The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Spanish and Italian subsidiaries of the Swedish telecommunications group Tele2 AB by the UK-based telecommunications group Vodafone. The European Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Franco-US company Business Objects, an independent provider of business analytics software, by SAP AG of Germany. The European Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
[European Commission Press Release]

A high level group on digital libraries met European Commission officials in Brussels to discuss progress towards launching the European digital library. A European digital library foundation has recently been created. This formalises the agreement of European archives, museums, audiovisual archives and libraries to work together and to provide a common access point to Europe's cultural heritage online.
[European Commission Press Release]

The independence of national telecoms regulators is a key element for ensuring the effective implementation of the EU Telecoms Rules. Under EU law certain minimum rules exist covering the independence of the national telecoms regulators. As the European Commission has identified serious violations of the EU legal provisions in this respect in Bulgaria, it launched infringement proceedings against Bulgaria.
[European Commission Press Release]

Despite technological progress and enhanced competition, more than one in three Europeans are still excluded from fully benefiting from the digital society. Benefits of €35-85 billion over five years could be generated if society would be made more inclusive, websites more accessible and broadband Internet made available to all EU citizens. The European Commission presented its e-Inclusion initiative to the EU Council, calling on the EU Member States to support a number of key actions, including an awareness campaign for 2008 "e-Inclusion, be part of it!" e-Accessibility legislation, similar to that of the USA, is also under consideration.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Parliament formally has approved without amendments the EU Council's common position on the new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive. The Directive modernises the rules for Europe's audiovisual industry and offers a comprehensive legal framework that covers all audiovisual media services – including on-demand services. Less detailed, more flexible and future-oriented rules on TV advertising will allow audiovisual content to be better financed. The EU Member States now have two years to make the Directive national law.
[European Commission Press Release]

The rapid deployment of mobile TV services across Europe has taken a significant step forward as EU Member States endorsed the European Commission three pillar strategy presented in July: putting in place a joint approach to the licensing of mobile TV in order to accelerate the rollout of services and to encourage innovative business models; making available spectrum for these services, possibly in the UHF frequency band; and promoting the use of DVB-H as the mobile TV standard for Europe. Next steps will now include the preparation of guidelines for authorisation procedures and the addition of DVB-H to the official list of standards whose use all 27 EU Member States have to support and encourage. This proactive European strategy for mobile TV aims at giving European consumers the benefits of television everywhere and anytime, as is increasingly the case in Asia and the US. It also gives content creators, broadcasters, service providers and hardware manufacturers the certainty they need to roll-out mobile TV services across Europe in 2008.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed creation of a joint venture between German companies Infineon AG and Siemens AG for bipolar high power semiconductors, with production in Warstein (Germany) and Cegléd (Hungary). The European Commission concluded that the operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
[European Commission Press Release]

mobGAS©® is a new mobile phone application available in 21 European languages that allows users to see how their daily choices impact on climate change. This smart technology, developed by scientists working at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, allows users to see the implications of the choices they make every day, in terms of the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Information about everyday activities – cooking, transport, lighting, electronic appliances etc. - is put into the application, and calculations made of individual emissions. A user diary of daily, weekly and yearly emissions can be registered on a secure website, allowing a comparison with national and world averages. The application also includes an animation reflecting the user's contribution to the Kyoto Protocol target.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of ASAP Software Express, Inc. (US), ASAP Software SAS (France), 26ème Avenue SAS (France) and SCI Siman (France) (together "ASAP"), active in the EEA as resellers of packaged software, by the US-based Dell Inc. The four companies are currently indirectly controlled by Dutch Corporate Express N.V. The European Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission adopted proposals for a reform of the EU telecoms rules. With the reform, the European Commission wants to enable citizens, wherever they live and wherever they travel in the EU, to benefit from better and cheaper communication services, whether they use mobile phones, fast broadband internet connections or cable TV. To achieve this, the European Commission proposes strengthening consumer rights; giving consumers more choice by reinforcing competition between telecoms operators; promoting investment into new communication infrastructures, in particular by freeing radio spectrum for wireless broadband services; and making communication networks more reliable and more secure, especially in case of viruses and other cyber-attacks. A new European Telecom Market Authority will support the European Commission and national telecoms regulators in ensuring that market rules and consumer regulation are applied consistently, independently and without protectionism in all 27 EU Member States. To become law, the European Commission proposals will now need to be approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers.
[European Commission Press Release]

As part of its package of telecom reform proposals, the European Commission has adopted a new Recommendation on the markets where telecom-specific regulation should take place. The original 2003 version of this Recommendation listed 18 retail and wholesale markets where the European Commission considers that specific ex ante regulation is required by national telecoms regulators to deal with competition problems. To reflect the progress made in the past years in most EU Member States in terms of competition and consumer choice, the European Commission concluded that in principle there is no need for regulators to intervene in half of these markets. At the same time, this move will allow regulation to better focus on the main bottlenecks in the telecoms sector.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has decided to open an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger Regulation into the proposed acquisition by US company Google of the online advertising technology company DoubleClick, also of the US. The Commission's initial market investigation indicated that the proposed merger would raise competition concerns in the markets for intermediation and ad serving in online advertising. The Commission has 90 working days (until 2 April 2008) to take a final decision on whether the proposed transaction would significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it. The decision to open an in-depth inquiry does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission organised an EU expert meeting on the fight against cyber crime in Brussels on 15-16 November 2007.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has imposed a total of € 74 790 000 fines on Sony, Fuji and Maxell for fixing prices for professional videotapes sold to customers in Europe, in violation of the EC Treaty's ban on cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 81). Between 1999 and 2002, Sony, Fuji and Maxell managed to raise or otherwise control prices through a series of regular meetings and other illicit contacts. Sony's fine has been increased by 30% for obstructing the European Commission's investigation during on-site inspections at its premises. Fuji's and Maxell's fines are reduced by 40% and 20% respectively because they co-operated with the investigation under the European Commission's 2002 Leniency Notice. There was no immunity applicant in this case. For the calculation of the fines, the European Commission applied for the first time its new 2006 Guidelines
[European Commission Press Release]

Technology developments can enhance the protection of privacy and at the same time allow law enforcement authorities for a secure and timely access to information, including personal data. The Conference on Public Security, Privacy and Technology, organised by the European Commission brings together public and private sectors representatives to discuss this topics.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Motorola ECC, the embedded computing division of US telecommunications company Motorola Inc. by Emerson Electric Co., also of the US. After examining the operation, the European Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.
[European Commission Press Release]