This newsletter brings you a brief update on regulatory developments in Brussels. August has been a quiet month, due to the Parliament summer recess, and only since last week it’s gone back to business as usual.

For any questions, do not hesitate to contact us: publicaffairs@iabeurope.eu .

Giovanna Fumagalli

Public Affairs IAB Europe
1. Barroso reveals mandate to European Parliament
2. Commissioner Barrot introduces Stockholm Programme to JURI
3. EU: Swedish Presidency on online children safety
4. EU: Commission urges greater action towards a Media Literate Europe
5. EU: Council and Parliament discuss labelling
6. EU: Verheugen on Pharma Package
7. Commission calls for study on consumer protection of digital content
8. Commission criticised for Collective Redress proposal
9. MEP questions Commission cross-border action
10. Contract law: Common Frame of Reference guidelines agreed

1. Barroso reveals mandate to European Parliament

In his bid to receive the backing of the European Parliament for a second term as European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso has today, 3rd September, outlined his priorities for the coming five years. During his speech, Mr Barroso highlighted the need to develop a European Digital Agenda to confront the challenges of a genuine digital single market and address Europe’s digital divide.

Click here for a detailed summary of Mr Barroso’s speech:
http://7thspace.com/headlines/318834/european_commission_president_jos_manuel_barroso_proposes_a_partnership_for_progress_and_ambition_to_the_european_parliament.html

2. Commissioner Barrot introduces Stockholm Programme to JURI

On 3rd September Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice, Mr Barrot, presented the new Stockholm Programme to the JURI committee at the Parliament.

The Commissioner explained the four parts of the Programme:

1. Promoting citizens’ rights: respect of privacy is the core of the debate – Mr Barrot said that we should move towards a complete system of protection of personal private data
2. Facilitating citizens’ lives: it is important to achieve mutual recognition of legal rulings from one state to the other (judges should be better trained and more familiar with new EU tools). Regarding penal sentences, Mr Barrot suggest that serious crime should produce the same sanctions in all Member States. With regards to Contract Law, the Commissioner highlighted the need to rationalize and harmonise it.
3. Creating an EU that protects citizens: the EU must develop an internal security strategy to combat organized crime. Mr Barrot aspires to a Schengen visa, based on individual risk and not on a list of countries. The Commissioner said the EU should not tolerate rimes such as trafficking of human being, paedopornography and sexual exploitation of children, cybercrime, etc. – he also mentioned the role of the internet in the radicalization of terrorism.
4. Showing solidarity for immigration: the EU should better be able to absorb migratory flow.

This Commission has three months to complete the work on the Stockholm Programme, which will then be followed by the new Commission.

3. EU: Swedish Presidency on online children safety

On 3rd September, the Swedish Minister of Justice, Beatrice Ask, gave a presentation to the LIBE Committee. Amongst the issues she highlighted was the security of children. Because of fast technological developments, threats against children have become more tangible: the internet has no country borders and this has made crimes such as child pornography and other sexual exploitation cross-border in their nature. Therefore, a cross-border approach is required.

The Swedish Presidency will support tools of cooperation to combat sexual exploitation of children, such as voluntary European Financial Coalitions against child pornography online, involving banks, credit card companies, and ISPs working together to stop on-line payments for purchase of child pornography.

For the speech click here: http://www.se2009.eu/en/2.543/2.578/2.674/2.676/1.12737

On 29th -30th September, the 3rd International Conference "Keeping Children and Young People Safe Online” was held in Warsaw. The event was organized by NASK and Nobody’s Children Foundation together with a German Internet safety project, "klicksafe", part of the Commission’s Safer Internet Programme. The Warsaw conference addressed issues such as identifying computer crimes against the youngest internet users, grooming, cyberbullying, child safety and mobile phones, online gaming and internet addiction.

For more information click here: http://www.saferinternet.pl/articles-2009/3rd_international_conference_keeping_children_and_young_people_safe_online.html

The EESC will host an event on children safety and SNS on 14th September.

4. EU: Commission urges greater action towards a Media Literate Europe

The Commission has called on the governments and industry leaders of Member States to promote media literacy across Europe. In August Viviane Reding, Information Society Commissioner, gave a speech urging for European citizens to interact more with different forms of media to avoid being left behind and to have a better understanding of online privacy.
Click here for the Commission Recommendation:
http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/media_literacy/index_en.htm

5. EU: Council and Parliament discuss labelling

On 1st September, the Council Energy Working Group discussed the Council’s approach to the Proposal for a Regulation on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency, which would be more flexible than the Commission’s with regards to the text (the Commission proposal for a Directive has been changed into a Regulation proposal, which means that the text will be directly applicable in all 27 Member States). The next Energy Council meeting is on 7th December.

