Commission Communication Research Articles

Towards interoperability for European payment infrastructures

This paper describes the EU Commission Communication on interoperability of public services, adopted in December 2010, and its possible implementation by financial market infrastructures. The Commission defined ambitious objectives and their achievement requires close collaboration between regulators and markets in order to streamline cross-border processes, to establish trusted information exchange, and to create interoperable infrastructures and systems. It is a cornerstone, and the implementation of the EU Commission recommendations by payment systems could help cultivate a European ecosystem with citizens familiar with interoperability and financial market infrastructures ready to collaborate, and common frameworks, tools and services facilitating the establishment of European financial services. The paper explains the relevance of the Communication for European financial market infrastructures and analyses how they could benefit from the application of the most relevant recommendations of the EU Commission for the financial sector. The paper draws conclusions on the possible involvement of European payment systems overseers to provide financial market infrastructures and their providers with proper incentives for interoperability.

What is the state of play in European governance of space policy?

The European way of doing space differs from others in that, while carried out cooperatively, there is no fully integrated space policy. This is inevitable in a non-sovereign entity whose members do not have the same priorities in many vital sectors such as energy, industry and political economy, and has nevertheless produced some excellent programmes. But, against the background of the worldwide increase in space players and capabilities, Europe's current lack of ambition and foresight, and its limited ability to respond to external developments are worrying. It needs to be more open about its governance and financing plans, something missing from the latest European Commission communication. In these difficult economic times a complete rethinking of future space plans would enable Europe to prioritise on the strategic niches which must be preserved, while proper investigation of the management failures of the flagship programmes might help avoid such difficulties in the future.

Double Taxation in the European Single Market

The author, in this article, evaluates the implications for the prevention of double taxation among the Member States of the European Union of the recent Commission Communication on tax treaties and the Internal Market, and offers solutions to the problems it raises.

The Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC: Idealisms and realisms

Following proposals to consider revising the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC (DPD) in 2011, have the changes addressed the main areas of concern that have been the focus of much discussion? The areas of concern include the application of the Directive in the online age, particularly to social networking sites and cloud computing; the minimum/maximum standard approach by the EU Member States to data protection; the relevance and application of the data protection principles. These are some of the issues that were considered in the recent Art. 29 Working Party's Opinion on the Future of Privacy. The article will use this as a starting point of discussion to identify the extent to which impending proposals to revise the Data Protection Directive are closely aligned with the Opinion and consider the recent European Commission Communication (6/2010) on the comprehensive approach to personal data protection in the European Union. According to the Art. 29 Working Party, the level of data protection in the EU can benefit from a better application of the existing data protection principles in practice. This paper will attempt to address some of the difficult questions and consider the challenges to implementing the changes introduced by forthcoming revisions to the DPD.

The Compatibility of Corporate Exit Taxation with European Law

In National Grid the CJEU confirmed that exit taxes on unrealised capital gains of corporations upon emigration to another Member State constitute a restriction on the freedom of establishment. The Court found that these exit taxes could be justified, however, and set out the conditions upon which this could be possible. This article begins by briefly summarising the ambiguity that had surrounded this matter before this decision and then summarises the arguments of the Court, highlighting the circumstances under which such taxation might be compatible with EU law. Lastly, the commentary discusses the conformity of the Court's findings with international tax law and European internal market law as well as the implications of the judgement on the Commission Communication on Exit Taxation, on cross-border mergers and on company seat transfers

