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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 04-10-29

Midday Express: News from the EU Commission Spokesman's Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>


CONTENTS / CONTENU

  • [01] Accès aux médicaments : la Commission propose d'autoriser l'exportation de médicaments génériques vers les pays pauvres
  • [02] VAT : Commission proposes One-Stop-Shop and other measures to simplify VAT obligations
  • [03] Company law : Commission proposes to simplify the formation, maintenance and alteration of companies' capital
  • [04] Commission clears the acquisition of two manufacturers of printing inks by CVC
  • [05] Commission clears Cargill acquisition of Brazilian pork and poultry producer
  • [06] Commission approves Flextronics' acquisition of Nortel manufacturing activities
  • [07] La Commission autorise Wendel à acquérir le contrôle exclusif de Bureau Veritas
  • [08] Commission clears acquisition of Honsel by US investment firm Ripplewood
  • [09] Commission clears T-Mobile acquisition of Polish mobile phone operator Polska Telefonica
  • [10] Commission clears Slovak Telekom's acquisition of EuroTel Bratislava
  • [11] Enregistrement de deux dénominations de produits agricoles
  • [12] October 2004 : improvement of economic sentiment in both the EU and the euro area
  • [13] October 2004 : the euro area Business Climate Indicator remained almost steady
  • [14] Estimation rapide - Octobre 2004 : l'inflation de la zone euro estimée à 2,5%
  • [15] Commission to strengthen its efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis
  • [16] La Commission soumet à un panel d'experts les résultats d'analyse obtenus par une équipe française sur une chèvre atteinte d'une EST
  • [17] EU and the Republic of Korea agree terms for bilateral competition dialogue
  • [18] Autre matériel diffusé Midday Express of 2004-10-29 Reference: MEX/04/1029 Date: 29/10/2004 EXME04 / 29.10

    MIDDAY EXPRESS

    News from the Press and Communication Directorate General's midday briefing

    Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Direction Général Presse etb

    Communication

    29/10/04


  • [01] Accès aux médicaments : la Commission propose d'autoriser l'exportation de médicaments génériques vers les pays pauvres

    La Commission européenne a proposé un règlement visant à permettre aux fabricants de médicaments génériques de produire des médicaments brevetés en vue de l'exportation vers les "pays dans le besoin" ne possédant pas de capacités de production suffisantes. Le règlement met en œuvre dans l'UE une décision de l'OMC du 30 août 2003 (voir IP/03/1189) en vertu de laquelle les autorités nationales peuvent octroyer des "licences obligatoires" pour cette production si certaines conditions sont réunies. L'une des exigences est que le pays de destination notifie à l'OMC sa demande du médicament couvert par la licence. Le projet de règlement n'impose aucune autre restriction quant aux médicaments et aux maladies couvertes. Pour contribuer à assurer que les médicaments parviennent aux patients qui en ont besoin et protéger les titulaires des brevets, les autorités douanières sont invitées à éviter la réimportation vers l'UE des médicaments produits dans le cadre du système.

    [02] VAT : Commission proposes One-Stop-Shop and other measures to simplify VAT obligations

    The European Commission has presented a proposal to simplify current Value Added Tax (VAT) compliance obligations to help cross-border traders who supply goods and services to other EU Member States. In particular the proposal would provide for a "one-stop-shop" system whereby a trader could fulfil all his VAT obligations for EU-wide activities in the Member State in which he is established. This system would allow traders to use a single VAT number for all supplies made throughout the EU and to make VAT declarations to a single electronic portal that would then be submitted automatically to the different Member States to which the trader supplies goods or services. The proposal also contains five other simplification measures. Studies including the Commission's European Tax Survey (see IP/04/1091) have demonstrated that VAT obligations are at present extremely burdensome and costly for cross-border activity. It takes into account opinions expressed during a public consultation held earlier this year (see IP/04/654).

    [03] Company law : Commission proposes to simplify the formation, maintenance and alteration of companies' capital

    The European Commission has presented a proposal for a Directive to make it easier for public limited liability companies to take certain measures affecting the size, structure and ownership of their capital. The proposal would amend the parts of the 1976 Second Company Law Directive covering the formation, maintenance and alteration of capital. This proposal is part of the Commission’s Action Plan on Company Law and Corporate Governance, announced in May 2003 (see IP/03/716 and MEMO/03/112) and will be submitted for adoption under the 'co-decision' procedure to the EU's Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

    [04] Commission clears the acquisition of two manufacturers of printing inks by CVC

    The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition by the European private equity firm CVC of both the printing inks and pigment manufacturing interests of the German company BASF and of the Dutch company ANI Printing Inks BV. The investigation has shown that the proposed transactions, which will involve the combination of the acquired businesses, will not significantly impede effective competition in the European Union.

    [05] Commission clears Cargill acquisition of Brazilian pork and poultry producer

    The European Commission has cleared, under the European Union's Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of the Brazilian pork and poultry producer Seara Alimentos, S.A. by Cargill Inc. of the United States. Although it has an impact in Europe, the acquisition poses no serious competition concerns.

    [06] Commission approves Flextronics' acquisition of Nortel manufacturing activities

    The European Commission has authorised the acquisition by Flextronics of some of Nortel's manufacturing assets, employees and related supply chain activities as well as some assets and employees relating to hardware and software design for optical networking products ("the target business"). The parties have also entered a four years outsourcing agreement according to which Nortel will source all of its manufacturing requirements from Flextronics.

