Single Internal Market Research Articles

How Well Can One Measure Market Power in Restructured Electricity Systems?

The integration of national electricity systems into a single internal European electricity market is not progressing well with the result that the level of competition in the sector remains unsatisfactory. This had led to proposals to apply ex ante remedies that directly bear on the structure of national incumbents. These measures involve quantitative recommendations such as virtual auctioning of capacity or divestitures that increase the number of competing firms. The evaluation of these measures partly relies on computable oligopoly models of the restructured electricity sector. This paper analyses the recent literature of these models and concludes that they are not currently capable of providing the degree of legal and regulatory certainty that the importance of these ex ante remedies requires. The state of the art in these models is such that their results reflect more a set of non-testable assumptions than observed facts or unambiguous theory. More academic work is necessary before these models can be applied in a legal or regulatory context. The conclusion is that this work on the structure of national electricity market distracts from the fundamental objective to introduce competition in the power sector by integrating the national markets into a single electricity market.

A comparative study of efficiency in European banking

This paper investigates whether there has been an improvement in and convergence of productive efficiency across European banking markets since the creation of the Single Internal Market. Using efficiency measures derived from DEA estimation, the determinants of European bank efficiency are evaluated using the Tobit regression model approach. The established literature on modelling the determinants of bank efficiency is then extended by recognizing the problem of the inherent dependency of DEA efficiency scores when used in regression analysis. To overcome the dependency problem, a bootstrapping technique is applied. Overall, the results suggest that since the EU's Single Market Programme there has been a small improvement in bank efficiency levels, although there is little evidence to suggest that these have converged. The results also suggest that inference on the determinants of bank efficiency drawn from non-bootstrapped regression analysis may be biased and misleading.

For Better or Worse? The Europeanisation of the Conflict of Laws

From its very beginnings the European Union(EU) has taken an interest in that area of legal activity known as the conflict of laws or private international law. The purpose of the conflict of laws is to determine how a national court should behave when confronted with a legal dispute that involves a foreign element. A state's conflict rules will provide the answer to three basic questions: in what circumstances their courts may assume jurisdiction over cases involving a foreign element, what system of municipal law to apply (their own or that of some foreign legal system) and which foreign judgments are capable of recognition and enforcement within their national system. The very fact that the EU exists in order to bring states together to form a single internal market would seem likely to provoke conflict of laws situations. It, therefore, appears unremarkable that the EU has agreed a variety of measures with a bearing on the conflict of laws. The purpose of this article, however, is not to give a detailed account of the EU's interventions on this topic. Instead the intention is to offer some thoughts upon and to raise some questions regarding the implications of the EU's engagement with the conflict of laws. In particular this article aims to provide an overview of the direction in which the EU is taking the conflict of laws and how this has affected the focus and character of the subject in one Member State, namely the United Kingdom.

Regulating genetically modified organisms in the interests of whom?

Seeks to answer the question “whose interests are being served by the laws of purporting to regulate genetically modified organisms?“ Considers the interests of the seed/chemical multinational companies, trade and investment for the countries in which these companies operate and the innovation of science and technology. Covers the European interests with regards to the single internal market and the conflict this can cause between economic and environmental/health interests. Looks at the issues from the US perspective and world trade. Continues by covering nature and the environment followed by health and safety and the rights of consumers. Assesses the regulations of the European community in order to find what protection is available.

The Notion of eEurope within the EU from a Legal Perspective. Challenges for the Candidate Countries after the Swedish Presidency

The article titled the notion of eEurope within the EU from a legal perspective challenges for the candidate countries after the Swedish presidency addresses one of the most recent developments in the constantly evolving European community acquis communautire, namely the newly formulated legal and institutional frameworks for the electronic (digitalised) communication networks in the context of further completing the EC single market. The author has divided his paper into four chapters. The first part of the article deals with a descriptive introduction in relation to the main cornerstones of the historical transition process in the EU from establishing the single internal market to building up a knowledge-based information society by 2010 as decided in march 2000 at the European Council summit in Lisbon. The second chapter analyses firstly the well-known commission communication on "eEurope action plan 2002" adopted in June 2000 in Santa Maria de Freira and then addresses in more detail the scientific and the practical reflections on this programme brought by the developments under the Swedish EU presidency in the first half of 2001. The third part of the thesis covers the most important challenges stemming from the new EU concept of "eEUROPE" in terms of the Central and Eastern European applicant countries. Under this heading, the author dedicates special attention on the one hand to exploring the relevant and related Hungarian experiences (with special regard to the on-going legal alignment process to the described EC acquis in Hungary) secondly to the Goteborg European Council summit, held in June 2001. Where the famous action plan for the candidate countries on "eEurope 2003" was adopted and published by the EU member states. In the final chapter of the paper, the author tries to draw up a number of conclusions and proposals as far as the required effective and proper implementation by the candidate countries of this new type of acquis is concerned with special regard to the forthcoming codificatory difficulties and challenges in particular in terms of legal dogmatics. The paper is well-documented, logically easily followable, and based on a really wide-ranging secondary literature in terms of the explored subject.