Rare diseases: a priority in public health and research

Since the 1990s at both European Union (EU) and country level political concepts and initiatives concerning rare diseases have emerged. At European level, there are currently three key policy documents establishing a political framework for action in the field of rare diseases and orphan medicinal products at European level: (1) The Orphan Medicinal Product Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 141/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1999 on orphan medicinal products) was proposed to set up the criteria for orphan designation in the EU and describes the incentives (e.g. 10‑year market exclusivity, protocol assistance, access to the Centralised Procedure for Marketing Authorisation) to encourage the research, development and marketing of medicines to treat, prevent or diagnose rare diseases. (2) The Commission Communication on Rare Diseases: Europe’s challenge 7, adopted on 11 November 2008, set out an overall Community strategy to support countries in diagnosing, treating and caring for the 36 million EU citizens with rare diseases. This Communication focuses on three main areas: 1) improving recognition and visibility of rare diseases, 2) supporting policies on rare diseases in MS for a coherent overall strategy, and 3) developing cooperation, coordination and regulation for rare diseases at EU level. (3) The Council Recommendation on an action in the field of rare diseases was adopted on 8 June 2009. The Recommendation engages the responsibility of Member States and concentrates on supporting and strengthening the adoption before the end of 2013 of national plans and strategies for responding to rare diseases, on improving recognition and visibility of rare diseases, on encouraging more research into rare diseases and forging links between centres of expertise and professionals in different countries through the creation of European reference networks in order to share knowledge and expertise and, where necessary, to identify where patients should go when such expertise cannot be made available to them. The role of patients’ organisations is also highlighted as particularly important. To aid the European Commission with the implementation of Community activities in the field of rare diseases, The European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD) was formally established in 2009. At the same time, national strategies and policies in the field of rare disease (RD) are rapidly evolving. Up till now, several countries have taken action to adapt their health care system to meet the needs of the RD patient community or plan to do so. The first action point is to spot the expertise and organise healthcare pathways to reduce time to diagnosis and ensure appropriate care. A few European countries have already established centres of expertise for RD. The other ones have agreed to work on it according to the recommendations of the EUCERD. This will allow for health care users to access optimal care. Some experimental European reference networks of centres of expertise have been established. They are recognised as a desirable form of cooperation in the directive on cross‑border healthcare. Maximising scarce resources and coordinating efforts are also key elements for success in the field of research. Worldwide sharing of information, data and samples to boost research is currently hampered by the absence of an exhaustive rare disease classification, standard terms of reference and common ontologies, as well as harmonised regulatory requirements. The International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC) was launched in April 2011 to foster international collaboration in rare diseases research. The European Commission and the US National Institutes of Health initiated the discussions, and other stakeholders, including other funding agencies, were also invited to join the consortium. In October 2011 there was a meeting to identify principal research topics and regulatory challenges in this international context, as well as to establish the governance of the consortium. IRDiRC will team up researchers and funding agencies in order to achieve two main objectives by the year 2020, namely to deliver 200 new therapies for rare diseases and diagnostic tools for most rare diseases.

Perspectives on Group Corporate Governance and European Company Law

The need to introduce principles concerning the governance of corporate groups at the European Community level is what underlies the Action Plan of the European Commission (Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 21 May 2003). At the same time, the report of the Reflection Group deals extensively with the issue of EU intervention regarding groups of companies. Beginning with some theoretical premises and the experience of a cross-border group (i.e. the Pirelli Group), the proposal presented below is both a continuation of the basic guidelines of the documents mentioned above and a first response to the “Consultation on the future of European Company Law”, launched by the European Commissions, with the objectives of extending the issue’s framework and to define new legislative paradigma and conceptual models. More specifically, what it is proposed is the introduction of a number of uniform general principles for “group corporate governance”, the essential purpose of which is to improve the “flexibility of the management of groups in their international business activities”.

Partnerstwo Wschodnie jako ukoronowanie polskich starań o utworzenie Wschodniego Wymiaru UE

The aim of the article is to analyse Polish aspirations to create Eastern Dimension of the EU, which has finally succeed in May 2009, when the Eastern Partnership was inaugurated. The author presents Polish proposals addressed to Brussels between 1998 and 2008 (The Eastern policy of the European Union in the enlargement perspective – Polish side of view 2001; non-paper Wider Europe 2003; The New Neighbours – a framework for relations. Proposals from Poland 2003; The Neighbourhood Instrument – the Polish standpoint 2003; the European Neighbourhood Policy – Eastern Dimension 2006; Polish-Swedish Proposal. Eastern Partnership 2008). Then, compares its content with actual solutions adopted by the European Union in a form of the European Commission Communications (Wider Europe III 2003; European Neighbourhood Policy V 2004; Commission proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument X 2004; On strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy XII 2006; A Strong European Neighbourhood Policy XII 2007; Eastern Partnership XII 2008).

