Digital transformation in Denmark

We glanced at the fourteen System Initiatives under work at the World Economic Forum (WEF), intertwined with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).

The blog entry Future-proof Denmark? ended with a question mark.

If quick glances raised a question, could brief looks offer indications?

Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI)

The Digital Transformation Initiative by the World Economic Forum could offer one approach to future-proof. The title page of the 71-page DTI executive summary catches the reader’s attention by highlighting the potential to unlock $100 trillion for business and society. It offers an inspirational theme park of emerging technologies about to change life.

The societal implications start on page 22, but our themes really meet on page 25, when the Digital Transformation Initiative summary picks up work on unlocking digital potential in Denmark: more than $50 billion of value over the next decade (in a country with a 5.7 million population).

Even if there are considerable business gains to be made, e-commerce, connected travel services, the sharing economy and assisted driving seem to offer even more potential benefits to society.

The summary crystallises the choice with regard to sustainable development (page 60):

An important choice must be made: between a more open, inclusive and interconnected world, or one that is closed, siloed and unequal.

But the better choice requires overcoming the inhibitors to transformation, with implications for business leaders, as well as governments and policy-makers (from p. 62).

Europe’s Digital Progress Report 2017

How well is the digital transformation under way in Denmark?

It cannot be all bad, since the recently published Europe’s Digital Progress Report 2017 (EDPR) country profile (available in English and Danish) places Denmark first among the EU member states, according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2017, ahead of Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Estonia and Austria.

The Digital Economy and Society Index 2017 rates connectivity, human capital, use of Internet, integration of digital technology and digital public services. DESI 2017 offers the following summary for EU members wanting to emulate success:

Denmark ranks 1st out of the 28 EU Member States and it progressed at a higher pace than the EU average. Denmark made progress in most dimensions. Denmark performed very well on Connectivity, thanks to the widest 4G coverage in Europe and the increase in take-up of fast connections. 94% of Danish citizens are online and the vast majority have at least basic digital skills. However, the share of ICT specialists stagnated. On the supply side, Denmark made outstanding progress in the use of digital technologies by enterprises, leading the EU and the world rankings. Denmark is strong in the delivery of online public services thanks to a consistent long-term national strategy.

Denmark belongs to the High performing cluster of countries.

Denmark is a world leader in digitisation and the new umbrella governmental digital plan, namely, Digital Strategy 2016-2020, presented in May 2016, aims at further enhancing close public sector collaboration to deliver good, efficient and coherent services to the public and businesses.

The individual factors are discussed in more detail on the rest of the eleven pages of the country profile.

Digital Denmark

The EU Commission already mentioned Denmark’s digital strategy.

Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (the Danish Agency for Digitisation) offers us an introduction and an opportunity to download A Stronger and More Secure Digital Denmark: Digital Strategy 2016-2020, agreed by the central government, regions and municipalities.  

Naturally, Nordic readers can find an introduction and the strategy in Danish: Et stærkere og mere trygt digitalt samfund: Den fællesoffentlige digitaliseringsstrategi 2016-2020 (Maj 2016).

Ralf Grahn

Single Market concerns

The Single Market Act II had been anticipated by the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council (of ministers) of the EU. We have presented their contributions in various blog entries, some of them found in the compilation Single Market Act blog posts.  

Here we look at one more contribution, this from the European Commission.

Citizens’ and businesses’ 20 main concerns

In 2011 the European Commission published The Single Market through the lens of the people: A snapshot of citizens’ and businesses’ 20 main concerns (27 pages), an analysis made of queries and complaints handled by the Commission and assistance services such as SOLVIT, Your Europe Advice, the European Consumer Centres, the European Employment Service and the Enterprise Europe Network, then checked with statistically representative data and refined through focus groups.

This was one of the contributions going into the making of the Single Market Act II.

