Brussels News April 2007

50th Anniversary Of The Treaty Of Rome
The European Institutions' "Europa" website has a special zone marking this milestone anniversary, containing information such as institutional guides; short histories; quizzes and calendars of celebratory initiatives and events being staged across the EU and beyond.  See: http://europa.eu/50/index_en.htm

E-Justice  (Provision Of Cross-Border, Online, Legal Procedures)
The Council has just started working on a new EU-level initiative, styled "e-Justice", prompted by the increasing use of electronic means for, e.g. issuing legal proceedings within Member States. The Council is concerned about the lack of availability of same for cross-border litigants. There is likely to be a formal consultation organized at Member State level. See: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/06/st13/st13521-re01.en06.pdf

N-Lex – Online Access To Translated National Legal Texts
Eurlex, the Community portal through which Community and Union legal texts can be accessed, has a constantly-updated experimental link to national law portals, "N-lex", launched last year, which now
provides links to the national laws of 22 of the 27 Member States,  and an automatic (though approximate), translation facility between certain languages. See: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/n-lex/pays.html?lang=en

The EU And The Fight Against Terrorism - EU Institution Activities
In early March, the Council issued a descriptive fact sheet that provides a political overview of planned and existing EU initiatives in the fight against terrorism. See: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/mailing/file178.DOC

In parallel, the Commission published a comprehensive list of its consultations and adopted proposals since 2004; its future plans in the field, and its expectations of the Member States.  http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/98&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en.  The European Parliament ("EP") has also adopted an ambitious and extremely detailed own-initiative resolution on the external dimension of the fight against international terrorism:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0050+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Review Of Labour Law
The Commission is at the early stages of a major review that it hopes will result in the modernisation of employment law in the EU. It began with the adoption in late 2006 of a Green Paper "Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century" based on the answers to which the Commission plans to issue a follow-up Communication,  exploring possible future legislation. See: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/labour_law/green_paper_en.htm

Review Of The Consumer Acquis
In early February, the Commission issued its delayed Green Paper on the review of the Consumer Acquis, with a deadline for comments of 15 May. The Paper explores the possibility of a future horizontal framework directive in the consumer field and tackles several highly contentious issues related thereto. The Bar is preparing a full response. See http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_int/safe_shop/acquis/index_en.htm

European Contract Law
At around the time of reading, the Commission is expected to issue its long-delayed Second Annual Progress report on the Common Frame of Reference ("CFR"). The JHA Council meeting in April will
make a far-reaching policy statement on the future of the CFR and a possible future optional instrument, and workshops looking at various aspects of contract law are about to be re-launched, this time by several Commission services. The Bar is preparing itself for all of these developments.

Limitation Periods In Cross-Border Personal Injury Claims
In February the EP adopted a report calling on the Commission to look into the possibility of proposing EU legislation to streamline limitation periods in cross-border personal injury claims, and making recommendations re the contents of same. See:  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-
//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0020+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Road Traffic Accidents – EP Hearing
In March, the Legal Affairs Committee of the EP held a public hearing on Road Traffic Accidents at which a member of the Bar was invited to speak. Apart from the February PI resolution (above), the agenda covered damages aspects as of the Rome II proposal (see previous Bar News) and a long-debated idea of EU-wide scales of damages.   See: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/juri/hearings/
default_en.htm

Green Paper On Bank Attachment
The Bar has recently responded directly, and through HMG and the CCBE, to a Commission consultation on the attachment of bank accounts, both pre-and post-judgment. See: http://eurlex.   europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0618en01.pdf

Possible Future European Private Company Statute
In February, the EP called upon the Commission to issue a proposal for a European Private Company Statute, to provide a legal form for small and medium-sized undertakings engaged in cross-border
business. The resolution also sets out detailed recommendations as the contents of a future proposal. See: http://www.europarl.  europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-
0023+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Exercise Of Shareholder Rights
In February the EP adopted its report on the 2005 proposal for a directive aimed at easing, or enabling, the cross-border exercise of rights of shareholders of certain types of public companies.  The EP's amendments had already been agreed with the other institutions, so final adoption should follow quickly. See:  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/expert/committees/reports.do?committee=2361&language=EN#

Cross-Border Management Of Copyright And Related Rights (Online Music Services)
In early March, the Legal Affairs Committee of the EP adopted an own-initiative report calling for the Commission to launch a public consultation and thereafter present a proposal for a flexible framework directive designed to regulate the collective management of copyright and related rights in
cross-border online music services. See:  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/expert/committees/
reports.do?committee=2361&language=EN

Auditors’ Liability: Possible Reform Of Rules In The EU
The Commission has recently closed a public consultation exploring the need to reform rules on auditors' liability in the EU. The results should be available soon. See:  http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/auditing/liability/index_en.htm

New Funding For Criminal Justice Initiatives
At the end of February, the Council approved three new financial instruments, intended to provide funding for relevant initiatives for the period 2007 - 2013:

  • 140 million Euro for the programme "Prevention,
    Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism and other Security Related Risks;
  • Up to 600 million Euro for the programme "Prevention of and Fight against Crime" (focusing on measures to prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute); and
  • 196,2 million Euro for the specific programme "Criminal Justice" aimed at supporting activities promoting judicial cooperation in criminal matters.