The Commission proposal for a legislative review of the European Standardisation Policy – What’s in it for civil society?

On 1st June 2011 the European Commission has published its legislative package for the review of the EU-framework for standardisation consisting of a proposal for a regulation COM(2011) 315/2 and a Commission communication COM(2011) 311/2. While dealing with issues such as enhancing standards for ICT and services and making the standardization process quicker the proposed European Commission (EC) Regulation also tackles the issue of transparency and stakeholder participation (specifically of representatives of SMEs and “societal stakeholders” including environmental NGOs) explicitly calling on the “European standardisation bodies [to] ensure an appropriate representation” of those representatives. The EC Communication promotes the increased use of standards to “address key societal challenges” including climate change and resource efficiency – something the environmental community sees with mixed feelings. This article focuses on these two aspects. The communication published by the Commission is of immediate effect, although Parliament and Council usually comment it in a resolution or conclusions, respectively. It does not have a legally binding value but includes political action points for the EC (or other actors). The proposal for a regulation is undergoing a co-decision procedure and becomes directly applicable once it comes into force.

The European cooperative approach to securing critical information infrastructure

This paper provides an overview of the EU approach to securing critical information infrastructure, as defined in the Action Plan contained in the Commission Communication of March 2009, entitled ‘Protecting Europe from large-scale cyber-attacks and disruptions: enhancing preparedness, security and resilience’ and further elaborated by the Communication of May 2011 on critical Information infrastructure protection ‘Achievements and next steps: towards global cyber-security’. After explaining the need for pan-European cooperation in this area, the CIIP Action Plan is explained in detail. Finally, the current state of progress is summarised together with the proposed next steps.

Democrazia deliberativa e governance ambientale nell'UE: il caso della Politica Integrata di Prodotto

This article aims to bring deliberative democracy back into the study of interest representation, by looking at consultation formats in the policy preparation and in the policy implementation stages of the EU Integrated Product Policy (IPP). IPP is a perfect example of the switch from government to governance in EU environmental policy-making. IPP is based on a Commission Communication and it is implemented exclusively via soft instruments, with strong stakeholders involvement across the policy cycle. All the consultation exercises are investigated through a deliberative lens, based on four criteria: openness and equality of participation; transparency; argumentative communication and binding nature of decisions. The analysis shows that, despite a good steering provided by the Commission, the multiplicity of consultation formats failed to deliver, due to a lack of binding decisions being taken. Thus, extensive and almost-deliberative consultations ultimately lead to limited results and to stakeholders disenchantment with the process. This raises bigger question on the role of both stakeholders and public authorities in multilevel environmental governance.

Science and alcohol policy: a case study of the EU Strategy on Alcohol

To describe the extent to which the content of the European Commission's Communication on alcohol reflects public health-based scientific evidence. Document retrieval and content analysis. European Union. Background documents leading up to the European Commission's Communication on alcohol, the Communication itself and implementation actions following the Communication. Documents were read and analyzed for evidence-based alcohol policy content. Although the Communication acknowledges and supports existing interventions which have high evidence for effectiveness, such as enforcing blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits for drivers, it extensively promotes other interventions which have been shown to be ineffective; for example, recommending education and persuasion strategies as a measure across all its five priority areas. Measures to influence price are mentioned only once in relation to sales in drinking venues limiting two-for-one drinks offers. Measures to control physical availability are mentioned infrequently. The Communication reflects the science, in that it acknowledges the significance of alcohol as a social and health determinant in Europe. However, it places more emphasis on policy actions with less evidence for effectiveness than on those with strong evidence. It also focuses its efforts more on mapping member state actions and coordinating knowledge exchange than on providing concrete recommendations for action or developing Europe-wide policy measures. This may be a compromise between the rights of Member States to develop national policy and legislation and the obligation of the European Union as a collaborative body to protect health. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the European Union's roots as a trading block emphasizes collaboration with industry stakeholders and this influences the ability to prioritize health over trade considerations.

