Learn about the latest policy developments with this monthly alert from our team in Brussels. For real-time updates, follow us on Twitter: @MSL_Brussels

1. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
INSIGHTS BRUSSELS.
April 2014.

2. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
SECTORAL POLICIES.................................................................................................4
Agriculture And Fisheries .................................................................................................................4
The European Commission sets its guidelines for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy................... 4
Defence and Security Policy...............................................................................................................4
Defence ministers discuss the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis............................................................................ 4
Energy and Environment...................................................................................................................5
The European Commission presents new State Aid rules for the energy sector................................................................. 5
Obama calls on EU to reduce Energy dependency on Russia...................................................................................... 6
The European Parliament endorses nuclear safety rules.............................................................................................. 6
Financial Services..............................................................................................................................7
The European Parliament adopts payment services package....................................................................................... 7
Agreement reached to improve information on investment products............................................................................. 7
The European Parliament adopts new rules on non-financial corporate reporting ........................................................ 8
Food and Beverage .............................................................................................................................8
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals ......................................................................................................9
The European Commission launches a public consultation on mhealth........................................................................ 9
The European Commission approves a Joint Procurement Agreement for vaccines and medicines............................ 9
Information and Communication Technology................................................................................ 10
The European Parliament voted on ‘connected continent package’............................................................................ 10
EU definitively adopts the directive for a common mobile charger .............................................................................. 11
The European Commission launched a network for “MOOC” ..................................................................................... 11
Transport...........................................................................................................................................11
The European Parliament regulates noise-related operating restrictions at EU airports ............................................. 11
The European Commission intends to regulate the use of civil drones ....................................................................... 12
The European Commission wants to improve road haulage ....................................................................................... 13

3. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
CROSS-SECTORAL POLICIES.................................................................................. 14
Competition ...................................................................................................................................... 14
MEPs and consumers association unsatisfied with Google’s proposition ................................................................... 14
Consumers ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Consumers summit on digital age and data protection................................................................................................ 15
The EU Court of Justice rules against additional costs in payment instruments......................................................................... 15
Intellectual Property Rights ............................................................................................................ 16
European Commission’s White Paper on copyright still expected in June .................................................................. 16
International Trade.......................................................................................................................... 16
Obama’s visit to Brussels relaunches enthusiasm on TTIP......................................................................................... 16
Chinese President also push for a EU-China Free Trade Agreement...................................................................................... 17
Research and Development.............................................................................................................. 17
The European Parliament debates on research on embryonic stem cells................................................................... 17
Taxation ........................................................................................................................................... 18
The European Council formally adopts savings taxation directive............................................................................... 18
The European Commission launches two public consultations on tax issues ............................................................. 18

4. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
SECTORAL POLICIES
The European Commission sets its guidelines for the implementation of the
Common Agricultural Policy
On 2 April, the European Commission
published a “Special declaration” on the way it
intends to implement the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) reform. Contrary to what has been
adopted last December, the declaration
essentially dilutes the measures which were
originally meant to oblige all farmers to set
aside 5% of their land for an “ecological focus
areas” (EFAs). In the coming months the
Commission will issue further interpretative
notes that will make the EFA requirements
easier to meet. The aim of this measure was to
stimulate biodiversity but many stakeholders
opposed the rule because it would reduce
farmer’s productive capacity.
On 14 April, by the 28 European Ministers of
Agriculture the guidelines were backed.
Farmer’s representatives and several MEPs
welcomed the changes while environmental
associations and the Greens strongly criticized
the Commission for this choice.
Defence and
Security Policy
Defence ministers discuss the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis
On 15 April, the 28 European Defence Ministers
and the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, met in Luxembourg to discuss the
recent developments related to the Russian
involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. According to
European Defence Ministers, the crisis could lead
to reinforce European defence policies and to
boost the four main research programmes of the
European Defence Agency: refuelling aircraft,
drones, secure communication satellites and
cybersecurity.
The need for more effective European defence
policies has also been stressed by the United
States President Barack Obama during his visit in
Brussels on 26 March. Obama expressed
concerns about the declining “trend lines” in
Agriculture
And Fisheries

5. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
European defence spendings and reminded his
European partners that “freedom is not for free”.
Although political attention toward this issue is
high, progresses in cooperation are slow and the
overall strategy remains still vague. Observers
remark that there are no recent updates on the
operational roadmap for maritime security that the
European Council is expected to adopt next June.