Problems for mobile citizens

• Cumbersome social security procedures discourage citizens’ mobility
• Citizens receiving healthcare abroad are often frustrated when receiving the bill
• Obtaining a residence card in another Member State for non-EU family members is too complex
• Professionals have difficulties getting their qualifications recognised in another Member State
• Workers can be victims of discriminatory employment practices in another Member State
• Tax barriers för cross-border workers and employers
• Opening a bank account abroad remains too difficult
• Students facing discrimination regarding recognition of diplomas, fees, and financial support
• Retiring abroad and inheriting across borders leads to complex taxation issues
• Taking a car to another Member State is costly and burdensome
• Passengers find it difficult to defend their rights

Problems for consumers

• Consumers do not easily find their way in banking and financial services markets
• Europeans do not feel comfortable shopping on-line in other Member States
• In spite of an increased choice, many Europeans are frustrated by their energy bills
• Internet and telephone services could be better and cheaper

Problems for businesses

• Businesses are discouraged from participating in foreign public tenders
• Access to finance and support measures is too challenging
• Burdensome rules and procedures prevent entrepreneurs and investors from doing business in another country
• Reclaiming VAT paid in another Member State is cumbersome
• Fighting for your intellectual property rights in a cross-border context remains very difficult

The brochure ended by referring EU citizens and businesses encountering problems to the Your Europe web pages and by describing the help and information services available (pages 26-27):

SOLVIT – a network created in 2002 to solve cross-border problems encountered by citizens and businesses due to incorrect application of EU rules by national public authorities, without formal procedures and within ten weeks. In 2010 SOLVIT handled almost 3 800 cases, of which 1 363 fell within its remit;

Your Europe Advice (YEA) – a network of experienced multilingual lawyers from all EU Member States who provide answers to European citizens’ legal questions regarding the exercise of their EU rights in cross-border mobility situations. In 2010, YEA experts handled more than 12 000 queries;

Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) – a network created to provide European businesses with transnational business cooperation, to benefit from the Single Market and to provide their feedback to legislation (SME panels). The network is made up of 600 support service organisations involving more than 3 000 staff in 50 countries;

European Consumer Centres (ECCs) – a network created to provide consumers with information and help in dispute resolution, to enable them to take full advantage of the Single Market, in particular with regard to cross-border issues. The European Consumer Centres network handles over 70 000 cases every year;

Europe Direct Contact Centre (EDCC) – the European Commission’s multilingual central information service, accessible by free-phone, email or web-chat, which provides answers to questions from the public concerning general information on the European Union’s activities and policies, and guides citizens to the sources of information and advice that best meet their needs. Out of 100 000 enquiries handled overall in 2010, about 30 000 were related to cross-border issues and 5 200 were transferred to the legal experts of Your Europe Advice for further assistance;

European Employment Service (EURES) – a network of more than 850 employment advisors who help match jobs to jobseekers across Europe.

Ralf Grahn

General sources:

General Report on the Activities of the European Union 2011 (freely downloadable at the EU Bookshop in all the official EU languages)

General Report on the Activities of the European Union - 2012 (free to download at the EU Bookshop in all the official EU languages)

Regeringens skrivelse 2011/12:105 Berättelse om verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2011

Regeringens skrivelse 2012/13:80 Berättelse om verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2012

Access to finance for small businesses - EU Single Market Act

In the article Single Market Act COM(2011) 206 we looked at the twelve levers for growth and the key action for each.


Access to finance for SMEs

The first lever in the Single Market Act (SMA) (page 6-7) is Access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One of the promises was:

SME financing will be the subject of an action plan. It will cover not only access to different financing sources but also SME financing tools directly and the creation of an environment that is conducive to development and growth for SMEs.

SMEs' access to finance

We fast-forward to 7 December 2011, when the DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) published the latest SMEs' Access to Finance Survey 2011: short summary and full analytical report.


Action plan for SME finance

On the same day the Commission published (MEMO/11/879) EU Action Plan: helping SMEs access more financial resources, which offers a quick overview of the proposed actions.

For more detail there is the communication from the Commission:

An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 COM(2011) 870 final
(15 pages; available in 22 EU languages), as well as the

Commission staff working paper Accompanying the document An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs; Brussels, 7.12.2011 SEC(2011) 1527 final



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 943 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy EUROPP blog, where Gareth Harding stated that the European Union is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of its citizens, but also handed out advice on how to turn the tide.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

USA and EU falling behind in innovation and competitiveness

We have seen that the European trade associations for businesses offering ICT goods and services want pan-European regulation. The industry players have lined up behind the Digital Agenda, including the Digital Single Market, expecting the politicians to play their part for a competitive Europe.

The dual ambitions of the European Commission to focus on promoting sustainable public finances and contributing to growth-enhancing economic reforms according to the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) are, in my view, remarkably well in line with what European business leaders and policy shapers are calling for.

But the European Union needs much more: full scale support from politicians at all levels.


ITIF

Again, Twitter acted as the news medium, alerting me to the ITIF benchmarking report about innovation and competitiveness. (Sadly, I am not able to give credit to the individual tweeter, since I forgot to note the tweet, which already seems to have disappeared.)