The contribution of academia to the further development of European language policy: Some reflections based on an analysis of the European Commission's communications on multilingualism of 2005 and 2008

Over the past years the European Commission launched two communications on multilingualism: 'A New Framework Strategy for Multilingualism' (2005) and 'Multilingualism: An Asset for Europe and a Shared Commitment' (2008). Their synthetic nature makes both communications suitable to serve as a starting point for a generalising overview of the main points of European language policy as they have been given shape over the past years. Since research has fuelled and will continue to fuel the development of European language policy the overview for the purpose of this contribution is combined with a round-up of current trends in research on multilingualism. The combination of both policy directions and research trends is meant to give way to a generalising reflection on challenges related to European language policy as expressed in the Commission's communications on multilingualism and on the role academia could (or should) play in meeting these challenges.

A precautionary public health protection strategy for the possible risk of childhood leukaemia from exposure to power frequency magnetic fields

BackgroundEpidemiological evidence showing a consistent association between the risk of childhood leukaemia and exposure to power frequency magnetic fields has been accumulating. This debate considers the additional precautionary intervention needed to manage this risk, when it exceeds the protection afforded by the exposure guidelines as recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.MethodsThe Bradford-Hill Criteria are guidelines for evaluating the scientific evidence that low frequency magnetic fields cause childhood leukaemia. The criteria are used for assessing the strength of scientific evidence and here have been applied to considering the strength of evidence that exposures to extremely low frequency magnetic fields may increase the risk of childhood leukaemia. The applicability of precaution is considered using the risk management framework outlined in a European Commission (EC) communication on the Precautionary Principle. That communication advises that measures should be proportionate, non-discriminatory, consistent with similar measures already taken, based on an examination of the benefits and costs of action and inaction, and subject to review in the light of new scientific findings.ResultsThe main evidence for a risk is an epidemiological association observed in several studies and meta-analyses; however, the number of highly exposed children is small and the association could be due to a combination of selection bias, confounding and chance. Corroborating experimental evidence is limited insofar as there is no clear indication of harm at the field levels implicated; however, the aetiology of childhood leukaemia is poorly understood. Taking a precautionary approach suggests that low-cost intervention to reduce exposure is appropriate. This assumes that if the risk is real, its impact is likely to be small. It also recognises the consequential cost of any major intervention. The recommendation is controversial in that other interpretations of the data are possible, and low-cost intervention may not fully alleviate the risk.ConclusionsThe debate shows how the EC risk management framework can be used to apply the Precautionary Principle to small and uncertain public health risks. However, despite the need for evidence-based policy making, many of the decisions remain value driven and therefore subjective.

Tonnage Tax: A Widespread State Aid Regime in the European Union

This article examines State aid concerns regarding tonnage taxation schemes, the evolution of the EU guidelines on maritime transport over the last 15 years and the latest Commission Communications and decisions on tonnage taxation.

2008 Commission Communication 'European Agencies – the Way Forward': What is the Follow-Up Since Then?

On 17th February 2010, the Heads of the European Union agencies met with the European Commission President, Barroso. President Barroso stressed in his speech that European agencies play a significant role in European Union governance today and recalled the necessity of European Union institutions addressing important issues raised by these agencies, as had been stressed in the Commission’s 2008 Communication to the European Parliament and the Council entitled ‘European Agencies - The Way Forward’. This article is aimed at assessing the follow-up given to this 2008 Communication, by first of all describing the genesis of the 2008 Commission’s Communication, then by studying which type of decentralized organization - ‘European regulatory agency’ - the Commission has concentrated on in its Communication and, finally, by analyzing on which bases the Commission has intended to relaunch the inter-institutional debate in order to assess whether an effective follow-up was given to it. More than two years have elapsed since the Commission adopted the Communication. The Commission had at that time announced that the first results could be envisaged for the end of 2009.

