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EU Intelligence » The ESBA Bulletin » 2003

ESBA WEEKLY of   3rd February 2003 - VOL 5 - N° 3

Quote of the Week: It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. Caron de Beaumarchais

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Headlines of this Week
EU / Consumer : Whitehead report largely supported by ENVI Committee 
EU / Environmental Liability : Adoption of draft opinion (Papayannakis Report)
EU / Intellectual Property : Counterfeiting Directive in the pipeline 
EU / Taxation : First agreement on the “savings tax package”

In Brief
EU / FP6 : Information day for SME interested in participating in the FP6
EU / Home State taxation : Report from the workshop of 12 December 2003-01-31
EU/ SMEs : Conference on Europe's Entrepreneurial Future in Thessaloniki 
EU/ Education : Training for entrepreneurship Best report

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Headlines of this Week

EU / Consumer : Whitehead report largely supported by ENVI Committee

The committee on the Environment and Consumer adopted unanimously on 22 January the report by Phillip Whitehead (PES, UK) on the Commission Communication on consumer policy for the years 2002-2006. The Communication sets outs three mid-terms objectives for consumer protection, which are first, achieving a high level of consumer protection, second, ensuring an effective enforcement of consumer protection rules, and third, reaching a greater involvement of consumer organisations.

The report broadly agrees with the Commission’s guidelines, but calls for specifications and practical measures. This concerns the improvement of citizens’ awareness of their rights in the Internal Market, the need for case-by-case assessment on the scope of desirable harmonization, and the need for giving priority to, for example, the legislation on the safety of services, the CE mark system, and the de development of a single market of services. The report will be discussed in the next plenary session in Strasbourg in February.

More info:
http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/oeil/oeil_ViewDNL.ProcViewCTX?lang=2&procid=6298&HighlighType=1&Highlight_Text=consumer{_SPACE_}policy
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EU/Environmental Liability: Adoption of draft opinion (Papayannakis Report)

The Commission Proposal on environmental  liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage was discussed on 21 January in the Committee for Environment (ENVI) and on 27 January in the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI). The ENVI Committee (opinion / Rapporteur M. Papayannakis, Greece – GUE/NGL) adopted amendments on the scope of the directive, definition, compulsory financial security, and removal of defenses.
Given the delay in receiving the translated amendments, Rapporteur Toine Manders (Netherlands, ELD), responsible for the issue in the JURI Committee, decided to postpone the vote until 24th March.

More Info:
http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=52002PC0485&model=guicheti
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EU / Intellectual Property : Counterfeiting Directive in the pipeline

The European Commission has presented on 30 January a proposal for a Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The goal is to harmonise national laws in order to enforce intellectual property rights and create a level playing field for right holders in the EU. The proposal covers infringements of all intellectual property rights including copyright and industrial property, such as trademarks or designs, which have been harmonised within the EU. This proposal follows the Green Paper on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in the Single Market of October 1998 and the Action Plan, on 30 November 2000.

According to an independent study(1) more than 17,000 legitimate jobs are lost annually through piracy and counterfeiting in the EU, and the problem is especially serious in the software industry, as a 37% of software being used in the EU is estimated to be pirated.

See the proposal:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/news/index.htm
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EU / Taxation : First agreement on the “savings tax package”

ECOFIN Council reached on 21January a political agreement on the “savings tax package”, which foresees that twelve Member States will have to set in place, on 1 January 2004, an automatic information exchange system between their tax administrations on the taxation of savings by residents of other Member States. Three States (Luxembourg, Austria and Belgium) are allowed to keep their banking secret as long as Switzerland keeps its own.
The final agreement will however depend on Switzerland’s reaction. The issue will be discussed again at the next Council in March 2003.

More Info : see the results of ECOFIN Council 21/01/2003:
http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=MEMO/03/13|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=

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In Brief

EU/ Education : Training for entrepreneurship Best report

EU / FP6 : Information day for SME interested in participating in the FP6 priorities 1 and 5
An information session, organised in Brussels on 11 February by the “partners for life consortium”, Europabio and the European Commission, will inform SMEs interested in participating in the Sixth Framework Programme. The workshop will concentrate on priorities 1 (life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health”, and 5 (food quality and safety).

For more info , please contact  jviseur@bba-bio.be
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EU / Home State taxation : Report from the workshop of 12 December 2002

A summary report of the workshop "Home State Taxation for SMEs" of  17/12/2002 is now available. Please contact us if you are interested to receive it.
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EU/ SMEs : Conference on Europe's Entrepreneurial Future in Thessaloniki

The European Commission and Greek Presidency of the Council are organising a conference on key issues raised in the Green Paper on entrepreneurship adopted by the Commission in January 2003.
The event will take place in Thessaloniki on 13 February 2003. ESBA will participate.

More info:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/events/thessaloniki/index.htm
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EU/ Education : Training for entrepreneurship Best report

An expert report compiling initiatives to promote the teaching of entrepreneurship from primary school to university in 16 European countries (EU 15 plus Norway), is available on the Enterprise DG website. This report, drafted by a group of national experts, is the first EU-wide survey analysing entrepreneurship-related activities at every level of formal education. It is the result of a "Best Procedure" project under the Multiannual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (2001-2005). It aims to help EU Member States to step up and co-ordinate their efforts to foster an entrepreneurial culture in Europe, and provide conclusions relevant for policy-making.

See the report:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/entrepreneurship/support_measures/training_education/index.htm

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