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation ITIF, based in Washington DC (USA), published The Atlantic Century II: Benchmarking EU and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness, which found both dark clouds over all and bright spots with regard to nine of the the United States of America (introduction):

… the 2011 report finds that America has made little or no progress since 1999. Of the 44 countries and regions surveyed, the United States still ranks fourth behind Singapore, Finland and Sweden. But this is down from the number one position in 2000. Of greater concern, however, is the fact that the U.S. continues to rank at the bottom – second only to Italy – on progress in improving its innovation capacity and competitiveness over the last decade. But the updated report contains encouraging news for some individual states. Measured against the foreign countries and regions, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado, and New Hampshire would all be ranked number one in innovation-based competitiveness if they were their own countries.

Great for Finland and Sweden, but only if we do not count the nine top US states, more innovative than any nation in the world.

If the USA ranked a (disappointing) fourth, what should we say about the EU, where the fifteen old member states (EU-15) remain stuck in eighteenth place, with the ten new member states (EU-10) still further behind, in position 27?

The rate of progress for the US and the EU can only be described as dismal. Both continue to lose ground in the the ”great game” of the 21st century, the global innovation race.

Besides the good marks for Finland and Sweden, the best news from Europe is that five Central European countries – Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Latvia – are in the top ten regarding the speed of long term progress between 1999 and 2011, although the recent depression has sapped strength.

The study offers practical advice for the USA and for Europe. Both must push back innovation mercantilism and improve their policies on innovation, productivity and competitiveness.

Europe needs to fully embrace innovation, including the ”creative destruction” so alien to many of its protectionist politicians.

America is described as ”torpid”, sleepwalking to decline without decisive and proactive public action to shape and to act on an national innovation strategy.

This century is not going to be Atlantic, if the US and Europe remain in the slow lane.

You can study the full report:

Robert D. Atkinson and Scott M. Andes, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation: The Atlantic Century II: Benchmarking EU & U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness (July 2011, 42 pages)

***

We need the humility to learn and the courage to act, in both Europe and the United States.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. SFGate tells us that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has unveiled An Economic Growth and Competitivenss Agenda for California, in Silicon Valley. The plan is available here.

Is the EU getting its Single Market Act together?

Yesterday, we noted how strongly the president of the European Council [ @euHvR on Twitter ] underlined the importance of the internal market: Herman Van Rompuy: ”The Internal Market is the EU's biggest asset”.

Today, we take a short tour of relevant materials. Some of it may shed additional light on why the internal market is important for businesses and citizens.


Single Market Act

Some may want to get to know all EU legislation on the internal market (part of the union acquis), while others may be more interested in detailed information about the proposed internal market reforms. The reform minded can navigate to the Commission web pages about the Single Market Act.

The document of reference is the communication from the European Commission. On Eur-Lex you find the language version you want among the 22 on offer for the Commission proposal.

For the English version I chose the direct link to the corrected text, available through the Single Market Act web page, although in the end it was about just a single word:

Towards a Single Market Act - For a highly competitive social market economy - 50 proposals for improving our work, business and exchanges with one another; Brussels, 11.11.2010 COM(2010) 608 final/2 (about 45 pages)


Competitiveness Council

The 3057th Competititiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space) Council meeting, Brussels 10 December 2010, produced initial reactions from the member state governments in the form of:

Conclusions on the Single Market Act



Internal market blog posts

Here are links to a number of my earlier, but not all too distant blog posts concerning the internal market.

EU Commission: Internal market reform (9 December 2010)

EU Single Market Act: Disappointing start? (10 December 2010)

(In Finnish) Saako kelkasta pudonnut Eurooppa sisämarkkinat heräämään? (12 December 2010)

(In Finnish) EU:n sisämarkkinoiden toimenpidepaketti (Single Market Act) (12 December 2010)

(In Finnish) EU:n 'Single Market Act' on käännösongelma (13 December 2010)

EU Single Market Act varia (13 December 2010)

EU Competitiveness Council on Single Market Act (14 December 2010)

(In Finnish) Onko EU:ssa yhtenäismarkkinat vai sisämarkkinat? (15 December 2010)


EEA: 506 million consumers

Just as a reminder: Even if we speak about the EU's internal market (or single market), these issues are relevant to the whole European Economic Area. The EEA comprises the 27 EU member states as well as three of the EFTA states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. This adds up to a home market (of sorts) of about 506 million consumers in all.