Rescue of Financial Institutions: An Overview of European Commission Frameworks and Practice on State Aids to Financial Sector in the Current Global Crisis

This paper refers to the analysis of state aids granted by member states to financial institutions in the European Union, in the context of the current worldwide financial crisis. In order to test the present framework established by the European Commission from 2008 and its real practice, we start from the Decision adopted by the European Commission in the 1995 Credit Lyonnais case, which was an individual act, showed some interesting Commission general considerations about state aid to the banking sector, many of them are today included in current Commission communications.

The European Union action in the field of rare diseases

Background: Rare diseases, including those of genetic origin, are defined by the European Union as life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases which are of such low prevalence (less than 5 per 10 000). Thespecificities of rare diseases - limited number of patients and scarcity of relevant knowledge and expertise -single them out as a unique domain of very high European added-value.Methods: The legal instruments at the disposal of the European Union, in terms of the Article 152 of theTreaties, are very limited. However a combination of instruments using the research and the pharmaceuticallegal basis and an intensive and creative use of funding from the Second Health Programme has permitted tocreate a solid basis that Member States have considered enough to put rare diseases in a privileged positionin the health agenda.Results: The adoption of the Commission Communication, in November 2008, and of the CouncilRecommendation, in June 2009, and the future adoption of the Directive on Cross-border healthcare, end2009 or mid 2010, have created an operational framework to act in the field of rare disease with Europeancoordination in several areas (classification and codification, European Reference Networks, orphan drugs,European Committee of Experts, etc.).Conclusions: Rare diseases is an area with enormous and practical potentialities for European cooperation.

EU Enforcement Policy of Community Environmental law as presented in the Commission Communication on implementing European Community Environmental law

On 18 November 2008, the European Commission issued a Communication on Implementing European Community Environmental Law. It was accompanied by a more detailed Commission Staff Working Document. The current paper is a ClientEarth legal assessment of the enforcement and implementation policy for Community Environmental law as proposed by the Commission in this Communication. The Communication reflects the extremely good work that the legal unit in DG Environment has been undertaking for years now in the implementation of enforcement actions. It also represents a new step in establishing a coherent enforcement policy for European Community environmental law in response to new challenges. However, the Communication and the underlying enforcement policy described are incomplete and are not sufficient for achieving overall compliance with Community environmental law in Member States. On first view, the Commission’s proposals seem to constitute efforts to tackle the problem of insufficient resources so that they can be used more efficiently and greater compliance can be achieved with Community environmental law. However, it might also signal the Commission’s unstated plan, or even a strategic decision, to retreat from enforcement activities and rely more heavily on Member States to enforce Community environmental law. Any such retreat would be a derogation of the Commission’s obligations under Art. 211 of the Treaty. This article is based on a ClientEarth discussion paper presented at a round table organised by Ecosphere on the 8th of July 2009 and takes into account the information and ideas exchanged in the debate. Representatives from different services of the European Commission including the legal unit of DG Environment, and the Legal Service, as well as from consultancies, think tanks and Environmental NGOs attended the meeting.

Adult Education for Democratic Citizenship in Europe

- In 2001 a new emphasis on learning for democratic citizenship has been championed by the European Commission's Communication on Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality. The communication recognizes active citizenship as one of the four "broad and mutually supporting objectives" of the lifelong learning strategy. Accordingly, civic competence, which "equips individuals to fully participate in civic life", has been identified by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union as a key competence to be given priority in all member states in the years to come. The article introduces the core principles of a European study aiming at investigating, from a comparative perspective, ways in which adults can achieve competencies relevant for democratic citizenship. Furthermore it presents and discusses selected of findings. The findings suggest that, in spite of the shift from education to learning for democratic citizenship within the European discourse, the emphasis on lifelong learning and the consequent equal recognition of in-school and out-of-school learning activities, most empirical research in the field of education for democratic citizenship remains primarily concerned with school-aged pupils. When available, research which focuses on the links between adult education and learning for democratic citizenship is highly theoretical and rarely supported by empirical evidence.Keywords lifelong learning, democratic citizenship, adult education, European Commission, civic competence.