June 2014: Adoption of an EU maritime Security
Strategy by the Council
Energy and
Environment
The European Commission presents new State Aid rules for the energy sector
On 9 April, the European Commission adopted its
new guidelines on State Aid for energy and the
environment, after several weeks of Member
States’ and stakeholders’ consultation.
The new guidelines reflect developments on the
increasingly competitive renewables market.
According to the Commission, the way
renewables are supported by public resources
has created distortions of competition within
Member States and between countries. Under the
new provisions, Member States will now have to
take into account three funding criteria to ensure
the grant of state aid to a company:
the expected impact on GHG reduction of the
project;
the ability to upgrade environmental standards;
the capacity to accelerate the use of clean
technologies in the market.
The guidelines recognize in particular two
important sectors eligible for state aid: cross-
border energy infrastructure and capacity
mechanisms meant to secure adequate
electricity generation.
The new guidelines induce also major changes
for renewable producers. From 1 January 2015,
they will have to sell their electricity directly on the
market, although they will be eligible for aid in the
form of premiums. The guidelines also introduce
gradual competitive procedures for the grant of
public aid to renewables projects with the view to
become mandatory from 2017.
Last, the new guidelines exempt until January
2018 high electricity-using industries to finance
support programmes for renewable energy. This
provision reflects intensive lobbying by Berlin and
Paris to safeguard the competitiveness of their
energy-intensive industries. The European
Parliament’s Green party, as well as
environmentalists considered this measure
disproportionate and think this will be eventually
detrimental to small consumers.

2015: electricity producers sell directly on the market
2017: deadline for mandatory competitive procedures
for the grant of public aid
2018: deadline for the partial exemptions of electricity-
using industries

6. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
Obama calls on EU to reduce Energy dependency on Russia
On 26 March in Brussels, the President of the
United States Barack Obama promised to
increase cooperation with the EU on energy
issues. The diplomatic crisis with Russia
highlighted the need for Europe to reduce its
dependency on Russian imports of energy.
Currently, the EU imports around 35% of its oil
and 32% of its gas from Russia. According to the
Visegrád Group (an alliance of four Central
European countries – Czech Republic, Hungary,
Poland and Slovakia), these figures are much
higher for Central and Eastern European
countries (on average 70% of their total gas
imports are provided by Russia).
While the talks on the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership are still ongoing, Europe
calls on the US to authorize more licenses for
export into the open market. On that point the EU
wants the US to increase its exports of Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG). Currently, US law authorizes
targeted energy exports only to countries with
which the US have free trade agreements. During
his speech in Brussels, President Obama stated
in this regard that there are ways to “accelerate
the process of diversification”.
He also underlined that Europe should not only
rely on the US but also focus on the development
of indigenous sources. Referring to shale gas,
President Obama said that “every possible
energy source has inconveniences”. The US
have become an energy exporter thanks to
hydraulic fracturing technique over the past ten
years. Questioned on this issue by a German
journalist, EU Energy Commissioner Günther
Oettinger stated: “We have to consider the option
of fracking in order to replace Russian gas”.
The European Commission intends to present in
June a roadmap on European energy
Independence. Energy issues will also be at the
heart of the next round of TTIP negotiations that
will take place in June in Washington.

June: EU Roadmap on energy dependency
June: 5th round of TTIP negotiations
The European Parliament endorses nuclear safety rules
On 2 April, the European Parliament supported
the framework adopted by the European
Commission reviewing the directive on nuclear
safety. The Parliament, which has no co-decision
powers on nuclear issues by virtue of the Euratom
Treaty broadly lent its support through the
adoption of a Parliamentary resolution (438 votes
in favour, 154 against and 37 abstentions). The
new directive will make it mandatory for Member
States to undertake peer reviews of the safety of
their plants every six years.
Green MEPs and environmentalists criticized the
results of the vote, claiming that the adopted text
is “scarcely binding” and “will not give the
necessary competence to nuclear safety
authorities to stop operators from taking
unnecessary risks”.

