Learn about the latest policy developments with this monthly alert from our team in Brussels. For real-time updates, follow us on Twitter: @MSL_Brussels

1. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
INSIGHTS BRUSSELS.
.March 2014.

2. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
SECTORAL POLICIES.................................................................................................4
Agriculture And Fisheries .................................................................................................................4
The European Parliament rejects Commission’s proposal on seed regulation.............................................................. 4
The European Parliament proposes new rules on organic farming ............................................................................... 4
Defence and Security Policy...............................................................................................................5
The European Commission unveils a Roadmap on maritime security .......................................................................... 5
Energy and Environment...................................................................................................................6
EU Member States divided over 2030 climate and energy framework .......................................................................... 6
Commission imposed fines on leading European spot power exchanges..................................................................... 6
Eurostat says EU consumption down by 8% since 2006............................................................................................... 7
Financial Services..............................................................................................................................7
The European Parliament approves insurance mediation directive............................................................................... 7
The European Commission about to adopt Long term financing package .................................................................... 8
Food and Beverage .............................................................................................................................8
The European Parliament rejects the Commission’s definition of nano-materials..................................................................... 8
Parliament’s Environment Committee approved animal cloning regulation................................................................... 9
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals ......................................................................................................9
European Parliament approves new EU programme for Health.................................................................................... 9
Information and Communication Technology................................................................................ 10
The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers reach an agreement on broadband deployment ................... 10
The European Parliament approves regulation on personal data................................................................................ 11
Transport.......................................................................................................................................... 12
Fourth Railway Package: the European Parliament votes in a tense climate.............................................................. 12
Road safety: the European Parliament makes eCall compulsory from 2015............................................................. 13
Public consultation on maritime consortia exemptions to antitrust rules...................................................................... 13

3. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
CROSS-SECTORAL POLICIES.................................................................................. 14
Competition ...................................................................................................................................... 14
The European Commission modernizes the State-aid rule book................................................................................. 14
Consumers ........................................................................................................................................ 15
The European Commission launches Consumer Awareness Campaign .................................................................... 15
National authorities adopted Common position to protect app-buyers ........................................................................ 15
Intellectual Property Rights ............................................................................................................ 16
The Council anticipates the implementation of the unified European Patent............................................................... 16
International Trade.......................................................................................................................... 17
Progress in negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership...................................................................... 17
Research and Development.............................................................................................................. 18
Commission adopts its 2014-2020 Final Simplification Scoreboard............................................................................ 18
Taxation ........................................................................................................................................... 19
European Finance Ministers revitalize the debate on FTT .......................................................................................... 19

4. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
SECTORAL POLICIES
The European Parliament rejects Commission’s proposal on seed regulation
On 11 March, the European Parliament in
plenary session rejected a Commission’s
proposal for a regulation of plant reproductive
materials (PRM) which aimed at consolidating
and updating legislation on the production and
making available on the market of PRM with a
view to ensuring quality and information for
users. Members of the European Parliament
rejected it claiming the proposal was failing to
simplify the rules and was not supporting enough
innovation. They also feared that the regulation
would give the Commission too much power and
leave EU countries without any leeway to tailor
the new rules to their needs. The Commission
decided not to withdraw its proposal and is
waiting for the vote in the Council of Ministers. If
the Council supports the Parliament’s rejection,
the legislation process will end.
As a consequence of this vote, the Parliament’s
Committee on the Environment (ENVI) decided
later during the month to exclude seeds from the
scope of another new regulation on official
controls in the food chain in order to be coherent
with the above-mentioned rejection of the
regulation on plant reproductive materials. The
text is now expected to be voted during the last
plenary session of April.