No mean feet, said the centipede.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Fleishman-Hillard's second European Parliament Digital Trends Survey describes how Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) use the web. You can follow #epdigitrends on Twitter.

P.S. 2: You can follow me on Facebook and on Twitter @RalfGrahn, in addition to my blogs: Grahnlaw (in English), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish), as well as the trilingual Grahnlaw Suomi Finland.

EU Stockholm Programme Action Plan: European judicial culture needed?

According to the final draft agenda for the Strasbourg session 22 to 25 November 2010, Monday 22 November the European Parliament plenary is going to discuss the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme and on Tuesday 23 November the EP is going to vote (pages 3 and 9).

In the background we have the five year strategic guidelines adopted by the European Council in December 2009, with the definitive version published in the Official Journal of the European Union in May (OJEU 4.5.2010 C 115/1):

The Stockholm Programme — An open and secure Europe serving and protecting citizens

Based on the guidelines, we have the action plan to implement the strategic guidelines, proposed by the European Commission in April:

Communication from the Commission: Delivering an area of freedom, security and justice for Europe's citizens - Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme; Brussels, 20.4.2010 COM(2010) 171 final

We also know that the Commission's monitoring system PreLex loses the traces of the action plan after the sour conclusions by the JHA Council 3 June 2010.

Before the Stockholm Programme was adopted, the European Parliament tried to make its voice heard a year ago, when it voted a resolution:

European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2009 on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council – An area of freedom, security and justice serving the citizen – Stockholm programme; P7_TA(2009)0090 (procedure 2009/2534(RSP) )

(Yesterday I presented a few extracts of the 25 November 2009 EP resolution relevant to citizens and enterprises, in Finnish on my trilingual blog Grahnlaw Suomi Finland.)


Citizens and businesses

This time around the European Parliament decided to take a closer look at legal issues relevant to EU citizens and businesses active across borders, in an own-initiative report:

Report on civil law, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme; A7-0252/2010, 24.9.2010 Committee on Legal Affairs, Rapporteur: Luigi Berlinguer (procedure 2010/2080(INI) ) (20 pages)


European judicial culture

Even if the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) congratulates the Commission on its ambitious proposed action plan, the report calls for reflection on the future of the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ).

Interestingly, the JURI committee takes a very long term view. The beginning of the report is heavily laden with suggestions for discussions and exchanges with judges and practitioners, representatives of legal education and training etc. in order to nurture a European judicial culture.

Later the report discusses proposed actions with more immediate impact on mobile citizens, cross-border consumers and companies active in the internal market, but it may be more opportune to treat these initiatives in the context of the latest policy statements and proposals from the Commission, first collectively and later individually.



Ralf Grahn



J.K. After a long silence the EU Law Blog has returned to the European legal blogging scene. The blog declares: This is a web log about European Union law for students, academics, practitioners and anyone else who may be interested in it. - I hope you are interested and that the EU Law Blog keeps up the good work.

How silly can it get? Consumers facing telecoms markets in EU

After presenting the Digital Agenda for Europe, first reactions to the Digital Agenda and the EU progress report on the single European electronic communications market at a general level, now for a concrete example of how 27 fragmented national telecoms markets affect businesses, consumers and public affairs in real life in the European Union.


The conclusion is: How silly can it get?




One of the most prolific eurobloggers is Henrik Alexandersson, who works in the European Parliament for the Pirate MEP Christian Engström (Green group).


Alexandersson’s usual place of work is the EP in Brussels, Belgium. Naturally, he travels back to Sweden at times. Like the rest of the MEPs and staff, he has to take part in the monthly migration of the European Parliament to Strasbourg, France.




In his blog post (in Swedish) Hej, jag heter Henrik. Jag är datormissbrukare (roughly: Hello, I’m Henrik. I’m a dataholic; 27 May 2010), Alexandersson starts by wondering at the primitive standards and proprietary software hampering PCs in the EP offices.

Then follows a tragicomic description of the multiple notebooks and wireless dongles forced on Alexandersson by fragmented telecoms markets and incompatible software, plus the horrendous costs of data roaming.

For those who believe that the “common market” was instituted in 1957, the post is illuminating.



If you want to get a sense of the original text, Google translate provided an almost comprehensible version in English. (Ångdator can be understood as “steam age PC”).