End 2015: deadline for the transposition of the directive
into national law

7. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
Financial
Services
The European Parliament adopts payment services package
On 3 April, the European Parliament adopted the
regulation on multilateral interchange fees (MIFs)
and the revised payments directive (PSD2).
On the MIFs regulation, substantial modifications
in the text were introduced during the vote in the
Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee
(ECON). MEP’s decided to include commercial
cards in the scope of the regulation while the so
called principle of “honour all cards” rule was
removed. This rule required merchants handling
one of a major card’s to accept all of the same
network’s cards. The new regulation aims to
introduce caps to fees that can be applied to debit
or credit cards. Fees cannot exceed 0,3% of the
amount of the transaction for credit cards while
debit card will have a ceiling of 0,2% or a
maximum of 0,07 Euros. Even though there is no
evidence that the cap would directly reduce costs
for consumers the European Consumers
Organization welcomed the vote.
The PSD2 directive remained similar to the
Commission’s proposal. The directive introduces
provisions prohibiting most card surcharges
(additional fee charged when purchasing),
decreasing consumers’ liability in fraud and
strengthening security.
Despite this vote, it is unlikely that an agreement
will be reached with the Council before the
upcoming elections.

Autumn 2014: start of negotiations with the Council
2015: possible final adoption of the directive
Agreement reached to improve information on investment products
On 15 April, the European Parliament confirmed
the agreement reached with the Council and the
Commission on a set of rules to enhance
consumer’s awareness when purchasing
packaged retail investment products (PRIPs).
The new regulation make it compulsory to
enclose a “Key Information Document” (KID) for
retail investment products. The aim of this
regulation is to provide small investors tools to
assess risks and costs related to an investment
product. Furthermore, on Parliament’s request,
new provisions have been included in the
package to oblige retailers to warn consumers
when buying a complex product. However, the
application of this measure will depend on
national supervision so that its implementation
may be not harmonised at EU level. MEPs did not
succeed in including pension products and
corporate bonds in the deal.
Consumer organizations welcomed the deal
stating that this would increase transparency in
transactions. The Council has now to formally
adopt the text.

8. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
A recent study published by the Commission
estimates that PRIPs market generated around
10 trillion Euros in 2012.

May-June: Formal Endorsement by the Council
The European Parliament adopts new rules on non-financial corporate
reporting
On 15 April, the European Parliament sitting in
plenary session approved by a large majority a
directive on disclosure of non-financial
information. Companies considered of “public
interest” and having more than 500 employees
will have to publish information concerning their
social and environmental policies, as well as the
respect of human rights, anti-corruption and
bribery issues on their board of directors.
According to the Commission the new rules will
apply for around 6000 companies in Europe.

May-June: Formal endorsement by the Council
Fall 2014: Publication in the official journal of the EU
Food and
Beverage
Agreement reached on new rules for the promotion of agri-food products
On 15 April, the European Parliament confirmed
the political agreement reached with the Council
and the Commission on a new programme for the
promotion of agri-food products within the internal
market and in third countries.
Under the provisions adopted, the Commission
will provide €883 million between 2014 and 2020
to co-finance promotion and information
campaigns on European agri-food products. The
EU aid can reach between 70% and 80% of the
cost of selected campaigns depending on
whether applicants are from a single European
country or from several Member States. The
Commission believes that each euro spent in this
programme would generate €35 in return.
All agricultural products and processed products
are eligible including beers, chocolate, bread,
pastry, pasta, salt or corn. The case of wines was
originally excluded from the Commission’s
proposal but MEPs supported its inclusion with a
protected designation of origin (PDO) or
protected geographical indication (PGI) for wines.
The Council has now to formally adopt the text.