April: Vote in the Parliament during the plenary session
16-17 June: Vote in the Council of Ministers
The European Parliament proposes new rules on organic farming
On 25 March, the European Commission is
expected to present a proposal for revised rules
on organic farming. This initiative aims to better
regulate the EU organic market that had gone
through significant changes during the last 10
years: the size of the market growth by four
times just while products increased in number
and complexity. This fact incentivized the
Commission to launch a public consultation on
the future of organic farming in 2013. The results
showed that a large majority of European
citizens demand for stricter and harmonized
rules throughout the EU.
In line with consumers’ concerns, the
Commission’s proposal is expected to focus on
three objectives:
Agriculture
And Fisheries

5. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Strengthening rules on production and
improving controls systems;
Harmonizing the production rules in order to
increase competition within and outside the
Union;
Removing legal and administrative obstacles
to developing organic farming in the EU.

25 March: Presentation of the proposal
Defence and
Security Policy
The European Commission unveils a Roadmap on maritime security
On 6 March, the European Commission
presented a Roadmap to establish a common
strategy for maritime security. This initiative
follows the meeting of the 28 EU Defence
ministers that took place in Athens on 20
February. The aim of the strategy will be to
establish a common maritime surveillance both
in territorial and high waters in order to address
issues as piracy, ship attacks or illegal
immigration. The strategy will seek to increase
coherence between the already existing cross-
sectorial policies and to enhance cooperation
between EU institutions, Members States and
sectorial actors. In this regards, the European
Commission will set four main targets:
Rationalizing the use of European and
National capacities;
Creating an effective international
partnership;
Increasing solidarity between Member States
while guarantying sustainable costs;
Improving research and innovation activities
related to the maritime security and
supporting staff training.
Despite these general policy orientations, some
observers note that the proposal actually lacks of
concrete initiatives: no new structures,
programmes, or regulation will be set in place.
Based on this Roadmap, EU Heads of State and
Government will now elaborate an EU Maritime
Security Strategy with a view to adopt it in June
2014.

June 2014: Adoption of an EU Maritime Security
Strategy by the Council

6. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Energy and
Environment
EU Member States divided over 2030 climate and energy framework
Following the presentation by the European
Commission in January of a new 2030 climate
and energy framework, the 28 EU Environment
and Energy ministers met in Brussels on 3-4
March to exchange views on the proposed
framework consisting of a binding objective to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%
compared to 1990 figures and a binding
objective to reach at least 27% of energy
renewables in the EU energy mix in 2030.
While Western European countries support an
ambitious framework ahead of the international
climate Summit in Paris next year, Eastern
European ministers have been vocally opposing
a quick decision on the framework, arguing that
an international agreement should come first.
Eastern European Ministers also repeatedly said
that fair burden-sharing is essential in order for
them to agree on a high greenhouse gas
emission target for 2030. If no formal decision is
expected during the first half of 2014, the first
orientation debates at ministerial level are set to
feed into the discussion of the upcoming
European Summit of 20-21 March. According to
draft leaked conclusions of the Summit, EU
Heads of State and Government might push
their final decision to the end of the 2014,
potentially representing a win for Eastern
European countries.
In the European Parliament, MEPs continue to
put pressure on the Commission and on the
Council to adopt even more ambitious
measures. MEPs called for binding targets of a
40% cut in CO2 emissions, a 30% target for
renewable energy and a 40% target for energy
efficiency by 2030. MEPs are also worried that
the Commission may try to bypass Parliament by
choosing a different legislative basis in the EU
treaty when tabling its final proposal, in October
at the earliest.