    [07] La Commission autorise Wendel à acquérir le contrôle exclusif de Bureau Veritas

    La Commission européenne a autorisé la société holding française Wendel à acquérir le contrôle exclusif de Bureau Veritas, entreprise française d'inspection, de contrôle et de certification. Wendel détenait déjà , conjointement avec la société familiale Poincaré Investissements, le contrôle conjoint de Bureau Veritas. La Commission a examiné la cession à Wendel de la participation de Poincaré Investissements dans Bureau Veritas et en a conclu que l'opération ne soulève pas de problèmes de concurrence.

    [08] Commission clears acquisition of Honsel by US investment firm Ripplewood

    The European Commission has granted clearance, under the Merger Regulation, to a proposed concentration by which US fund managing company Ripplewood Investments L.L.C. acquires control of the whole of The Honsel Group. Honsel is a Luxembourg-based group of companies active in the light-metal (aluminium and magnesium) processing industry and mainly focused in the manufacturing of components for the automotive and engineering industries. (The transaction, which was notified on 30 September 2004, was examined under a simplified procedure for unproblematic cases).

    [09] Commission clears T-Mobile acquisition of Polish mobile phone operator Polska Telefonica

    The European Commission has granted clearance, under the Merger Regulation, to a proposed concentration by which T-Mobile International AG, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom group, acquires sole control over Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. (The operation, which was notified on 24 September 2004, was examined under a simplified procedure for unproblematic cases)

    [10] Commission clears Slovak Telekom's acquisition of EuroTel Bratislava

    The European Commission has granted clearance, under the Merger Regulation, to a proposed concentration by which Slovak Telekom a.s., a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, acquires sole control over the Slovak mobile network operator EuroTel Bratislava a.s. (The operation, which was notified on 27Â September 2004, was examined under a simplified procedure for unproblematic cases).

    [11] Enregistrement de deux dénominations de produits agricoles

    La Commission européenne a ajouté deux dénominations de produits agricoles et alimentaires à la liste des appellations d'origine protégées (AOP) et indications géographiques protégées (IGP). Il s'agit des produits "Terre Tarentine" et "Cartoceto" (deux huiles d'olive italiennes - AOP). Les deux dénominations s'ajoutent à la liste d'environ 650 produits déjà protégés en vertu de la législation sur la protection des indications géographiques, des appellations d'origine et des spécialités traditionnelles. Des renseignements sur les produits de qualité ainsi que la liste des dénominations protégées sont disponibles sur l'internet à l'adresse: <a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/foodqual/quali1_fr.htm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/foodqual/quali1_fr.htm

    [12] October 2004 : improvement of economic sentiment in both the EU and the euro area

    The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) for the EU rose in October by 0.6 points, reaching a level of 104.5. In the euro area, economic sentiment also improved although by a more moderate 0.3 points ; the indicator reached 101.3.

    [13] October 2004 : the euro area Business Climate Indicator remained almost steady

    Following the general improvement since mid-2003, the Business Climate Indicator for the euro area remained almost steady during the last 3 months. In October, it increased by 0.05 points reaching a value of 0.54. The slight improvement of the BCI was mainly driven by increases in the assessment made by managers in the industry sector on questions concerning total and export order books, as well as by the improvement on question related to stocks of finished products. These developments have more than offset the small decrease recorded on opinions about production trend in the recent past. In the meantime, production expectations remained unchanged.

    [14] Estimation rapide - Octobre 2004 : l'inflation de la zone euro estimée à 2,5%

    Selon une estimation rapide publiée aujourd'hui par Eurostat, le taux d'inflation annuel de la zone euro s'établirait à 2,5% en octobre 2004. En septembre 2004, le taux était de 2,1%.

    [15] Commission to strengthen its efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and Tuberculosis

    The European Commission has adopted a comprehensive policy framework to strengthen its efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. The strategy confirms poverty reduction as the overall focus of its efforts. For the first time it also proposes to address these three diseases in the context of human rights and human security. Furthermore it proposes a coherent response to the three diseases across all of its external relations. The Commission has allocated over €1,1 billion to fight the three diseases from 2003-2006.

    [16] La Commission soumet à un panel d'experts les résultats d'analyse obtenus par une équipe française sur une chèvre atteinte d'une EST

    A la suite de la découverte, dans le cerveau d'une chèvre, par un groupe de chercheurs français d'une infection suspecte d'EST que les tests ne permettent pas de distinguer de l'ESB, la Commission européenne a soumis les données fournies par les autorités françaises au laboratoire de référence communautaire pour les EST situé à Weybridge (Grande-Bretagne), qui les fera évaluer par un panel d'experts. Les EST sont des encéphalopathies spongiformes transmissibles, telles que l'ESB chez les bovins et la tremblante chez les ovins et les caprins. Le panel d'experts procédera, dans un délai de deux semaines environ, à l'évaluation des données scientifiques pour déterminer si cette chèvre était effectivement atteinte d'ESB. Cet incident isolé ne présente aucun risque pour la santé publique étant donné que la chèvre infectée et son troupeau ne sont pas entrés dans la chaîne alimentaire humaine ou animale.

    [17] EU and the Republic of Korea agree terms for bilateral competition dialogue

    European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti and Chairman of the Korean Fair Trade Commission on 28 October signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a structured dialogue on competition between the European Union and Korea. This dialogue will help foster the interests of both European and Korean companies when doing business in each other's territory.

    [18] Autre matériel diffusé

    Discours du Président Prodi à la signature du Traité constitutionnel (Rome)

    Calendrier du 3 au 6 novembre 2004 From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/


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