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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 02-12-31
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Commission clears acquisition of Intertrust by Sony and Philips
[02] La Commission autorise EADS à prendre le contrôle exclusif d'Astrium
[03] Commission approves joint venture between the German companies
Brenntag and Biesterfeld in the area of the distribution of commodity
chemicals
[04] Commission deepens probe into German Toll Collect venture between
Daimler Chrysler and Deutsche Telekom
[05] La Commission renvoie l'opération entre Electrabel et IEH aux
autorités belges de la concurrence
[06] La Commission autorise le rachat, par Accor, d'une participation de
contrôle dans le groupe hôtelier allemand Dorint
[07] Commission launches consultation on a European Order for Payment
Procedure and on Measures to Simplify and Speed up Small Claims Litigation
[08] Commission clears creation of dairy product joint ventures by Nestlé
and the Fonterra Cooperative Group
[09] Chris Patten responds to attack on aid workers in Afghanistan
[10] European Commission to assist African Union in mediation in Central
African Republic
[11] Endorsement of International Accounting Standards
[12] Internal Market: EU needs to step up economic reform to reach its
competitiveness objectives
Midday Express 23/12/2002
TXT: FR ENPDF:DOC:Midday Express 23/12/2002
[01] Commission clears acquisition of Intertrust by Sony and Philips
The European Commission has granted regulatory approval to the proposed
operation by which Sony Corp. and Dutch company Koninklijke Philips
Electronics will acquire joint control of Intertrust, a US company which
developed patented technology in the area of digital rights management
(DRM).
[02] La Commission autorise EADS à prendre le contrôle exclusif d'Astrium
La Commission européenne a autorisé l'entreprise européenne d'aérospatiale
et de défense EADS à acquérir la participation de BAE Systems au capital
d'Astrium, un fournisseur européen de systèmes spatiaux créé en 2000. Le
passage d'un contrôle conjoint à un contrôle exclusif ne modifiera pas de
manière significative la structure actuelle de la concurrence sur le
marché.
[03] Commission approves joint venture between the German companies
Brenntag and Biesterfeld in the area of the distribution of commodity
chemicals
The European Commission has scrutinised and exempted a joint venture
notified under the Merger Regulation between the German chemical
distributors Brenntag AG (Brenntag) and Wilhelm E.H. Biesterfeld GmbH
(Biesterfeld). The joint venture will be active in the area of the
distribution of commodity chemicals in various EU Member States. Following
its examination of the proposal, the Commission has concluded that it does
not give rise to any competition concerns.
[04] Commission deepens probe into German Toll Collect venture between
Daimler Chrysler and Deutsche Telekom
The European Commission has decided to undertake an in-depth investigation
into a proposed joint venture between Daimler Chrysler AG and Deutsche
Telekom AG which will operate a toll-collecting system for heavy lorries on
German motorways. The Commission at the current stage has concerns that the
transaction might have an adverse impact on competition in the emerging
telematics services market in Germany
[05] La Commission renvoie l'opération entre Electrabel et IEH aux
autorités belges de la concurrence
La Commission européenne a accédé à la demande du Ministère belge de
l'Economie du renvoi de l'ensemble de l'opération de concentration
consécutive à l'accord entre l'Intercommunale d'Electricité du Hainaut
(IEH) et Electrabel sur la fourniture d'électricité aux clients éligibles
[06] La Commission autorise le rachat, par Accor, d'une participation de
contrôle dans le groupe hôtelier allemand Dorint
La Commission européenne a autorisé l'acquisition, par le groupe hôtelier
français Accor SA, d'une participation de contrôle dans le groupe hôtelier
allemand Dorint. L'acquisition renforcera la position du principal groupe
hôtelier européen en Allemagne, mais ce dernier y aura toujours affaire à
une concurrence suffisante.
