European Commission Consultation Research Articles

Response to European Commission White Paper on Artificial Intelligence

This is the submission made in response to the European Commission's consultation on its White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, focusing only on the proposed regulatory framework.

Information for sale in the European Union

This paper empirically explores the role of informational lobbying in shaping the EU trade policy. To this purpose, we construct an original dataset by collecting information on the participation of national and international organizations in the European Commission consultations on trade issues and by merging it with newly released data on non-tariff measures aggregated at the tariff-line level between 1999 and 2007. Our results suggest that European lobbies exert a major influence on policy-makers. Drawing upon the panel structure of the dataset, we find that participation in consultation meetings increases the probability of a protectionist policy, even after controlling for product fixed effects and a number of control variables. Moreover, actual attendance turns out to be more effective than simple registration and organizations representing more than one industrial category are more likely to obtain protection than single-sector organizations. These findings are interpreted in light of a political economy model of lobbying with (possibly endogenous) costs.

Neo-Protectionism and the European Lobbies

This paper empirically explores the connection between two recent phenomena in the European scenario: the dramatic upsurge of non-tariff trade measures and the remarkable rise in the role of European business lobbies. While these two facts have been widely recognized by the international trade and the political economy literature, empirical investigation into the connection between the two has so far been impeded by the lack of data. To identify European special interest groups and their influence on policy decisions, we construct an original dataset by collecting information on the participation of national and international organizations in the European Commission consultations on trade issues and by merging it with newly released information on non-tariff measures aggregated at the tariff-line level. Drawing upon the panel structure of the dataset, we find that European lobbies exert an important influence on the policy-makers, even after controlling for product fixed effects and a number of product and industrial variables. Between two possible interpretations of this finding, either that participation in meetings captures political pressure (possibly including the supply of biased information) on policy-decisions or that it involves, rather, transmission of true information, our empirical results tend to favor the former. Nonetheless, we are inclined to rule out the possibility that registration in consultations is in itself just signaling for active involvement in lobbying action, since we find evidence that actual meeting attendance has a larger impact on policy decision than registration only.

The European Commission's consultation on its draft EU guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines

The European Commission's consultation on its draft EU guidelines on state aid to airports and airlines

Submission Under Consultation Process by the European Commission on the Structural Reform of the Banking Sector

This is a response to the European Commission proposed regulation to address Too Big To Fail (TBTF). TBTF is a function of interconnections and size, not just being a bank but also doing bank-like activities. Limiting the discussion to just banks will not result in an effective policy solution. Also the frame of analysis does not take into account systemic questions, Too Big To Fail not being the important question. Shadow banking and hedge funds can be outside the parameters for TBTF but they can be Too Systemic To Fail. This set of discussions does not take that into account. We discuss how interconnected banks have become over the last decade and the need for this set of regulations to be more wide ranging. This was part of the European Commission consultation.

Implementation of IFRS for SMEs in Emerging Economies: Stakeholder Perceptions in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Turkey

AbstractThis research investigates the perceptions of stakeholders involved in financial reporting in four emerging economies (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey) regarding the possible implementation of IFRS for SMEs, in terms of costs, benefits, and strategy of adoption. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with representatives of main stakeholders (preparers, auditors, regulators, professional bodies, and users). We find more support for IFRS for SMEs implementation in these four countries than suggested by the results of the European Commission's consultation for the European Union. Interviews reveal differences between stakeholder groups and between countries regarding the preferred implementation approach (mandatory adoption, voluntary adoption or convergence of national regulations with IFRS for SMEs). Interviews indicate the most support for the convergence approach. However, users oppose convergence and prefer the adoption of IFRS for SMEs. The convergence approach moves regulators' attention from users' needs to preparers' preferences and preparedness. This finding is relevant in the decision‐making process of national regulators, who should balance the needs of various stakeholders, but also the country's political and economic objectives.

A Frame Response to the European Commission Consultation on the Draft Report on Alternative (Non-animal) Methods for Cosmetics Testing: Current Status and Future Prospects — 2010

This response on behalf of FRAME to the European Commission's consultation on the five chapters of the Draft Report on Alternative (Non-animal) Methods for Cosmetics Testing: Current Status and Future Prospects--2010, is via a Comment in ATLA, rather than via the template supplied by the Commission. This is principally so that a number of general points about cosmetic ingredient testing can be made. It is concluded that the five draft chapters do not provide a credible basis for the Commission's forthcoming report to the European Parliament and the European Council on the five cosmetic ingredient safety issues for which the 7th Amendment to the Cosmetic Directive's ban on animal testing was postponed until 2013. This is mainly because there is insufficient focus in the draft chapters on the specific nature of cosmetic ingredients, their uses, their local effects and metabolism at their sites of application, and, in particular, on whether their possible absorption into the body would be likely to lead to their accumulation in target sites at levels approaching Thresholds of Toxicological Concern. Meanwhile, there continues to be uncertainty about how the provisions of the Cosmetics Directive should be applied, given the requirements of the REACH system and directives concerned with the safety of other chemicals and products.

The Institutional Shaping of EU–Society Relations: A Contribution to Democracy via Participation?

ABSTRACT European integration has added an extra dimension to the perceived crisis of contemporary democracy. Many observers argue that the allocation of decision-making powers beyond the nation state bears the risk of hollowing out the institutional mechanisms of democratic accountability. In EU governance, the Commission has emerged as a particularly active and imaginative actor promoting EU–society relations, and it has done so with the explicit desire to improve the democratic legitimacy of the EU. However, assumptions concerning the societal prerequisites of a working democracy differ with the normative theory of democracy employed. Therefore, expectations concerning the beneficial effect of institutional reforms such as the European Commission's new governance strategy, which was launched at the beginning of the century, vary according to normative standards set by different theories of democracy on the one hand and to the confidence in the malleability of society on the other. Our contribution seeks to pave a way for the systematic assessment of the democratic potential of the European Commission's consultation regime. To this purpose, two alternative theoretical conceptions that link participation to democracy will be presented. A list of criteria for both conceptions that enable us to empirically assess the democratic potential of the EU Commission's participatory strategy will then be presented.

Response to the European Commission's Consultation “on Improving the Efficiency of the Enforcement of Judgments in the European Union: the Attachment of Bank Accounts”

Response to the European Commission's Consultation “on Improving the Efficiency of the Enforcement of Judgments in the European Union: the Attachment of Bank Accounts”

Commission consults on revision of the European electronic money regime

Background to the European Commission consultation on the electronic money directive (2000/46/EC) with particular reference to the definition of ‘electronic money’, the impact on mobile telephone operators, different structures for payment of goods and services under schemes for the issue of prepaid electronic value, the regulatory requirements on banks and e‐money institutions and the application of anti‐money laundering requirements.

A new partnership between science and politics. European scientists ought to adapt to new research policy paradigms.

A new partnership between science and politics. European scientists ought to adapt to new research policy paradigms.