20-21 March: EU Summit discuss climate and energy issues
22-25 May: EU Parliament elections
June 2014: Review of progress towards meeting the
2020 energy efficiency target
June 2014: EU Council discuss energy and climate issues
September 2014: UN Climate Change Summit
October: Commission presents final 2030 package
December 2015: Paris Climate Change Summit
Commission imposed fines on leading European spot power exchanges
On 5 March, the European Commission has
imposed fines on the two leading European spot
power exchanges (short-term trading taking
place within the same day), EPEX (€3,6 million)
and NPS (€2,3 million), for having agreed not to
compete with one another for their spot
electricity trading services in the European
Economic Area. The cartel covered a period of
seven months in 2011-2012 and NPS and EPEX
received a fine reduction of 10% each for

7. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
agreeing to settle the case with the Commission.
Any person or firm affected by this anti-
competitive behaviour may now bring the matter
before the courts of the Member States and seek
damages.
This case occurred in a context of a more global
European approach to make it easier for victims
of anti-competitive practices to obtain damages.
The European Commission presented in June
2013 a draft Directive to cover this aspect of
anticompetitive behaviours.
Eurostat says EU consumption down by 8% since 2006
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European
Commission, published on February 17 figures
on gross inland energy consumption in the
European Union. Over the last two decades,
gross inland energy consumption in the EU,
which stood at 1 670 million tonnes of oil
equivalent (Mtoe) in 1990, rose to a peak of 1
830 Mtoe in 2006 and then decreased to 1 680
Mtoe in 2012. Between 2006 and 2012, gross
inland energy consumption in the EU28 has then
fallen by 8%.
According to Eurostat, the energy dependence
rate stood at 53% in 2012. The domestic
production of primary energy was 794 Mtoe in
2012. Nuclear energy (29%), accounted for the
largest share, followed by renewables (22%),
solid fuels (21%), gas (17%) and oil (10%).
Financial
Services
The European Parliament approves insurance mediation directive
On 26 February during a vote in plenary session,
the European Parliament adopted a position on
the review of the directive on insurance
mediation, a reform proposed in July 2012 by the
European Commission to increase the protection
of policyholders by regulating insurance services
selling practices. The Commission’s proposal
has faced opposition by Members of the
European Parliament on two main aspects:
The “tying” practice (the practice consisting in
selling many insurance products in a
package) was banned in the Commission’s
proposal for consumers’ protection reasons.
Many MEP’s (including the rapporteur)
rejected this ban and supported instead new
rules limiting this practice without banning it
completely. According to the provisions
adopted, consumers should have now the
right to decide if they want to buy the different
components separately or as part of a
package and they should be fully informed
about the prices and the risk profiles of the
services.
The range of products covered by the reform
has also been increased: new requirements
on transparency, conflict of interest and

8. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
information provision have been included in
the draft Directive.
Representatives of credit providers’ welcomed
the vote while consumer’s organizations judged
it insufficient even if they concede some
improvement in the protection of consumers.
The European Parliament has now to find an
agreement with the Council.

April: start of negotiation with the Council
Mid 2014: possible final adoption of the directive
The European Commission about to adopt Long term financing package
On 27 March, the European Commission is
expected to adopt a follow-up communication to
the green paper on the Long-term financing of
the European Economy.
The green paper was drafted in order to address
a major problem for the European Economy: the
lack of long-term financing. The crisis has
weakened banks capacity to lend and new
institutional actors have to be involved in order to
finance future investments.
The Commission’s proposal sets actions around
six main areas:
Private finance: Involving private actors in
the long-term financing process;
Public finance: Rationalizing the use of
public finance for long-term financing;
Capital Market: Improving the effectiveness
of the market to boost long-term financing;
SME’s: Improving SME’s access to finance;
Infrastructure: Mobilizing private source in
infrastructural projects;
Cross-cutting factors: Adapting the legal and
tax framework for long-term financing.
On the same day the Commission will also adopt
a legislative proposal to revise the existing pan-
European legal framework on occupational
pension provisions (IORP).