Neelie Kroes and her merry men have a real challenge ahead of them, if they want Europe to advance from the Egypt of the steam engine era to the promised land of the information society.




Ralf Grahn

EFTA member Switzerland outside EEA and EU

The relationship between Switzerland and the European Union is of interest to governments, businesses and residents, including expats.


Yesterday, in the Grahnlaw blog post Internal market: Switzerland at the heart of Europe? we highlighted the briefing paper commissioned by the European Parliament on the complex relationship between the European Union and Switzerland with regard to the internal market:



Christa Tobler, Jeroen Hardenbol & Balázs Mellár: Internal Market beyond the EU: EEA and Switzerland (PE 429.993; January 2010; 65 pages).

In this blog post we present references to some basic materials on Switzerland’s relations with the rest of Europe.



Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, unlike the three others, Switzerland is not a part of the European Economic Area (EEA).



For a fairly updated general presentation of EFTA, see This is EFTA 2009 (January 2009; 36 pages).



The latest annual update is the 48th Annual Report of the European Free Trade Association 2008 (March 2009; 52 pages).



In English and with further links, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO offers general information about EFTA, the European Policy of Switzerland and Bilateral Agreements Switzerland – European Union.



Through the web page Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU you can access a brochure from August 2009 with further information: Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU (44 pages)



There is also a page with links to Other files Switzerland-EU.




For a more political Swiss view on why Switzerland remains outside both the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA), you can read the article by Werner Wüthrich: The Future Belongs to Lean Organizations like EFTA (Current Concerns No 1, January 2010).




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Sooner or later, I believe, the European Union has to become more openly and directly party political in order to be understood and approved by EU citizens.

Heralding this future of active citizens are the bilingual mirror blogs by a French PES activist: Eurosocialist in English and Eurosocialiste in French. Her motto is: A socialist view on Europe, a European view on socialism.

Eurosocialist/Eurosocialiste are listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Vacation or business: Travelling in Europe 2009

Whether you are heading for your vacation destination or travelling for business purposes, the 11 page brochure Travelling in Europe 2009 is worth a glance. Available at the EU Bookshop.



Travelling in Europe 2009 offers brief information about needed documents (Schengen), money (the euro), approximate exchange rates, cash withdrawals, bank transfers, shopping (tobacco and alcohol), consumer protection, driving licence, car insurance, driving safety, air passenger rights, airport security, rail transport, access to healthcare and the European health insurance card, travel insurance, medicines, immunisation, bathing water, languages, country codes, mobile phones (roaming), postage stamps, electricity, tourist information, weather, time zones (summer time), pets, emergency number 112, national tourist information sites, EU information and basic statistics.

The brochure serves both EU citizens and visitors from third countries.

Indirectly, Travelling in Europe 2009 gives a number of answers to the question: What has Europe ever done for me?


Ralf Grahn

EU: Consumers in Europe 2009

The 2009 edition of the Eurostat publication Consumers in Europe is available at the EU Bookshop.



The abstract of the 382 page Consumers in Europe 2009 offers a view of the contents of this fourth edition, useful for businesses and policy makers:

The 2009 edition of Consumers in Europe presents a comprehensive set of data and related information concerning consumer markets and consumer protection issues within the European Union. The aim of the publication is to bring together the most relevant and useful information for the evaluation and development of consumer policy, not only as a tool for policy-makers, but also for those interested in end-markets and consumer affairs, such as representative organisations, public authorities, or suppliers of goods and services. Much of the data that has been used will feed into the consumer markets scoreboard which has been designed to monitor outcomes in the single market and to make European Union policy in this area more responsive to the expectations and concerns of consumers.

The publication starts with an overview of the single market from the consumer’s perspective, presenting a profi le of European consumers and the retail network, as well as issues relating to access and choice, before looking at key indicators for consumption and prices. The overview also presents information on consumer satisfaction, the quality and safety of goods and services, as well consumer representation and protection.

The remainder of the publication is devoted to 12 specific consumer markets (for example, food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, transport, or recreation and culture); each chapter covers one top-level heading within the classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP), the main classification used to provide detailed data on consumer prices, price levels and consumption expenditure. The chapters are structured in a similar manner to the overview, in an attempt to present harmonised data and a range of key indicators that may be compared across the publication.


***

Consumer policy

The introduction on Consumer policy (from page 11) presents the Commission’s main objectives concerning consumers:

• to empower EU consumers so they make more informed choices and thus boost competition and competitiveness;
• to enhance EU consumers’ welfare in terms of price, choice, quality, diversity, affordability and safety;
• to protect consumers eff ectively from the serious risks and threats that they cannot tackle as individuals.

