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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 97-05-21
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Porte-Paroleb
21/05/97
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[I] R�sultats de la Commission de ce jour - Outcome of today's Commission
meeting
[01] Communication on combating corruption
[02] R�sultats de la consultation sur une politique de num�rotation pour
les services de t�l�communications en Europe
[03] Commission does not approve most of the state aid proposed by the
Austrian Authorities in favour of Hoffmann-La Roche for the production of
Orlistat, a new anti-obesity drug
[II] Other news - Autres nouvelles
[04] Jacques Santer nomme les membres du deuxi�me Groupe Consultatif sur la
Comp�titivit�
[I] R�sultats de la Commission de ce jour - Outcome of today's Commission
meeting
[01] Communication on combating corruption
The European Commission adopted a communication on combating corruption.
This communication launches a discussion on a broad range of actions -
criminalising corruption, dismantling tax deductibility for bribes,
tighter rules for public procurement, more effective company auditing,
blacklisting, criminalising laundering of bribes and an anticorruption
strategy towards developing countries. It covers actions where policies at
national level would gain from complementary European Union (EU) actions.
The Commission suggests two common positions on corruption. One concerns
criminalisation of bribery of foreign officials by EU enterprises. The
other will suggest criminalisation of private sector corruption. The
Council of Europe and OECD are also discussing proposals along these lines.
Several Member States allow tax deduction for bribes which are criminal
offences in the state of the recipient. The Commission will raise the
question of tax deductibility for bribes with Member States with a view to
reaching a consensus to abolish such provisions. Concerning accounting and
auditing, the Commission will present a communication with concrete
proposals on amendments to the accounting and auditing directives to make
them more effective tools in the fight against corruption. Clear rules on
transparency in company accounts are for example needed. Finally, the
Commission will give higher priority to its anti-corruption strategy for
cooperation with developing and transition countries.
[02] R�sultats de la consultation sur une politique de num�rotation pour
les services de t�l�communications en Europe
La Commission europ�enne a approuv� une communication sur les r�sultats de
la consultation relative au livre vert sur une politique de num�rotation
dans le domaine des services de t�l�communications. Suite � ces r�sultats,
la Commission propose les objectifs suivants: � partir du 1er janvier 1998
dans un march� concurrentiel, les utilisateurs doivent avoir la possibilit�
de choisir pour chaque communication la compagnie dont l'offre est la plus
int�ressante en termes de qualit�, de service et de co�t. A partir de 1999,
un espace europ�en de num�rotation permettra d'ouvrir des services tels que
les num�ros verts et les services � tarif major� � l'�chelle europ�enne. A
partir du 1er janvier 2000, les utilisateurs doivent pouvoir garder leur
num�ro de t�l�phone lorsqu'ils changent d'op�rateur et avoir la possibilit�
de s�lectionner une compagnie par d�faut, afin d'�viter de composer
l'indicatif de la compagnie � chaque appel.
[03] Commission does not approve most of the state aid proposed by the
Austrian Authorities in favour of Hoffmann-La Roche for the production of
Orlistat, a new anti-obesity drug
The European Commission decided not to approve most of the state aid
proposed by the Austrian Authorities in favour of Hoffmann-La Roche
(hereafter, HLR) in the construction and operation of a plant located in
Linz for the production of an intermediate substance for Orlistat, a new
anti-obesity drug. Concerning the �S 300 million (ECU 22 million) aid for
R&D proposed by the Austrian authorities, the Commission found that the aid
does not conform with the state aid guidelines for Research and Development,
namely the necessity for the aid, the incentive effect and the
precompetitive nature of the work proposed. In particular, the project
began in 1986 because of future market opportunities and without the view
of receiving State aid. Indeed, the Orlistat project is a typical drug
development in the pharmaceutical industry.
[II] Other news - Autres nouvelles
[04] Jacques Santer nomme les membres du deuxi�me Groupe Consultatif sur la
Comp�titivit�
Le Pr�sident de la Commission europ�enne, Jacques Santer, a annonc�
aujourd'hui la composition du second Groupe Consultatif de la Commission
sur la Comp�titivit�. Ce groupe, qui aura un mandat de deux ans, sera
pr�sid� par Jean-Claude Paye, l'ancien Secr�taire G�n�ral de l'OCDE. Le
premier groupe consultatif sur la comp�titivit�, pr�sid� successivement par
Carlo Ciampi et Percy Barnevik, a produit quatre rapports en 1995/96 qui se
sont concentr�s sur l'am�lioration de la comp�titivit� en g�n�ral, sur la
r�forme du secteur public, sur la cr�ation d'emplois et sur la place de
l'Europe dans l'�conomie mondiale. Les rapports du groupe continueront �
�tre soumis � la Commission et aux Conseils europ�ens.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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