27 March: presentation of the proposal
Food and
Beverage
The EuropeanParliamentrejectstheCommission’sdefinitionof nano-materials
On 26 February, the European Parliament’s
Committee on the Environment (ENVI) rejected
the European Commission’s proposal for a
redefinition of “engineered nanomaterials”. The
Commission was putting forward a new definition
to adopt the finishing touch to the Food
Information Regulation (FIR) adopted in 2011,
and according to which, ingredients classified as
engineered nanomaterials should be clearly

9. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
indicated in the list of ingredients of any
commercialized product.
MEPs considered that the 50% threshold
required of nano-particles contained in an
ingredient to classify it as “nano” is considered
too low.
The European Consumers’ Organisation
expressed satisfaction toward MEP’s vote,
stating that Commission’s proposal would have
limited consumer’s right to be informed about
ingredients they consume.

N.A.: New Commission’s proposal
Parliament’s Environment Committee approved animal cloning regulation
On 20 February, the Committee on the
Environment (ENVI) approved the draft
regulation proposed by the European
Commission to ban animal cloning for food
production. Despite the positive vote, Members
of the Committee addressed formal and
substantial critics to the Commission.
From a formal point of view, MEP’s criticized
the choice of the Commission to choose a
consent procedure for the most important part
of the package. MEP’s stated that this very
sensitive file should have been dealt with the
ordinary procedure. The Parliament does not
have binding powers and will only be able to
approve or reject a compromise proposal
coming from the Council.
From a substantial point of view, MEP’s
blamed the Commission for not including in its
proposal rules to ban products obtained from
descendants of cloned animals (especially
coming from third countries where this
practice is legal). Members were also
expecting rules to guarantee the traceability
and the labelling of food from descendants of
cloned animals.
The final resolution is probably going to be voted
during the plenary session of April. This vote will
act as a warning signal addressed to the Council
ahead of the kick-off of its negotiations with the
Commission.

April: vote in the Parliament during the plenary session
April: start of the negotiations between the Council and
the Commission
Healthcare and
Pharmaceuticals
European Parliament approves new EU programme for Health
On 26 February, the European Parliament in
plenary session approved with a large majority
the European Union Third Health Programme.
The vote confirmed the agreement negotiated
with the Council. The programme aims to
achieve four objectives:

10. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Promote health, prevent diseases, and foster
supportive environments for healthy lifestyles;
Protect citizens from serious cross-border
health threats;
Support public health capacity to build and to
contribute to innovative, efficient and
sustainable health systems;
Facilitate access to better and safer
healthcare for Union citizens.
The budget made available for the new Health
Programme will be €449.4 million. This means
an increase of more than €100 million compared
to the last 2007-2013 programme. In most
cases, the European Union will provide grants
that will contribute for 60% of the costs of
supported project. This figure rises to 80% in
case of specific joint actions.
Access to funds will be facilitated by the creation
of a single point of contact. Potential candidates
for funding are national health authorities, as
well as public and private bodies, international
and non-governmental organizations.
On 11 March, the regulation has been adopted
by the Council. The publication of the annual
work programme 2014 is expected by May.

April/May: Publication of the 2014 work programme
The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers reach an agreement
on broadband deployment
On 28 February, representatives from the
Council and the European Parliament reached a
compromise on a directive on the cost of
deploying high-speed electronic communications
networks. The aim of the directive is to improve
the coordination of civil engineering works in
order to reduce costs of deployment of high-
speed networks.
According to the European Commission, civil
engineering costs, like the repetition of
pavements digging, accounts for 80% of the cost
of deploying broadband. The new regulation will
in that respect introduce the obligation for
network operators to grant access to their
physical infrastructures for broadband
installation. The rule would be mandatory for
companies working in the following sectors:
telecommunications, energy, sanitation and
transport. Companies working in the drinking
water sector would be excluded because there
are too many sanitary issues related to this
particular sector. This rule already exists in some
Member States (France, Portugal and Belgium).
Furthermore telecoms operators will be able to
receive basic information about existing or under
construction infrastructure, through a single
information point that may be just an internet
portal. Regarding disputes, MEP’s obtained that
Information and
Communication Technology

11. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
decisions made by the regulatory authority in
case of conflict will be binding.
Member States will not be forced to improve
infrastructures or to map their network. The only
controversial point is that, from 2017, new
buildings or those under “major renovations”
must be high-speed-ready.
The text has now to be formally approved by the
Council of Ministers and by the European
Parliament during its plenary session in April.
The new measures are expected to enter into
force in 2016.