The publication then presents the principal aims of the EU Consumer Policy Strategy 2007-2013 (COM(2007) 99 final), as well as monitoring and consumer protection.


***

12 consumer markets

After an overview, a considerable part of the publication is devoted to 12 specific consumer markets:

• food and nonalcoholic beverages;
• alcoholic beverages and tobacco;
• clothing and footwear;
• housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels;
• furnishings, household equipment and maintenance;
• health;
• transport;
• communications;
• recreation and culture;
• education; hotels,
• cafes and restaurants;
• miscellaneous goods and services)



Ralf Grahn

EU: Community Customs Code (implementation)

The European Community (European Union) is more than a free trade area. It is a customs union with a common commercial policy with regard to the rest of the world (third countries), as laid down in Article 131 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC).

Here are some updates for import and export businesses, depending on where they are located.


Community Customs Code

The centerpiece is the Community Customs Code. The latest consolidated version of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code is of 1 January 2007.



***

Implementing provisions

Implementing provisions are contained in: Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code.

The regulation has been amended several times, and the latest consolidated version of Regulation 2454/93 is of 1 January 2009.




***

Latest amendments


Amending implementing provisions have now been published by:


Commission Regulation (EC) No 414/2009 of 30 April 2009 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (Text with EEA relevance), in OJEU 21.5.2009 L 125/6.





Ralf Grahn

European Union: Pinning high hopes on small businesses

Today the Commission launches the first European SME Week. In its press release European SME week to boost entrepreneurship in difficult times (6 May 2009; IP/09/704) the Commission pins high hopes on the small and medium-sized enterprises as drivers of growth and job creation.



The press release (including the links) ─ available in 22 languages ─ is valuable for those, who want a quick overview of the European Union’s activities to promote entrepreneurship.


Ralf Grahn

State aid for SMEs

The European Commission has published a Handbook on Community state aid rules for SMEs, including temporary state aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis.

At this moment, the Handbook is available only in English, but translations are promised. The 42 page Handbook will be in demand among governments, business organisations and small and medium-sized companies struggling with the economic recession.

The state aid Handbook is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/studies_reports/sme_handbook.pdf

Ralf Grahn

EU temporary state aid: Officially published

The European Commission’s Communication ‘Temporary Community framework for State aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis’ has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union 22.1.2009 C 16/1:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:016:0001:0009:EN:PDF

The nine pages of the Communication form a richly documented crash course in EC (EU) state aid law, both previously existing principles and new temporary measures to counter the economic recession.

The Commission applies the Communication from 17 December 2008, the date on which it agreed in principle its content, but not beyond 31 December 2010.


Ralf Grahn

EU Law: Tourism

Should the same internal market rules (and others) apply to all businesses, or should certain sectors be singled out for special treatment in the European Union?

Tourism is now mentioned in the treaty, but without a legal base for specific action. The Lisbon Treaty would allow complementary action with regard to the tourism sector.



***




TEC


There is no Title on tourism and no specific legal base in the current Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). Cf. the latest consolidated version of the treaties, OJEU 29.12.2006 C 321 E.

Still, tourism is not completely forgotten. Article 3(1)(u) TEC lists ‘measures in the spheres of energy, civil protection and tourism’ among the activities of the European Community.



***

Constitutional Treaty

This is one of the rare instances, where the intergovernmental conference (IGC 2004) made a positive contribution to the Constitutional Treaty.

The IGC 2004 added a Section and an Article on tourism to the proposal by the European Convention. Article III-281 of the Constitution:

SECTION 4
TOURISM

Article III_281 Constitution

1. The Union shall complement the action of the Member States in the tourism sector, in particular by promoting the competitiveness of Union undertakings in that sector.

To that end, Union action shall be aimed at:

(a) encouraging the creation of a favourable environment for the development of undertakings in this sector;

(b) promoting cooperation between the Member States, particularly by the exchange of good practice;

2. European laws or framework laws shall establish specific measures to complement actions within the Member States to achieve the objectives referred to in this Article, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.


***


Original Lisbon Treaty (ToL)

Article 2, point 148 inserted a new Title XXI Tourism and a new Article 176b (OJEU 17.12.2007 C 306/89):

TOURISM

148) Title XXI shall be replaced by the following new Title and new Article 176 B:

‘TITLE XXI
TOURISM

Article 176 B

1. The Union shall complement the action of the Member States in the tourism sector, in particular by promoting the competitiveness of Union undertakings in that sector.

