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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 96-07-02
From: HR-Net News Distribution Manager <dist@hri.org>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Porte-Paroleb
02 / 07 / 1996
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Commission takes emergency measures for North Sea herring
[02] Commission approves the registration of a second list of agricultural and
food products
[03] Commission clamps down on textiles fraud from Bangladesh
[04] Commission approves the creation of a joint venture between Bayernwerk
and Gaz de France
[05] La Commission approuve la prise de contrôle commun de la Banque
Indosuez par la Compagnie de Suez et la Caisse nationale du Crédit
agricole
[06] Commission approves joint venture in lubricating oil additives
[07] La Commission européenne ouvre des procédures d'infraction à l'égard de
certains Etats membres
[08] Commissioners Bjerregaard and Bangemann invite car industry to talks on
reduction of CO² emissions
[09] Hans van den Broek participates in 5th Ministerial session of the Council
of the Baltic Sea States
[10] L'inflation annuelle de l'UE reste à 2,7% en mai
[01] Commission takes emergency measures for North Sea herring
The European Commission has adopted a regulation setting up emergency
measures aiming at the protection of the stock of North Sea herring. These
measures respond to the very serious difficulties existing in the North Sea herring
stock and are based on the advice of the International Council for the exploration
of the sea (ICES). The quantities of mature herring in the stock are at present
about half the minimum level advised by scientists and the intensity of the fishery
on both adults and juveniles is far too high. The measures taken today by the
Commission essentially consist of a drastic reduction of the Total Allowable
Catches (TACs) in the North Sea and in the Skagerrak and Kattegat area, and
a set of provisions limiting the by-catch of herring in fisheries for meal and oil
(industrial fisheries). These measures were agreed with Norway.
[02] Commission approves the registration of a second list of agricultural and
food products
The European Commission has adopted a decision to register 64 names of
agricultural and food products under the Council approved legislation for the
Protection of Geographical Indications (PGI) and Designation of Origin (PD0).
Those 64 products are added to a first list of 318 indications adopted by the
Commission on 12 June 1996. This registration implies that the use of those
registered names is to be confirmed to producers in a defined area who comply
with closely defined rules and criteria for the production of these particular
products.
[03] Commission clamps down on textiles fraud from Bangladesh
Bangladesh, which sells one T-shirt in Europe for every two citizens of the EU
every year, is facing tougher anti-fraud measures under a new campaign by the
European Commission to fight fraudulent textiles licences. The Commission is
demanding as of now that unfalsifiable export license forms must accompany all
Bangladeshi textile exports to the EU. This scheme is one of four launched by
the European Commission in 1995, under the auspices of the Commission's
Textiles Anti-Fraud Initiative (TAFI) programme. The project is being closely
monitored by the Commission to determine the possibility of extending this
requirement to other exporting countries.
[04] Commission approves the creation of a joint venture between Bayernwerk
and Gaz de France
The European Commission has approved the acquisition by Bayernwerk AG of
25% of the sharecapital of the German Erdöl-Erdgas Gommern GmbH ("EEG").
Through this operation Bayernwerk together with Gaz de France, so far EEG's
only shareholder, will execute joint control over EEG. The only overlap between
the activities of Bayernwerk and EEG affects the product market for the storage
of natural gas in underground storages in Germany. The combined market share
of both parties will not exceed 5%. Besides the parties there are several other
suppliers of underground storages active in Germany.
[05] La Commission approuve la prise de contrôle commun de la Banque
Indosuez par la Compagnie de Suez et la Caisse nationale du Crédit
agricole
La Commission européenne a approuvé une opération par laquelle la Caisse
Nationale du Crédit Agricole (CNCA) acquiert 51% du capital de la Banque
Indosuez (Indosuez) filiale du groupe français Compagnie de Suez. Indosuez
fonctionnera sous le contrôle conjoint de la Compagnie de Suez, qui conserve
45% du capital, et de la CNCA. Cette concentration n'aboutira pas à une
addition de parts de marchés significative, elle résultera davantage en une
complémentarité géographique et en terme de métiers des activités de CNCA et
d'Indosuez.