April: Parliament’s formal adoption
April-May: Council formal adoption
2016: entry into force
The European Parliament approves regulation on personal data
On 12 February, the European Parliament in
plenary session approved by an overwhelming
majority a report by Jan-Philipp Albrecht
(Greens, Germany) on personal data protection.
The text introduces stricter rules for data
gathering and processing. Tougher sanctions in
case of violation of the European rules (5% of
the global turnover while the Commission
proposed 2%) are also introduced. Another
milestone of Albrecht’s report is the introduction
of the “right to be forgotten” which means that
users should have the right to have their own
data removed. The consent of the use of data
should also be clarified and become more
explicit especially when the data are transferred
to third countries.
Despite the large majority within the Parliament
to support the report, the text has been criticized
by associations such as Digital Europe which
fears that European companies would lose
competitiveness. Journalists and publishers
association also criticized the regulation
denouncing a limitation to freedom of press and
of expression. The press association claims for
an exemption “for journalistic and artistic
purposes” from the provisions on the “right to be
forgotten”. This exemption was originally
included in the Commission proposal.
The Parliament has now to find an agreement
with the Council and negotiations are likely to be
very intense especially because the text is
extremely dense and technical. The text will
probably be discussed in June during an
informal meeting among EU justice ministers. A
definitive agreement is unlikely to be reached
before the end of 2014.

June: informal meeting between Justice Ministers
Early 2015: expected agreement in the Trilogue

12. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Transport
Fourth Railway Package: the European Parliament votes in a tense climate
On 26 February in plenary session, the
European Parliament voted on the EU's fourth
railway package, aimed at fully opening up rail to
competition from 2019 by liberalising national
passenger transport, the last segment still
protected today.
In reality, though, many provisions will continue
to make it complicated for new players to enter
the market. In December 2019, barriers will be
removed and rail undertakings will have the
opportunity to directly offer passenger transport
services that compete with those of the
incumbent railway companies. However, given
the fact that most national lines are covered by
public service contracts (representing 90% of
national traffic), new players will have to wait
until 2022 for new provisions to apply on
tendering procedure to award public contracts.
And even after that date, Member States will still
be allowed to award direct contract: the
obligation to launch tendering procedure will be
compulsory only if the incumbent railway
company does not fulfil a certain number of
criteria such as punctuality, frequency of
services, customer satisfaction or quality of
rolling stock.
The Parliament also confirmed its rejection of the
separation between infrastructure manager and
incumbent rail operator, much to the
Commission’s disappointment. With this vote,
the European Commission considers that many
MEPs have continued to protect traditional
railway companies from competition and
technical problems. MEPs were also subject to
intense lobbying actions from Member States
and incumbent railway companies. Some 2,600
rail workers from 17 countries also
demonstrated, on 25 February in Strasbourg,
ahead of the European Parliament's vote.
Along with the measures on market
liberalization, the Parliament also approved the
technical simplification of the European rail,
since there are currently over 11,000 different
national technical and safety rules in each of the
28 member states, hampering competition and
“leading to excessive administrative costs”.

March-April: Council of Ministers examine the package
13 June: Transport Ministers Council
September: possible start for Trilogue negotiations
December 2019: passenger transport liberalization
December 2022: new rules for tendering procedure

13. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Road safety: the European Parliament makes eCall compulsory from 2015
On 26 February, the European Parliament
adopted a regulation to make compulsory from
October 2015 onwards the installation in all new
models of cars and light utility vehicles of an
automatic dialling system for reporting road
accidents, a device also known as eCall. The
system automatically alerts emergency services
to the exact location of an accident, using the
emergency number 112. According to the
European Commission's estimates, it could save
almost 2,500 lives a year by allowing emergency
services to reach accident scenes more rapidly.
Some Members of the European Parliament also
raised some concerns about the protection of
privacy. MEPs consequently adopted some
restrictions on information supplied in the event
of an accident.
According to the automobile industry, the
deadline is very ambitious, as Member States
will need to deploy public service answering
points (PSAPs) to receive the call.

