Publications Archive

Both the EU and the USA are currently debating how to design derivatives markets in a more transparent and panic-proof manner. Similar to the USA the EU Commission proposes to improve the collateralisation of derivatives transactions and to standardise the OTC trading through central counter party (CCP) clearing to be located in the EU.

In order to attain independence from fossil fuels, the EU is planning to accelerate the development and introduction of various low carbon technologies with the help of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (“SET-Plan”). The Commission substantiates the strategic and technological targets, the planned measures and an estimation of how much private and public investment will be required for the research and development of low carbon technologies until 2020.

The consumer markets scoreboard serves to monitor the “performance“ of the internal market from the consumers’ perspective and to identify parts of it that “are not functioning well“. Moreover, consumer options for cross-border shopping within the EU are to be assessed and the general conditions for effective consumer protection in the single Member States be benchmarked.

The European Commission is not satisfied with the development of the transeuropean transport system. In its Green Paper the Commission presents its visison of a future TEN-T policy and three options for action. Obviously it aims at the establishment of a "priority network" instead of a "core network" in future. In this context the Commission wants the transnational projects to be chosen by rational and comprehensible criteria.

The EU Commission opens up a consultation on possible amendments of the European Jurisdiction and Enforcement Regulation [“Brussels I“ / (EC) No. 44/2001]. It instigates a discussion on how to abolish conflicts of jurisdiction and impediments to the enforcement of court decisions in the international legal order.

The EU wishes to combat late payment by businesses and public authorities. Therefore, it has submitted a Directive Proposal amending and complementing the existing Directive in essential parts. Particularly the enforcement of recovery costs is to be facilitated. In addition, special rules for public authorities are to be introduced for public authorities in delay.

Vertical agreements are entered into by undertakings which operate in the production or distribution chain at different levels. Such agreements are generally prohibited, however, the EC Treaty provides for exemptions from the general prohibition. The Commission decides whether or not an exemption is given. In its Block Exemption Regulation (EC) No. 2760/1999 and its Guidelines, the Commission is presenting the conditions according to which an agreement is deemed in line with competition law. Said Regulation expires on 31. May 2010. This summer the Commission has submitted a follow-up Regulation and Draft Guidelines for consultation. The drafts serve to take into account the latest developments of e-commerce.

The European Commission wants to reduce the administrative burdens of micro-entities. It is therefore proposing an amending Directive, which would enable Member States to exempt micro-entities from the obligation to draw up annual accounts.

The Commission proposes highly ambitious climate protection targets for both developing and industrial countries. To this end, emissions trading is to be extended. In addition, financial support to developing countries is to be partially financed through EU bonds.

The public sector possesses extensive information such as satellite images, judicial decisions or statistics ("Public Sector Information" - PSI), all of which can serve as raw material for products and services offered by private providers such as navigation systems, weather forecasts or financial services. The Directive 2003/98/EC (“PSI Directive“) is to remove barriers to the private use (“re-use”) of PSI in the internal market. The aim of the Communication is to review the impact thus far of the PSI Directive and to show new ways to tap the full economic potential in re-using PSI.