May-June: Formal Endorsement by the Council
1st
December 2015: The program starts to apply

9. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
Healthcare and
Pharmaceuticals
The European Commission launches a public consultation on mhealth
On 10 April, the European Commission launched
a public consultation on existing barriers and
issues related to the use of mobile devices (such
as smartphones and tablets) in the context of
health prevention and care. Mhealth applications
already help patients in a large number of daily
situations such as measuring vital signals,
providing fitness and dietary recommendations or
reminding to take a given medication.
With a view to raise stakeholders’ awareness on
EU rules on data protection, medical devices and
consumer legislation, the Commission has also
released a preliminary review of the EU
legislation applicable to lifestyle and wellbeing
apps. The aim of the public consultation is to
collect informations in order to address issues
such as:
The safety of mHealth apps and concerns
over the use of data;
The lack of interoperability among available
solutions;
The lack of knowledge of the legal
requirements applicable to wellbeing apps
and the conditions under which they should
comply with data protection rules;
The “nature” of these apps in the healthcare
legal framework and the extent to which it
should be considered as medical devices
requiring the “CE” marking
The EU is also funding research on mHealth; and
according to the Commissioner for the Digital
Agenda Neelie Kroes €95 Million will be invested
to finance projects during the next two years.
The public consultation will run until 3 July.

3 July: deadline for the public consultation
Fall 2014: Publication of the responses
2015: Follow-up on Commission’s proposal
The European Commission approves a Joint Procurement Agreement for
vaccines and medicines
On 10 April, the European Commission approved
a joint procurement agreement that will allow
Member States to purchase jointly pandemic
vaccines and other medical countermeasures. All
Member States except Germany already
declared their intention to sign the agreement.
The new mechanism is voluntary and does not
imply any financial commitment. Through the
Joint Procurement Agreement, any EU country
can make a proposal to others to procure
medicines together.

10. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
This decision reflects the lessons learned from
the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 (popularly
known as ‘swine flu’). At the time, many Member
States had to buy large quantities of vaccines at
non-competitive prices in order to face a
pandemic warning issued by the World Health
Organization (WHO).
The agreement will enter into force two weeks
after being signed by a third of the participating
Member States and the Commission.

2014: Ratification by Member States
The European Parliament voted on ‘connected continent package’
On 3 April, the European Parliament set down its
position in plenary session on a single telecoms
market (the so-called “connected continent
package”) ahead of the opening of negotiations with
the Council of European Ministers.
On the flagship measure of roaming fees, Members
of the European Parliament voted in favour of
scraping roaming charges for mobile phones from
15 December 2015. This obligation would apply for
voice, text and data services. MEPs included
nevertheless an exemption: if consumers use
roaming services to excess, capped charges could
exceptionally be imposed.
On the sensitive issue of net neutrality, the
European Parliament supported amendments to
the initial proposal from the European Commission
to include the principle of net neutrality in the new
rules and to shorten the list of exemptions for
slowing down Internet access and services (limited
to the cases of court order enforcement, network
security or prevention of temporary network
congestion). Under the new provisions, internet
access providers would be banned from slowing
down or blocking particular services.
Supporters of the net neutrality, spearheaded by La
Quadrature du Net, Green and Socialists groups in
the European Parliament, as well as the European
Commissioner for digital agenda, Neelie Kroes,
warmly welcomed the outcomes of the vote. The
package was approved with a large majority (534
MEPs in favour, 25 against and 58 abstaining) on
first reading before and will be eventually adopted
by the next Parliament. The Council of Ministers will
adopt its position in the coming months prior to a
final agreement, expected between now and the
end of 2015.

Mid-2014: Council position on connected continent package
By End 2015: final adoption of the package expected
Information and
Communication Technology

11. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
EU definitively adopts the directive for a common mobile charger
On 14 April, the Council of European Ministers
adopted the directive on harmonisation of rules
for placing on the internal market equipment that
use radio spectrum. The directive seeks to
prevent harmful interference from a whole set of
devices (mobiles phones, modems, digital keys
for cars). This directive also includes the famous
measures requiring mobile phone manufacturers
to produce and use a common charger
throughout the Union by 2017.
The European Parliament already endorsed an
agreement on 13 March. Member states will have
now two years to transpose the rules into their
national laws and manufacturers will have an
additional year to comply.

2016: deadline for the transposition into national law
2017: deadline for manufacturers to comply
The European Commission launched a network for “MOOC”
On 27 March, the European Commission
launched a network of providers of MOOCs
(Massive Open Online Courses) related to web
and apps skills. MOOCs are quality university
courses online available to all. The new network
aims to map the demand for web-related skills
across Europe and to promote the use of MOOCs
for capacity-building in those fields.
According to the European Commission, Web-
related industry is generating more economic
growth than any other part of the European
economy, but hundreds of thousands of jobs
remain unfilled due to the lack of qualified staff.