INTUG Europe Report on GSM Roaming Prices - 1999

Users are increasingly concerned by the apparently arbitrary and often exorbitant charges for roaming services on their mobile telephones. Charges seem to have no relationship to costs or to best practice. Service providers make little effort to inform customers of the charges they will incur. Competition is limited in GSM markets, initially two then more slowly a third and sometimes a fourth. The introduction of competition is severely limited by governments supporting to domestic new entrants the dominant incumbent. In such circumstances it is all too easy for prices to become concerted. Roaming appears to exist outside of competition and regulation. Companies need to be alert to the costs of roaming, which may be found in bills paid in many different budgets. The European Commission and National Regulatory Authorities need to consider whether the pricing strategies of the GSM operators are in compliance with the various directives, domestic legislation and individual licences. At the very least, they need to seek explanations for the substantial price differences. Given the imminent arrival of third generation telephony, GPRS, WAP and so on it is necessary to consider whether a single internal market requires much more harmonisation than is presently evident. There is a strong case for some operators being able to offer trans-European services based on simple and comprehensible charges. This survey will be repeated in 2000 and a similar survey is being undertaken in Asia-Pacific.

European monetary integration: A narrow or a wide EMU?

The paper challenges the view that only a European Monetary Union (EMU) composed of a small group of ‘core’ countries is desirable on economic grounds, and argues that both the recent experience of the ERM and new research suggest that a relatively wide EMU does not just seem appropriate on purely Optimum Currency Area grounds but also appears necessary to preserve the integrity of the Single Internal Market. This makes it all the more important to develop the appropriate transitional arrangements that will enable a sufficiently wide EMU to be established, if not in a single step, at least in a series of steps not too distant from each other. At stake is not only the chance to create a monetary union which is adequately representative of Europe, but also the preservation of the integrity of the Single Internal Market.

Tax harmonization in the european community: lessons for free trade areas and common markets

Economic cooperation in the context of free trade areas and common markets requires tax harmonization. On its way to a single internal market, the European Community (EC) has acquired substantial experience in the design of tax systems that leave member states as much tax sovereignty as is compatible with free trade and free competition. This experience indicates that tax harmonization and tax reform must go hand in hand.

Impacts of the EU banana market regulation on international competition, trade and welfare

With the completion of the Single Internal Market, the EU introduced a common market regulation for bananas to replace national banana market policies in member countries. A spatial quadratic programming model is used to quantify the effects of the new regime on production, consumption, the regional structure of international trade, and regional prices and welfare. The results indicate that Latin American exporting countries will lose market share, producers' surplus and export taxes. EU consumers lose US $1.14 billion, of which only 22 percent reaches the beneficiary countries and regions. Roughly 60 percent of the loss in consumers' surplus is shifted to import license holders as a quota rent and less than 15 percent is to be paid as import duty, the rest being deadweight loss. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

The maastricht treaty: Exacerbating racism in Europe?

Abstract Ethnic discrimination is widespread in the European Community [EC] and is particularly practised against visible minorities. It operates at national borders and with member states and ranges from racist immigration legislation, through institutionalized discrimination, to physical assaults and murders. The completion of the single internal market in January 1993 stressed financial and trade factors at the expense of human rights. This encouraged the development of policies that impact adversely on people of ethnic minority status, particularly those who are black, whether EC citizens or third‐country nationals. The Maastricht Treaty of December 1991 on economic and monetary union [EMU] establishes deflation as a continent‐wide project. This will result in diminished growth and high unemployment, as well as in significant cuts in social welfare provision. Under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty, individual member states are probibited from implementing policies that could counter the adverse effe...

The Economics of the Renewed Integration Movement

Beginning in 1978, the European Community embarked upon a process that would leave the member states 15 years later at a significantly higher level of economic integration. The establishment and institutional development of the European Monetary System would be perceived to be a success, leading to the Single European Act and the eventual adoption of many of those policies characteristic of a single internal market within the Community. This, in time, provided a base upon which an attempt at establishing economic and monetary union could be made. Although difficulties associated with a premature vision of the true nature of the European Monetary System would need to be described as a setback to the process, it is nevertheless clear from a broader perspective, and from the desire shown by other states to join the Community, that the economies of Western Europe are integrating.

CORPORATE TAX HARMONIZATION AND COMPETITION IN FEDERAL COUNTRIES: SOME LESSONS FOR THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY?

As the European Community dismantles impediments to the establishment and functioning of a single internal market it will have to be prepared to confront a number of important tax policy problems a...

The impacts of eastern Europe and 1992 on international tourism demand

The creation of a unified Germany and the general move towards market-type economies in Eastern Europe are likely to stimulate world economic growth. Similarly, the completion of the single internal market of the European Community in 1992 should result in lower prices and increased economic growth within the Community, as well as having varying effects outside. A complete system of demand equations.is used to generate forecasts of tourism imports and exports for the UK, Austria, and Canada which allow for the impacts of the events in Eastern Europe and the unified European market.