Before May: possible final adoption of the regulation
13 June: Transport Ministers Council
October 2015: obligation to install eCall devices in all
new models of cars
Public consultation on maritime consortia exemptions to antitrust rules
On 27 February, the European Commission
opened a public consultation to gather
comments on a proposal to prolong for another
five years an exemption of liner shipping
consortia from the application of EU antitrust
rules that prohibit certain agreements between
companies. The maritime consortia block
exemption regulation allows shipping lines to
enter into cooperation for the purpose of
providing a joint service. In light of the
comments received, the Commission will then
adopt a new Regulation before the expiry of the
current Regulation in April 2015. The
consultation will be open until 31 March 2014.

31 March: deadline for the public consultation
Fall 2014: Commission’s draft proposal presented
April 2015: expiry date for current exemption
April 2020: expiry date future exemption (if adopted)

14. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
CROSS-SECTORAL POLICIES
Competition
The European Commission modernizes the State-aid rule book
The European Commission is currently putting
the finishing touch to its new framework for state
aid rules to be presented in April. Since May
2012, the European Commissioner for
Competition, Joaquin Almunia has launched a
process of modernization of state aid rules with a
view to focus on how the rules should apply to
sectors that have traditionally been public but
where private companies are increasingly active.
Following preliminary works, the European
Commissioner is now ready to defend key
elements of new guidelines in the following
areas:
Energy and environmental state aid
guidelines: the public consultation on draft
guidelines ended on 14 February. With an
increasing penetration and decreasing costs
of renewable energy, the Commission wants
state aid rules to gradually move to a more
market friendly support of renewable energy
in the form of market premiums or certificate
schemes. Nine governments, (including
Austria, Denmark, France, Germany,
Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland,
Sweden and United Kingdom) published in
February a position paper to argue that the
new rules on the funding mechanism for
renewable energy and the opening-up of the
national funding systems for other countries
are too restrictive ;
Research, development and innovation
activities: the public consultation on draft
guidelines ended on 17 February. The
Commission seeks to offer Member States
more possibilities to channel state aid towards
boosting innovation and jobs, by clarifying
conditions for subsidized pilot and
demonstration projects, by facilitating the
validation of technologies vital for the
competitiveness and by creating a new
category of aid for construction and upgrade
of research infrastructure;
Agriculture and forestry sectors: the
Commission opened on 24 February a public
consultation on draft new rules on State aids
in the agriculture and forestry sectors and in
rural areas. The new rules proposed should
speed up procedures and significantly reduce
the administrative burden for public
authorities when dealing with State aids in the
agriculture sector. These drafts are made
public to inform institutions, public authorities,
organisations, companies and citizens who
can make comments by 24 March 2014.
Aviation: the European Commission launched
a public consultation in July 2013 and
definitely adopted the guidelines on 20
February 2014. It frames State aid for
investment in airport infrastructure, Operating
aid to regional airports and Start-up aid to
airlines to launch a new air route.
In 2012 and 2013, the European Commission
already adopted guidelines in the broadband
sector, in risk finance management, in regional

15. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
aid and in the promotion of important projects of
common European interest. The Commission
has also invited opinions on whether settlements
between tax authorities and individual
companies can constitute state aid. The
upcoming new framework will clarify key concept
related to the notion of state aid with a view to
contributing to a consistent application of these
notion across Europe.