April: opening of the network for MOOC providers
Mid-2014: opening of the network for participants
Transport
The European Parliament regulates noise-related operating restrictions at
EU airports
On 16 April, the European Parliament definitively
approved the agreement reached with the
Council of Ministers to grant a prominent role to
regional and national authorities in defining
restrictions for noise-related operations at EU
airports, whilst ensuring that people living nearby
should be better informed. The regulation also
addresses noise-related health problems.
Meanwhile EU members will continue to have the
final say in this field despite the major impact of
the upcoming European legislation.
This agreement concluded the legislative process
initiated by the European Commission in
December 2011 which originally aimed at
establishing new rules governing decision-

12. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
making process on aircraft noise bringing EU law
into line with international principles. These
legislative changes are likely to increase the
importance of grassroots lobbying strategies
implemented by the Aircraft industry, NGOs and
other interested parties.

May: publication in the EU official journal
2016: entry into force of the regulation
The European Commission intends to regulate the use of civil drones
On 8 April, the European Commission presented
a set of new standards to regulate the operations
of civil drones. The civil drone market is expected
to grow significantly with an estimated share of
10% of the aviation market in 2024 representing
€15 billion per year. National rules, however,
differ considerably from one Member State to
another and industry representatives are calling
for more legal certainty. In its communication, the
European Commission seeks to address in
particular the issues raised on safety, security,
privacy, data protection, insurance and liability:
On safety issues, the European Commission
called the European Aviation Safety Agency
(EASA) to examine the standards in order to
ensure that the use of drones guarantee an
equivalent level of safety to 'manned' aviation
operations;
On privacy issues, the European Commission
want data protection authorities to monitor the
subsequent collection and processing of
personal data. The Commission will assess
how to ensure data protection rules apply fully
to remotely piloted aircraft and propose
changes or specific guidance where it is
needed;
On security issues, the European Commission
wants that EASA proposes specific legal
obligations for all players concerned so that the
risk of drones being used for terrorist ends is
reduced;
On liability and insurance, the current third-
party insurance regime has been established
mostly in terms of manned aircraft, where mass
(starting from 500kg) determines the minimum
amount of insurance. The Commission will
assess the need to amend the current rules to
take into account the specificities of remotely
piloted aircraft.
With a view to address more formally these
issues, the European Commission will open in the
coming months a public consultation and
undertake an impact assessment analysis, in an
effort to formulate legislative proposals. All this
work aims to meet the stated objective of the
European Council of December 2013 to ensure
the progressive integration of drones into
airspace as from 2016.

May: EASA examines safety and security issues
Mid-2014: public consultation and impact assessment
2016: deadline for drones’ integration into airspace

13. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
The European Commission wants to improve road haulage
On 14 April, the European Commission published
a report calling for simplification and clarification
of EU rules on road haulage. The report in
particular calls for the Member States to step up
their efforts in enforcing existing legislation more
effectively and consistently; support the need to
better apply social rules in road transport if the
sector is to attract new drivers, and be able to
handle the expected future demand for freight
transport; and stress the opportunity given to the
EU to improve the efficiency of its economy and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
The report concludes that while some progress
has been made, removing the remaining
restrictions would help the European economy
and improve the environment.
No legislative proposal is yet on the agenda to
open up this market further but the current
European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas
will provide his successor with a set of options to
improve the functioning of the market.

14. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
CROSS-SECTORAL POLICIES
Competition
MEPs and consumers association unsatisfied with Google’s proposition
On 31 March, the European Consumers’ Bureau
(BEUC) presented an official complaint to the
European Commission stating that the
commitments offered by Google last February are
insufficient to solve its abuse of dominant
position.
The dispute started in 2007 when Google was
accused to manipulate its search algorithm to the
detriment of potential competitors. Last February,
the American internet giant made an offer. If
Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia
was willing to accept the deal, complainants
companies worried that concessions made by
Google would not address the matters and could
quickly become obsolete considering the
evolution of the sector. Complainants request to
make Google’s algorithm more transparent or to
regulate search-engines.
Concerns were also raised by members of the
Committee for Economic and Financial Affairs
(ECON) of the European Parliament during a
hearing with Commissioner Almunia.
According to observers, at least nine
Commissioners are hostiles to the signature of
the agreement including Commissioner for
Internal Market Michel Barnier and Commissioner
for energy Gunther Oettinger. On the other hand
Commissioner Almunia would like to leave office
with the issue being solved. The matter is
extremely intricate, especially because if the
Commission accepts the commitments, those
would be binding for five years. In this case
Google would be immune from European anti-
trust law for a long period of time. A majority vote
in the College of commissioners is required for the
commitments to be accepted.