Industrial Policy of the European Community: Strategic Deficits and Regional Dilemmas

Industrial policy of the European Community (EC) shifted in emphasis towards a neoliberal approach in the late 1980s as one part of moves towards completion of the single internal market by 1992. Intervention by national governments was also to be curtailed (in theory at least) on the grounds that it would be contrary to fair competition and free trade. There is mounting evidence, however, that European industry is increasingly falling behind its main rivals based in the USA and Japan. This poses a sharp challenge for the future of companies in certain key sectors, and for the places and regions dependent on employment in those industries. These issues of industrial strategy and regional development are explored in this paper. First, the change which took place in EC industrial policy from the limited but deliberately interventionist stance of the early 1980s to a much more strongly market-led approach by the early 1990s is outlined. The implications of such free-market measures for the energy sector, in terms of security-of-supply considerations are identified, and these measures are compared with the difficulty experienced in formulating a response to the challenge of global competition in another key sector, automobile production. The uneven regional impacts of such changes are then considered, and the inadequacy, even in its own terms, of present EC regional policy is indicated. Finally, the emergent strategic deficit in EC industrial policy, the regional dilemma associated with the ‘1992’ proposals, and the potential scope for alternative policy directions are addressed.

The German Coal Market after 1992

On January 1, 1993 the Single European Internal Market (SEIM) will come into effect1. As discussed by the working document Internal Market for Energy, presented in 1988 (Commission of the European Communities, ed. 1988), the energy market is a vital part of this integration process. The SEIM will have severe consequences for the German hard coal industry, one of the most densely regulated and subsidized sectors of the German economy. In 1991, for example, subsidies reached more than DM 11 billion2. Meanwhile, the industry faces additional though closely linked difficulties: (i) high production costs will continue to translate into low competitiveness; (ii) strategies to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions will make subsidies to this sector increasingly less justifiable. Thus, German coal is facing an especially bleak future. To evaluate German coal's future after 1992 in detail, it is not sufficient, however, to study only its supply conditions. As a primary energy product, coal can be converted into other forms of energy, i.e. electricity, or used in the production of industrial raw materials. A look at the

Beyond ‘1992’: The Evolution of European Community Policies towards the Automobile Industry

Two processes figured prominently on the European Community's policymaking agenda during the 1980s and into the early 1990s. These were the single internal market programme, and the economic challenge from Japan. The automobile industry was particularly closely involved in these, because of the extent of Japanese exports and direct foreign investment in the sector, and the range of national state interventions, most of which ran contrary to the ‘1992’ programme. In this paper therefore the issues which underpin the role of the industry in the drive to create a single internal market and to respond to the expansion of ‘transplant’ assembly capacity are considered first. The policies which have been adopted by the EC in this context are then examined, and the author goes on to identify the limitations upon the policies which have emerged. The paper concludes with reflection on the evident tensions between national state policies and those of the EC and argues that (partly because of these) the political debate has excessively concentrated upon the strategies of vehicle assemblers. This is unfortunate because it obscures the deeper implications of change for the automotive components industry where, it is suggested, there is greater scope for a more effective EC policy response.

The US tourism industry's view of EC '92

The single internal market initiatives of the European Community, due to be completed by 31 December 1992, reduce internal barriers to the free movement of people, services and capital. Interviews with executives of US tourism firms and government officials of tourism—related agencies indicate that US industry expects EC'92 to only marginally affect their operations in international aviation, airline computer reservation systems, tour packaging, and US hotel development in Europe. EC'92 is anticipated to foster a mild increase in the flows and activities that have characterized US—European tourism demand and supply patterns over the last several decades, rather than to be a dramatic break with the past. However, much is yet to be resolved regarding how the European Community will treat US tourism businesses and visitor flows over the next five to ten years.

Econometric forecasts: Tourism trends to 2000

A complete system of demand equations is specified in order to generate forecasts of tourism imports and exports for various major geographical areas. The forecasts are presented for the period 1991–2000 under three alternative assumptions — there is no change in the external environment (baseline scenario), the completion of the single internal market of the European Community takes place, and the recent liberalization and general creation of market economies in Eastern Europe is allowed for. A comparison of the latter two scenarios with the baseline scenario permits the calculation of the effects of these changes on tourism demand.

Chemical, Other Industries Ready For Push on Remaining EC-92 Issues

According to the sixth and most recent progress report on the European Community's move toward a single internal market, issued late in July by the EC Commission, of the 282 proposals gleaned from the original 301 in the 1985 White Paper on Completing the Internal Market, only 89 are left to be approved by the 12 member countries. For the chemical industry though, much preliminary work has been accomplished. Most EC member nations have already adopted measures concerning customs formalities, technical harmonization and standards, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, commercial transport of goods, and intellectual property. But some sticky issues remain for the industry: competition policy, energy, and the environment. Despite the large issues yet to be resolved, the member nations have waded through most of the white paper's proposals and, over all, seem to be weathering well the ups and downs implied by the proposed changes. Six years can be a lifetime in politics. ...

Europe 1992 and its impact on information technology

The prospect of a single internal market in 1992 has created a new spirit of adventure in the European Community. It represents a great challenge in all fields of trade and industry, especially information technology, and offers a unique opportunity to cut costs, expand markets, and exploit cooperation across the EC.