To that end, Union action shall be aimed at:

(a) encouraging the creation of a favourable environment for the development of undertakings in this sector;

(b) promoting cooperation between the Member States, particularly by the exchange of good practice.

2. The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish specific measures to complement actions within the Member States to achieve the objectives referred to in this Article, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.’.


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Renumbering the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL)

The Table of equivalences of the original Treaty of Lisbon tells us that the new Title XXI Tourism in the TFEU (ToL) was renumbered Title XXII Tourism in the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty.

Article 176b TFEU (ToL) was renumbered Article 195 TFEU in the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty (OJEU 17.12.2007 C 306/218).


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Lisbon Treaty consolidated

Article 195 TFEU

The Lisbon Treaty adjusted the terminology of the Constitutional Treaty. Article 195 TFEU appears like this in the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/134):

TITLE XXII
TOURISM

Article 195 TFEU

1. The Union shall complement the action of the Member States in the tourism sector, in particular by promoting the competitiveness of Union undertakings in that sector.

To that end, Union action shall be aimed at:

(a) encouraging the creation of a favourable environment for the development of undertakings in this sector;

(b) promoting cooperation between the Member States, particularly by the exchange of good practice.

2. The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish specific measures to complement actions within the Member States to achieve the objectives referred to in this Article, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.

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Competence

In the general classification of EU competence in different policy areas, tourism appears among the supporting, coordinating or supplementing actions in Article 6(d) TFEU.

With a legal base for tourism, complementing actions can be based squarely on the needs of the sector, instead of having to fit other grounds for action.


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Tourism summary

The Commission’s Scadplus pages offer summaries of legislation in different areas of EU policy, but actions with effects on tourism have been undertaken in other areas. Therefore the web page Towards a stronger partnership for European Tourism is more general than these pages in general (last update 23 May 2006):

http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/n26107.htm


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Commission activities

The Commission’s Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry offers an introductory page on tourism, with further links:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tourism/index_en.htm


The Commission reminds us that the tourism sector is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and that it accounts for 4% of the Community’s GDP, with about 2 million enterprises employing about 4% of the total labour force (representing approximately 8 million jobs). When the links to other sectors are taken into account, the contribution of tourism to GDP is estimated to be around 11% and it provides employment to more than 12% of the labour force (24 million jobs).


More detailed facts about tourism are presented in the Eurostat Tourism Statistics Pocketbook (2008):

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-DS-08-001


Tourism: the European Community’s involvement in tourism is a web page offering a historic overview of EC activities (latest update 6 October 2008):

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tourism/further_reading/index_en.htm


Commission Communications on tourism are available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tourism/documentation/communications/index_en.htm



The practically minded would opt for the latest one. The October 2007 Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European Tourism, as well as links to conclusions the same autumn by the Council and the European Council. There are also detailed reactions to the European Tourism Policy from the European Parliament, available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tourism/documentation/communications/commission_communication_2007/index_en.htm

The Communication (Brussels, 19.10.2007 COM(2007) 621 final) applies the aims of sustainable development to the tourism sector.





Ralf Grahn

EU level social partners: Contractual relations and agreements

The social dialogue at European Community (European Union) level can lead to contractual relations, including agreements, between management and labour.

The EU level social partners are confederations of national business organisations and trade unions, so how can these agreements between be put into effect?

Are there any practical examples of implemented European level agreements by European level social partners?


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Social policy objectives

As a reminder, the social policy objectives mentioned in Article 136 TEC (ex Article 117), in the latest consolidated version of the treaties, OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/103, are important for management (employers, businesses) and labour (trade unions):

– promotion of employment

– improved and harmonised living and working conditions

– social protection

– dialogue between management and labour

– development of human resources

– combating exclusion.

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Article 139 TEC

Article 139 (ex Article 118b) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) invites management and labour to establish contractual relations, including agreements at European level.

The European level organisations are free to agree how they cooperate.

Basically they cannot conclude agreements binding on third parties (labour markets in the member states).

Binding effects can be achieved in two ways:

1) Community level agreements can be transformed in accordance with the procedures and practices in each member state.

2) The Council can issue norms in matters covered by Article 137 TEC.

In the latter case, the organisations agree and request, the Commission proposes and the Council decides.