May-June: Commission’s expected final decision

15. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
Consumers
Consumers summit on digital age and data protection
On 1-2 April in Brussels, took place the European
Consumer Summit 2014, the event focused on
the topic of the digital economy. Even if the
completion of the digital single market will not
become effective in the near future, the summit
aimed to debate on how consumers can fully
benefit from this market. According to the
Commission, once completed, the digital single
market could benefit each European consumer
€400 per year. Representatives from National
governments and authorities, MEPs, but also
consumers and business organizations attended
the event hosted by Commissioners for
Consumers Policy (Neven Mimica) and the digital
agenda (Neelie Kroes). The summit focused on
the following issues:
How best consumers can benefit and contribute
to the digital economy;
How effective protection of online consumers
rights can be assured;
What skills modern consumers need (including
the most vulnerable ones) to interact with the
growing complexity of the digital landscape;
How to promote a more consumer-oriented
digital environment that could build up
consumers trust.

March/April 2015: European consumers summit 2015
TheEUCourtofJusticerulesagainstadditionalcostsinpaymentinstruments
On 9 April, the European Court of Justice ruled
against an Austrian mobile service provider for an
infringement of the directive on payments. The
telecommunication company was opposing a
decision from the Austrian court to ban the €3 fee
that the service provider used to charge to users
who decided to pay their bills through online
banking or paper transfer.
The court concluded that the directive gives
Member States the right to limit or prohibit the
right of the payee to levy charges on the payer in
relation to a given payment instrument. This
power is certainly applicable in the framework of
a contract between a mobile phone service
provider and a consumer. According to the Court,
Members States may generally prohibit payees
from levying charges on the payer whatever the
payment instrument is in case the national
legislation takes into account the need to
encourage competition and the use of efficient
payment instruments.
The Austrian Supreme Court will now have to
determine whether the national legislation is
consistent with the above mentioned condition.

2014: Decision by the Austrian Supreme Court

16. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
Intellectual
Property Rights
European Commission’s White Paper on copyright still expected in June
After the closing of the public consultation on the
review of the EU copyright rules in March, many
observers expressed their concerns at a possible
delay in the presentation of the White Paper on
copyright, due to the record number of responses
(11 000). The European Commission, however,
confirmed that the timetable for early June will be
respected, and will therefore put extra staff to the
analysis of the responses.
The White Paper will lay down the political and
legislative priorities for the next few years on
copyright in the age of Internet. Options for
financial compensation for creators and private
copy charges may also be included in the White
Paper.

Early June: presentation of the White Paper on copyright
International
Trade
Obama’s visit to Brussels relaunches enthusiasm on TTIP
On 26 March, the President of the United States
Barack Obama met in Brussels the President of
the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy and
the President of the European Commission, Jose
Manuel Barroso. During the press conference,
Obama stressed the point that the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not
weaken consumers or environmental protections.
Since the beginning of the negotiations last July,
public concerns have risen among Europe, in
particular on the view that the agreement would
lower the cost of regulation imposed to business
by setting lower environmental or health
standards.
Furthermore Obama underlined his personal
engagement to conclude the deal in a short delay.
He agreed with the EU’s top officials that the core
of the deal should be achieved before the end of
the year. Both sides recognized that the TTIP is a
“strategic tool” in the current international
geopolitical framework and that a failure in the
talks could be interpreted by other countries as a
sign of weakness in the EU-US relations.
According to high level negotiators the agreement
should be wrapped up next year.