24 March: deadline for public consultation on agriculture
and forestry
April: presentation of the new framework
Consumers
The European Commission launches Consumer Awareness Campaign
On 14 March in Thessaloniki, took place the
European Consumer Day. On the occasion the
European Commissioner for Consumer Policies,
Neven Mimica, announced the kick-off of the
Consumer Awareness Campaign. The new
consumer right directive will enter into force on
13 June giving to citizens key consumers rights:
Right to return products within 2 weeks;
Right to have defective products repaired or
replaced;
Right to be fully informed about products;
Right to be informed about the right address
to contact in case of complaint.
According to the Commission, the next step to
take is to inform consumers of their rights and
how to use them in practice. This step seems
fundamental to fulfil the scope of the legislation.
To address this issue the Commission is going
to launch next spring, the Consumer Awareness
Campaign. The initiative will focalize on
countries where awareness of consumer right is
low according to the latest consumer
scoreboard. Commissioner for Consumer
policies will visit Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy,
Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Spain. A series of
formative events will be organized around his
visits.

Spring: Start of the Consumer Awareness Campaign
National authorities adopted Common position to protect app-buyers
On 27-28 February, the national authorities
within the Consumer Protection Cooperation
Network (established by a EU regulation) took a
common position on practice related to
applications purchase. According to data
processed by the European Commission, 80% of
the income of app-sellers comes from in-app
buys (buying services during the use of an
application to access full content). The aim of the
position is to avoid practice that may mislead

16. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
consumers. National authorities focused on 4
main issues:
Avoid consumer misleading by advertising
game as “free” when they are not;
Prevent children to purchase apps updated
versions;
Avoid charging consumers without an
explicit;
Provide information to consumers and
especially trader´s email address,
National authorities and the European
Commission will keep monitoring the industry
until a formal commitment and a detailed
agenda is set up with app-providers
Intellectual
Property Rights
The Council anticipates the implementation of the unified European Patent
On 4 March, the EU 28 Justice and Home Affairs
Ministers adopted a proposal to modify the so
called “Brussels I” regulation which recognizes
national court judgments in civil and commercial
matters. This regulation was amended in order
to adapt the legal framework to the future unified
patent system which is expected to be
operational in 2016.
Despite this adoption, the unified European
patent will certainly be delayed. Currently only
two Member States (Austria and Malta) have
ratified the international agreement that establish
the court in charge of hearing disputes. Spain
and Poland decided to stay out of the deal while
Croatia was not part of the Union when the
agreement was signed one year ago. The other
Member States have to ratify the text through
their legislative chambers or by referendum
(such as in Denmark). The European Court will
have a central division in Paris, and two
branches: one in London specialized on
pharmaceutical patents and a second in Munich
focalized on engineering patents. The future
rules of procedure of the new body will be
published in summer 2014 by a preparation
committee. The unitary patent will entry into
force after the ratification of the agreement by at
least 13 countries including France, Germany
and the United Kingdom.

Summer 2014: Publication of the rules of procedure of
the European Patent Court
2016: expected unified European patent

17. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
International
Trade
ProgressinnegotiationsontheTransatlanticTradeandInvestmentPartnership
From 10 to 14 March, representatives from the
European Union and the United States met in
Brussels to try to move a step forward in the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) negotiations. Both sides reported “regular
progresses” without providing too many details.
According to observers, negotiators are now
trying to build consensus around the discussions
involving a large number of stakeholders in the
talks. In this context, the two sides published a
joint document analysing the potential benefits of
the agreement for Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs). The document highlights
how small businesses are negatively impacted
by non-tariff barriers during their
internationalization processes. Negotiators also
met around 300 representatives of business,
consumers and other relevant stakeholders.
The most controversial aspects that were
discussed are:
Market access: the offer made by the US on
tariffs removal is still considered insufficient
by the European side. According to EU
officials the EU aims to remove tariffs in 96%
of areas while the US wish to stop at 88%. On
that point the compromise could be to
elaborate a roadmap to remove tariffs on
different kind of goods gradually (immediate
removal, 3 years, 7 years and undefined).
Public procurement: The Commission would
like European Companies not to be
discriminated while competing to bid
procurement contracts in the US, especially at
the state level. Currently, the so-called Buy
American Act, encourages companies to
prefer US-made products in their purchases
Exclusive rights for well-known products like
feta cheese or Porto wine. Cheese made in
the US can be labelled and sold as
“Parmesan” while in the EU it cannot. The EU
asks the recognition of a Geographical
Indication protection while the US consider
that the European system is too broad and
unfair towards American producers. Europe
has already reached a similar compromise
with Canada claiming that this recognition
avoids consumers misleading.
Investor-State Dispute-Settlement (ISDS):
The US aims to strengthen companies’
position on legal disputes with States; on this
point the EU will launch in the next weeks a
three months public consultation. The
Commission is willing hold its decision until
the end of the public consultation results.
Germany already expressed concerns on this
point.
Data protection: The European Parliament is
demanding to include regulations addressing
how private data is collected by businesses in
the agreement.

18. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Financial services: The US are still resisting
the European pressure on including financial
services in the deal.
A fundamental next step will be the visit of the
US President Barack Obama in Brussels on 26
of March when the Commission hopes he will
provide “political guidance”. Negotiators are
expected to meet again before the summer in
Washington.

26 March: US president Obama visits EU in Brussels
End of June: deadline of the public consultation
Summer: Fifth round of negotiations in Washington
Research and
Development
Commission adopts its 2014-2020 Final Simplification Scoreboard
On 4 March, the European Commission adopted
a Final Simplification Scoreboard for the
Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.
The text introduces 120 measures to simplify the
European Union funding rules. The aim of the
initiative is to facilitate the access to EU funding
for European businesses, towns, regions,
scientists and NGO´s but without reducing the
monitoring on how the money is spent. The
measures adopted include: a simplified
procedure to get reimbursement in research,
shorter deadline for payments to beneficiaries
(90 days) in cohesion policy and the introduction
of an electronic system (e-cohesion) for
beneficiaries to submit data in cohesion policy.
Nevertheless more is still to be achieved
especially at a national level. Around 80% of the
EU budget is implemented by Member States so
efforts to reduce administrative burdens on
beneficiaries should be continued at local and
regional level.
On the same day the European Commission
published a report (Innovation Union Scoreboard
2014) that evaluates the innovation performance
of the EU countries. Unexpectedly the figures
show that the effects of the crisis were not “as
severe as expected”. Generally the rate of
average EU innovation performance has
increased with Sweden, Denmark and Germany
still leading the ranking. The indicators
concerning convergence between Member
States performance also showed positive
results.

19. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014
Taxation
European Finance Ministers revitalize the debate on FTT
On 19 February, Finance Ministers from 11
Eurozone Members had an informal meeting
outside the Ecofin Council to discuss the
introduction of the proposed Financial Transaction
Tax (FTT). Under the enhanced cooperation
procedure 11 countries are trying to reach a
political agreement or at least a joint declaration on
the FTT before the European elections of May
(Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria,
Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia).
The discussion at a political level shows for the
very first time that despite the critics that followed
the stalemate of the proposition 11 Members are
still determined to introduce the rule. The key
questions that have been debated among
ministers mainly focus on:
The scope: Members are discussing about
applying the tax only to shares and to extend it
later to bonds and derivatives;
The principle of place of residence of the parties
to the transaction and/or the place of emission
of the taxable financial instruments.
Germany and France are discord on these
fundamental points. Both countries want to avoid
the risk that the new rules could lead to a flight of
capital outside the “FTT zone”. According to
observers this contrast may lead to a minimalist
compromise.
The only certain element is that the revenue
coming from this tax would be much lower that the
amount planned by the Commission (35 Billion
Euros).

May: next Ecofin Council

20. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
March 2014