[06] Commission approves joint venture in lubricating oil additives
The European Commission has approved an operation whereby Röhm Gmbh
Chemische Fabrik, a company in the VEBA group of Germany, and Rohm and
Haas Company of the United States, create a joint venture which will hold all the
lubricating oil additives activities of the companies. The operation will not cause
the creation or strengthening of a dominant position. The joint venture will have
a market share of less than 30% of the EEA market for all types of viscometric
products.
[07] La Commission européenne ouvre des procédures d'infraction à l'égard de
certains Etats membres
La Commission a décidé d'envoyer des avis motivés à la France et à l'Italie pour
non-respect de la 6ème Directive TVA, car ils appliquent un taux super-réduit
pour les médicaments. La Commission a décidé d'envoyer des avis motivés à l'Italie pour non-exécution
de l'arrêt de la Cour de Justice, à la Grèce pour infraction à plusieurs dispositions
fiscales et douanières et à l'Italie pour non-respect des règles du transit
communautaire. The Commission has decided to initiate infringement proceedings before the
Court of Justice against the Netherlands for failing to comply with the Sixth
Directive on the common system of value added tax. La Commission a décidé d'envoyer des avis motivés à la France et à l'Italie pour
non-respect du régime général des accises. La Commission européenne a décidé d'envoyer à la République italienne un avis
motivé dans le cadre d'une procédure d'infraction à cause de modalités
restrictives établies par le droit national pour la répétition des taxes indues. La Commission a décidé d'envoyer à la France un avis motivé (deuxième étape
de la procédure d'infraction formelle de la Communauté prévue à l'article 169 du
traité CE) concernant les restrictions visant à empêcher la radiodiffusion
télévisuelle de certains événements sportifs. The Commission has decided to send a reasoned opinion (second stage of
proceedings under Article 169 of the EC Treaty) to Austria, which still allows
anonymous savings and securities accounts in breach of Directive 91/308/EEC
on money laundering.
[08] Commissioners Bjerregaard and Bangemann invite car industry to talks on
reduction of CO² emissions
Following the adoption by the Commission of a strategy for reducing CO²
emissions from passenger cars, the Commissioners responsible for Environment,
Ritt Bjerregaard, and for Industry, Martin Bangemann, have written to Jacques
Calvet, President of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)
to invite the European auto industry to start discussions with the Commission on
an industry commitment to reduce the fuel consumption of its models.
[09] Hans van den Broek participates in 5th Ministerial session of the Council
of the Baltic Sea States
Commissioner Hans van den Broek will participate in the 5th Ministerial Session
of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Kalmar (Sweden), on 2-3 July 1996.
The Conference will give a follow-up to the meeting of the Heads of Government
of the Baltic Sea States in Visby on 3-4 May 1996. At that occasion the
Commission presented its "Baltic Sea Region Initiative" to which reference has
been made at the Florence Summit of 21-22 June 1996.
[10] L'inflation annuelle de l'UE reste à 2,7% en mai
L'inflation annuelle dans l'Union européenne est restée stable à 2,7% en mai, au
taux atteint durant les mois d'avril, mars et février, selon les chiffres publiés
aujourd'hui par Eurostat, l'Office statistique des Communautés européennes à
Luxembourg. Il y a un an, le taux s'élevait à 3,1%. En mai, l'inflation se situait
en-dessous de la moyenne communautaire dans dix Etats membres (le taux
d'inflation de l'Autriche n'est pas encore disponible; il s'élevait à 1,6% en avril).
La Finlande enregistre de nouveau le taux le plus bas, avec 0,8%, et la Grèce
le taux le plus élevé, avec 9,1%.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://www.cec.lu/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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