Unanimity in the Council is required concerning the fields covered in Article 137(1)(c), (d), (f) and (g) TEC. In other cases qualified majority voting applies.

Agreements concerning pay, the right of association, the right to strike or the right to impose lock-outs are excluded. Cf. Article 137(5) TEC.

The current Article 139 TEC, as published in the latest consolidated version of the treaties, OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/109:

Article 139 TEC

1. Should management and labour so desire, the dialogue between them at Community level may lead to contractual relations, including agreements.

2. Agreements concluded at Community level shall be implemented either in accordance with the procedures and practices specific to management and labour and the Member States or, in matters covered by Article 137, at the joint request of the signatory parties, by a Council decision on a proposal from the Commission.

The Council shall act by qualified majority, except where the agreement in question contains one or more provisions relating to one of the areas for which unanimity is required pursuant to Article 137(2). In that case, it shall act unanimously.

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Original Lisbon Treaty (ToL)

Article 2, point 118 of the original Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) amends Article 139 TEC in the following way (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/81):

118) Article 139(2) shall be amended as follows:

(a) at the end of the first subparagraph, the following sentence shall be added: ‘The European Parliament shall be informed.’;

(b) in the second subparagraph, at the beginning of the first sentence, ‘The Council shall act by qualified majority, except where the agreement’ shall be replaced by ‘The Council shall act unanimously where the agreement’ and the second sentence shall be deleted.

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Renumbering ToL

The Table of equivalences of the original Treaty of Lisbon tells us that the social policy title was to be renumbered Title X and that the Article 139 TFEU (ToL) was to be renumbered Article 155 TFEU in the consolidated version of the amending treaties (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/214).


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Consolidated Lisbon Treaty

The exclusion of the European Parliament was mitigated by adopting the obligation to inform the EP from Article III-212(2) of the Constitutional Treaty, as proposed by the European Convention in Article 106(2) of the draft Constitution.

After the horizontal amendments and the editorial change to the second subparagraph of paragraph 2, Article 155 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in the consolidated TFEU, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJ 9.5.2008 C 115/116, appears as follows:

(TITLE X
SOCIAL POLICY)

Article 155 TFEU
(ex Article 139 TEC)

1. Should management and labour so desire, the dialogue between them at Union level may lead to contractual relations, including agreements.

2. Agreements concluded at Union level shall be implemented either in accordance with the procedures and practices specific to management and labour and the Member States or, in matters covered by Article 153, at the joint request of the signatory parties, by a Council decision on a proposal from the Commission. The European Parliament shall be informed.

The Council shall act unanimously where the agreement in question contains one or more provisions relating to one of the areas for which unanimity is required pursuant to Article 153(2).

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Social partners

Again, Article 139 TEC and Article 155 TFEU employ the vague concept ‘management and labour’ in the English language version, but the reference to the Community (Union) level gives some guidance.

More distinctly, when I compared five other language versions of Article 155 TFEU they employ the term ‘social partners’ or something close to that, clearly evoking representative organisations of employers (businesses) and labour (trade unions) at European level.

German: Sozialpartner
French: partenaires sociaux
Spanish: interlocutores sociales
Finnish: työmarkkinaosapuolet
Swedish: arbetsmarknadens parter

For management and labour in the English language version of the current and future treaties, read social partners, because other language versions are explicit.

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Main European level social partners: Who are they?

The membership of the main Social dialogue committee (SDC) includes the main cross-sectoral players: the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Confederation of European Business (Businesseurope), the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP), the European Associaiton of Craft, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), Eurocadres and the European Confederation of Executives and Managerial Staff (CEC):

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/interprof_en.htm


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Social dialogue

The Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities offers web pages with information about the European social dialogue. A distinction is made between bipartite dialogue involving employers and trade unions (the subject of Article 139 TEC and Article 155 TFEU) and a tripartite dialogue with the participation of public authorities (the subject of Article 138 TEC and Article 154 TFEU). Consultation takes place both generally (cross-industry social dialogue) and on a sectoral basis:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/index_en.htm

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Bipartite social dialogue

The Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities offers a web page Bipartite Social Dialogue at European level:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/bipartite_en.htm

In addition to the main social dialogue committee (SDC), there are 33 sectoral committees.

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Social dialogue results

A web page called Typology of European social dialogue results presents practical examples:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/typology_en.htm

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Eurofound

Additional information on various aspects of employment issues from a research and communication viewpoint is offered by Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions:

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/about/index.htm



Ralf Grahn