http://www.eubusiness.com <p>A collection of links to web sites of the European Union institutions and other European business web sites.</p> <p><a href="/sponsored"><strong>* * Premium Membership - all your content on EUbusiness.com for a year! * *</strong></a></p> daily 1 2006-09-11T15:27:24Z http://www.eubusiness.com/Trade/ipr-enforcement Enforcement of intellectual property rights - European Commission initiatives to enforce intellectual property rights, including the Enforcement Directive and background documents on counterfeiting and piracy. No publisher eub2 Trade 2008-05-09T14:46:06Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Institutions/eu-lobbyists Development of the framework for the activities of interest representatives (lobbyists) in the European institutions - European Parliament Legislative Observatory - COM(2007)0127 - A6-0105/2008 No publisher eub2 EU Law Institutions European Parliament 2008-05-08T21:33:35Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Finance/convergence-report.08 The European Commission concluded on 7 May 2008 that Slovakia meets the criteria for adopting the euro and made a proposal to the Council to this effect. The regular Convergence Report on euro readiness, adopted by the Commission, shows that the other nine countries with a so-called 'derogation' have made progress on the road to the single currency, but do not yet meet all the conditions for euro adoption. The Council of EU finance ministers (ECOFIN) will take the final decision on the adoption of the euro in Slovakia in July, after Parliament has given its opinion and EU heads of state and government have discussed the subject at their summit meeting in June. No publisher eub2 Euro 2008-05-07T15:56:24Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Euro/emu-10 This umbrella project embraces a wide array of research activities to mark 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In May 2008, it will be 10 years since the final decision in May 1998 to move to the third and final stage of EMU - together with the decision on which Member States would participate – followed by the launch of the euro on 1 January 1999. The project has three dimensions: assessing the economic achievements of the euro area’s first decade; identifying current and future challenges; and developing policy proposals in response to those challenges. No publisher eub2 Finance Euro 2008-05-02T17:35:11Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/SMEs/small-business-act The European Commission has proposed in the Community Lisbon Programme the preparation of a Small Business Act for Europe whose main aim will be to set principles and concrete measures to improve the framework conditions for European SMEs, while taking full account of their diversity. No publisher eub2 SMEs 2008-05-01T15:52:23Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Finance/fraud-payments.07 The European Commission has published a report on the actions undertaken on prevention of payment fraud between 2004 and 2007 following an Action Plan on this matter. This report shows that the security of means of payment and payment systems is a necessary condition for improving consumer confidence and trust in new payment services. From a regulatory point of view, the security of means of payment has been addressed in recent legislation, namely in Payment Services Directive, and also the third Money Laundering Directive by means of the "know your customer" obligations. The development of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) by industry will provide an opportunity to build on the legislative framework to increase both security and trust. No publisher eub2 Finance 2008-04-29T22:20:26Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Social/eurobarometer.283 According to this Eurobarometer report carried out in 2007, most Europeans expect to need long-term care at some point in their lives (with an EU average of 13% seeing this as inevitable, 32% likely and 29% unlikely but possible). However, 86% of Europeans would prefer to be cared for in their own homes or that of a relative should they become dependent, as opposed to only 8% preferring an institution. (pdf format) No publisher eub2 Social Health Living & Working in EU 2008-04-29T22:04:27Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Social/long-term-care-eu The demands for and costs of long-term care provision in the EU will rise significantly by 2050, according to a new report presented by the European Commission on 28 April 2008. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Europeans (almost nine out of ten) favour home- or community-based care over care in an institutional setting. The projected growth in demand for long-term care services presents a major challenge for national governments. But the report also shows that Member States are striving to guarantee access for all to quality care by providing adequate resources to meet this demand. (pdf format) No publisher eub2 Social 2008-04-29T21:59:45Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Finance/spring-forecasts.08 EU Macro-economic forecasts: growth moderates, price pressures a worry but, overall, EU weathers external headwinds rather well. No publisher eub2 Finance 2008-04-28T13:56:42Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Health/e-health-indicators Pilot on eHealth indicators: 'Benchmarking ICT use among General Practitioners in Europe' final report - the European Commission on 25 April published a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare (eHealth) that shows 87% of European doctors (General Practitioners) use a computer, 48% with a broadband connection. European doctors increasingly store and send patients' data such as lab reports electronically. In using such eHealth applications, doctors and medical services have already improved healthcare in Europe through, for example, more efficient administration and shorter waiting times for patients. The report also highlights where doctors could make better use of ICT to offer services such as telemonitoring, electronic prescriptions and cross border medical services. No publisher eub2 Health Telecoms Internet 2008-04-25T15:47:45Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Environ/eu-birds-directive Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds, commonly referred to as the Birds Directive, is the European Union’s oldest piece of nature legislation and one of the most important, creating a comprehensive scheme of protection for all wild bird species naturally occurring in the EU. No publisher eub2 Environment 2008-04-25T15:01:18Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Development/tradoc-138597 EU Trade Policy and Market Access for Developing Countries 2006-2007 - Report from DG Trade of the European Commission to the European Parliament - April 2008. No publisher eub2 Development Trade 2008-04-22T16:11:31Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Energy/oil-stocks.01 The European Commission has launched an online consultation to ascertain the views of interested parties on the possible revision of the existing legislation on emergency oil stocks. No publisher eub2 Energy 2008-04-22T12:43:23Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Employment/eqf-link The EQF is a common European reference framework which links countries' qualifications systems together, acting as a translation device to make qualifications more readable. It has two principal aims: to promote citizens' mobility between countries and to facilitate their lifelong learning. No publisher eub2 Employment 2008-04-18T13:20:15Z Link http://www.eubusiness.com/Environ/eu-fire Innovative optoelectronic and acoustic sensing technologies for large scale forest fire long term monitoring. EU-FIRE project has the objective to design a really modern and efficient fire monitoring system and to develop a prototype in order to demonstrate the feasibility of a large scale forest fires long term monitoring, an thus the way to improve the quality of life in European wooded areas. No publisher eub2 Environment 2008-04-16T20:42:08Z Link