19-23 May: Fifth round of negotiations in Washington
End of June: deadline for the public consultation on
dispute settlement (ISDS)
2015: Final Agreement

17. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
ChinesePresidentalsopushforaEU-ChinaFreeTradeAgreement
On 31 March, the Chinese president Xi Jinping
met in Brussels the Presidents of the three main
European Institutions: Martin Schulz (European
Parliament), Jose Manuel Barroso (European
Commission) and Herman Van Rompuy
(European Council). The first historical visit of a
Chinese president to the European Institutions
was made possible thanks to an easing in trade
relations.
Just three days ahead of this visit the
Commissioner for trade Karel De Gucht put on
hold an anti-dumping investigation concerning
two majors Chinese telecommunication
companies, while China terminated, just one
week before, an investigation on European wines.
Less than one year ago the EU and China were
about to start a “trade war”.
The aim of both parts is to deepen the EU-China
strategic partnership that was signed in 2003 and
that currently covers foreign policy, security,
climate change and international economic
governance. According to insiders, the Chinese
delegation mentioned the question of a free trade
agreement (FTA) with the EU which is currently
the first trading partner for China. Europeans
negotiators, on their side, think that it is too early
and that there has to be progress on investment
to prepare the field for a FTA but consider that the
deal could be made in the “medium term”.
Issues such as climate, human rights and the
Ukrainian crisis have also been discussed during
the meeting.
Research and
Development
The European Parliament debates on research on embryonic stem cells
On 10 April, Members of the European
Parliament held a public debate following the
presentation of the “One of Us” initiative. The
initiative was supported by 1.7 million signatures
in over 18 EU Member States requesting the end
to European funding for both embryonic research
and the support of abortion in development aid.
For over four hours, four European Parliament
committees battled between the arguments in
favour and the arguments against, in front of
various associations following the debate. The
One of Us arguments certainly hit the mark with
the conservative fringe of the European
Parliament. But several associations and NGOs,
supported by Liberal, Socialist and Green MEPs
warned European decision-makers of the drifting
that come about from an initiative brought by ultra
conservative groups and anti-choices
movements.

18. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
The controversial issue will now pass to the next
European Parliament, before the European
Commission decides at the end of May whether
or not to take legislative action on this subject.

28 May: Commission decides on legislative follow up
Taxation
The European Council formally adopts savings taxation directive
On 24 March, the European Council formally
adopted the draft revised saving tax directive. This
dossier had been vetoed since 2008 by Austria and
Luxembourg. The aim of the new directive is to fill
gaps in saving taxation in order to tackle tax
evasion. The new directive will expand the field of
application of the Automatic Exchange of
Information (AEI) to many types of financial
products like life-insurance, pensions or investment
funds. Currently, the AEI is applied only to interest
payments on savings to non-residents and involves
26 Member States.
During a transition period, Austria and Luxembourg
will be allowed to levy a 35% tax at source rather
than joining the AEI. Furthermore Luxembourg
announced that it will end banking secret starting
from 1January 2015.
According to observers, Austria and Luxembourg
lifted their veto because the Commission seems
close to conclude a similar agreement with five
European countries considered as “tax havens”
(Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino
and Monaco). The EU Commissioner for Taxation
Algirdas Semeta expects a deal to be reached with
these five countries by the end of the year.
OECD Members States are expected to introduce
new AEI standard next May while revised directive
need to be transposed into national legislation by
January 2016 and come into force in 2017.

15 April: Publication in the official journal
May: OECD introduces new AEI Standards
1 January: end of banking secret in Luxembourg
January 2016: deadline for transposition of the
directive into national legislation
2017: Entry into force of the regulation
The European Commission launches two public consultations on tax issues
On 10 April, the European Commission launched
two public consultations to collect informations on
taxation issues that European citizens may face
across Europe. The Commission’s final aim is to
eliminate expenses or administrative burdens that
European citizens living or investing in another EU
country have to face.
The first public consultation covers general tax
problems EU citizens may face while living abroad.

19. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014
The second one focusses on border inheritance
rights.
Furthermore the Commission decided to set up an
expert group which will be in charge of examining
good practices within Member States in order to
avoid cases of double taxation. The expert group
task will also include the identification of other taxes
that may have a dissuasive effect on mobility within
the Union like vehicles taxation or e-commerce for
instance.

3 July: deadline for the public consultation

20. INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
April 2014