The next day, ITRE Committee also discussed tyre labelling as well as the Proposal for a Directive on labelling standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products. The Director General of DG TREN, Matthias Ruete, and Swedish Perm Reps were also present.

The Rapporteur for tyre labelling MEP Ivo Belet (Belgium, EPP-ED) has been confirmed as Rapporteur for the new legislature.

The labelling of tyres is based on fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise of tyres. The Parliament adopted the proposal in first reading and called for more flexibility for car manufacturers to be able to choose whether to use a sticker or a label (as opposed to a mandatory label); asked the Commission to create a website to provide clear information to consumers.

The Rapporteur of the Energy Labelling Directive will still be Anni Podimata (Greece, PSE). MEPs said that labelling will be useful only if advertising of such products mentions their characteristics, as the aim is to inform consumers.

MEP Podimata favours a prior evaluation of products (in terms of impact on energy savings) before including them in the scope of the Directive. Different labelling methods such as A-G scales and/or pictograms were discussed.

6. EU: Verheugen on Pharma Package

On 2nd September, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Verheugen, speaking at the ENVI Committee, called for the revival of the directive on giving information to patients, which did not pass Council phase last time round (9th June). ENVI is the leading committee on the proposal and IMCO will also give an opinion which will feed into the ENVI report. The rapporteur for IMCO is MEP Busoi, (Romania, ALDE), whereas the one for ENVI has not been appointed yet. Mr Busoi believes that the information given to patients should come from an independent source, otherwise it is to be considered advertising.

Mr Verheugen doubts that progress on the directive will come before the end of 2009 and that the Spanish Council Presidency will have to deal with breaking the impasse ministerial level. Swedish Minister for Welfare, Mr Hägglund, said that under the Swedish Presidency, the Council’s focus will be on two other elemetns of the Pharma Package, namely counterfeiting of medicines and pharmacovigilance.
Current EU legislation bans direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription medicines but allows advertising of non-prescription medicines that are not reimbursed. In December 2007, the Commission issued a report on information provision for medicines in the Member States and called for an EU legal framework.
The Commission is proposing a "controlled step" forward which embraces advances in information technology, and berated the medicine industry for dubious marketing practices. Mr Verheugen stated it is paramount to distinguish between information and advertising, as the pharmaceutical industry is currently exploiting a grey area and circumventing the ban on advertising, both in print and online media. He further called for a code of conduct to curb questionable information campaigns in order to protect patients from hidden advertising.
MEP Ries (Belgium, ALDE) proposed to establish an independent website to provide consumers with access to accurate data on medicines, idea that was supported by the Commissioner. MEP Schlyter (Sweden, Greens) said frequently include. He called for sanctions to be imposed on the editors of magazines with health sections who allow advertising and announcements related to prescription health products
For the report click here:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/pharmaceuticals/pharmacos/docs/doc2007/2007_12/inf_to_patients_com_2007_862_en.pdf

7. Commission calls for study on consumer protection of digital content

The European Commission has issued a call for tenders for a study to determine whether existing consumer protection rules surrounding digital content are sufficient. The Commission want to decide whether digital content should form part of a forthcoming Consumer Rights Directive. The deadline is 11th September 2009.
Click here to view the call for tenders:
http://ec.europa.eu/eahc/consumers/consumers_tenders.html

8. Commission criticised for Collective Redress proposal

The European Commission has begun working on two collective redress initiatives: Consumer Collective Redress (DG Consumer Protection) and Damages Actions for Breach of the EC Competition Rules (DG Competition). The latter initiative has received criticism from industry associations, the Parliament and several Member States as it is seen to follow the US model too closely. The Commission is currently reviewing the proposal.

9. MEP questions Commission cross-border action

Luxemburgish socialist MEP Robert Goebbels wrote to the European Commission in May questioning the Commission’s proposals to fully harmonise consumer laws among Member States and suggesting a certification system to enforce such rules and offer greater consumer protection. Commissioner Kuneva responded saying that a Commission proposal to harmonise consumer protection legislation had been published in October 2008 and that such a certification system was not being considered.

Click here to view MEP Goebbels’ question:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2009-3301+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

10. Contract law: Common Frame of Reference guidelines agreed

In June the Council’s European Justice and Home Affairs Ministers approved "Guidelines on the setting up of a common frame of reference for European contract law". The council agreed for the CFR to contain generic “model rules” for contracts and for it to act as a non-binding “source of inspiration”.

Click here for more information:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/jha/108340.pdf

An Austrian Court has asked for clarification from the ECJ on the Brussels I Regulation over whether a commercial company’s website being accessible in a different Member State qualifies the company as “directing” commercial activity at a consumer. The Regulation has received criticism over its ambiguity on which country trials should take place for cross-border disputes.

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