[07] Commission launches consultation on a European Order for Payment
Procedure and on Measures to Simplify and Speed up Small Claims Litigation
The European Commission adopted a Green Paper to launch a consultation on
possible measures to be taken at Community level to create a European order
for payment procedure, that is to say a specific speedy and cost-efficient
procedure for claims that are presumed to remain uncontested available
throughout all Member States. The consultation also concerns measures to
simplify and speed up small claims litigation, an area in which it is
particularly essential to streamline proceedings and to limit their costs
in order to prevent the pursuit of these claims from becoming economically
unreasonable. This initiative is part of the work of the European Union to
create a genuine European area of Justice.
[08] Commission clears creation of dairy product joint ventures by Nestlé
and the Fonterra Cooperative Group
The Commission cleared the acquisition of joint control by Nestlé S.A.
("Nestlé", Switzerland) and Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. ("Fonterra",
New Zealand) of a number of newly created joint ventures active in
manufacturing, packaging, branding, marketing, selling and distributing
chilled products and liquid milks, the sourcing of raw milk and the
production of whole milk powder. As the joint venture companies will be
active only in South and Central America, the Caribbean and in the NAFTA
countries, the proposed operation will not have any direct effect in the
EEA. In addition, as the parties' activities in the EEA only overlap to a
small extent, no adverse effects on competition in the EEA can be expected
either. The operation, notified on 22 November, was examined and approved
under the simplified merger review procedure)
[09] Chris Patten responds to attack on aid workers in Afghanistan
An aid worker was killed and two injured in a suicide attack near the
German ISAF military hospital on the outskirts of Kabul this week. The aid
workers, from the french media NGO, AINA, were waiting for a delivery of
medicine for one of their staff members when a lone assailant approached
the entrance to the hospital compound and threw two hand grenades at the
three aid workers. The assailant was killed in the attack when a grenade
attached to his belt exploded.
[10] European Commission to assist African Union in mediation in Central
African Republic
The European Commission is contributing urgent support to the mediation
efforts of the African Union in Central African Republic (CAR). It has made
available a grant of Euro 400.000 funded under the Commission's special
"Rapid Reaction Mechanism" towards the costs of an AU Special Envoy and the
setting-up of an AU liaison office in Bangui for a period of six months.
[11] Endorsement of International Accounting Standards
Following the entry into force on 11th September 2002 of the Regulation on
International Accounting Standards (adopted in June 2002 see IP/02/827),
the next step towards the application of IAS by listed companies in the EU
from 2005 onwards is the endorsement of those IAS already in existence.
This was envisaged to occur before the end of 2002 and must be based on
high quality translations. Such translations will, however, only be
available early in 2003. The IAS Regulation is a key measure in the
Financial Services Action Plan, on which significant progress has been made
in the last few weeks (see IP/02/1785).
[12] Internal Market: EU needs to step up economic reform to reach its
competitiveness objectives
The European Commission's latest report on the functioning of product and
capital markets provides additional evidence that the Internal Market has
delivered significant benefits for Europeans, not least lower prices for
many consumer products. But there is still much untapped potential for
gains in several areas of the economy, especially services (in particular
financial services) and public procurement. The EU can still meet the
objective set by the Lisbon European Council in 2000 of becoming the most
competitive economy in the world by 2010. But there must be no further
delays to the adoption of legislative proposals and Member States must
significantly improve their performance in implementing EU law on time.
Simpler and better regulation at all levels is also required. The report
warns that unless the EU delivers further rapid economic reform the US
economy may outperform the European economy during the downturn just as it
did during the late 1990s expansion. The report is the fifth in a series of
annual progress reports prepared at the request of the Cardiff European
Council in 1998 and will be submitted to the March 2003 European Council.
The report aims primarily to assess recent developments and highlight
priority areas for further action. It will be followed in early January
2003 by a Commission analysis of overall progress since internal EU
frontiers were dismantled a decade ago. That analysis will include a new
economic impact assessment.
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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