovereign right to set their own corporate tax rate.

The Council agreed within the Economic and Financial Affairs Council held on 15 March, a general approach on a package of measures aimed at strengthening economic governance in the euro area, as part of the EU's response to the challenges highlighted by recent turmoil on sovereign debt markets. The agreement will enable the presidency to start negotiations with the European Parliament, with the aim of reaching an overall agreement in June.

Celebrating the World Consumer Rights Day on 15 March, the global federation of consumer groups Consumers International has decided to focus this year's campaign in calling for fairer financial services. The European Commission, which fully supports this objective, is acting on all fronts to give EU consumers a fairer deal in financial services.

In order to promote European security industry, the Commission has launched on 14 March a public consultation to invite all interested parties to share their views on the best policy measures to be taken to make Europe’s security industry a world leader. This consultation aims to gather opinions on how to deal with the fragmented internal market and the weak industrial base this industry is facing. Interested parties may submit their opinion until 13 May.

The spring Consumer Scoreboard published by the European Commission shows a clear recovery in consumer conditions in nearly all EU countries after the steep decline in 2009. The annual index of consumer conditions is measured e.g. by consumer trust in authorities, NGOs and retailers and the effectiveness of handling disputes.

The public hearing of the Single Market Observatory (SMO) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Budapest provided Hungarian civil society organisations a unique opportunity to express their views on how to best relaunch the European Single Market and to debate the Single Market Act with their counterparts at European level.