The European Commission has imposed a penalty payment of € 899 million on Microsoft for non-compliance with its obligations under the European Commission's March 2004 Decision prior to 22 October 2007. Today's Decision, adopted under Article 24(2) of EU-Regulation 1/2003, finds that, prior to 22 October 2007, Microsoft had charged unreasonable prices for access to interface documentation for work group servers. The 2004 Decision, which was upheld by the European Court of First Instance in September 2007, found that Microsoft had abused its dominant position under Article 82 of the EC Treaty, and required Microsoft to disclose interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers at a reasonable price.
[European Commission Press Release]

Today, the European Commission proposed a new Safer Internet program to enhance the safety of children in the online environment. Encompassing recent communications services from the Web 2.0, such as social networking, the new program will fight not only illegal content but also harmful behaviour such as bullying and grooming. With a budget of €55 million, the program, which builds further on the successful Safer Internet program started in 2005, will run from 2009 to 2013.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has closed its investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into the financing regime for VRT, the public service broadcaster in the Flemish community of Belgium in light of formal commitments by the Belgian authorities to amend the current regime. The modifications will clarify inter alia the definition and entrustment of the public service remit and introduce mechanisms to ensure the proportionality of the public funding. The European Commission has concluded that these commitments would be suitable to ensure compliance with EU state aid rules. Belgium now has twelve months to implement the commitments.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has decided to close its investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into the financing regime of the Irish public service broadcasters RTÉ and TG4 following commitments from Ireland to amend the current regime. The main modifications concern the clarification of the public service remit, the entrustment of new activities, the transparency of accounts, supervision and control. The European Commission concluded that the commitments were suitable to bring the regime in line with the state aid rules and ensure the necessary transparency and proportionality of funding. Ireland has now until December 2008 to implement these commitments in national law.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the Dutch-based company Packard Bell by Taiwan-based personal computers manufacturer Acer. 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 is launching today a major Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) called ARTEMIS. With an unprecedented investment of € 2.5 billion, this initiative, that has been endorsed by the EU Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament at the end of 2007, addresses embedded computer systems that – while running almost unnoticed by users – improve the performance of all kinds of machines: from cars, planes and phones, to factories, washing machines and televisions. The Governing Boards of ARTEMIS – where public and private stakeholders take decisions jointly – met for the first time in Brussels today.
[European Commission Press Release]

European Commission Decision 2008/136/EC of 22 June 2006 on the ad hoc financing of Dutch public service broadcasters C 2/2004 (ex NN 170/2003)
[[2008] OJ L 49/1]

The European Commission takes note of today's announcement by Microsoft of its intention to commit to a number of principles in order to promote interoperability with some of its high market share software products. This announcement does not relate to the question of whether or not Microsoft has been complying with EU antitrust rules in this area in the past. The European Commission would welcome any move towards genuine interoperability. Nonetheless, the European Commission notes that today's announcement follows at least four similar statements by Microsoft in the past on the importance of interoperability. In January 2008, the European Commission initiated two formal antitrust investigations against Microsoft – one relating to interoperability, one relating to tying of separate software products. In the course of its ongoing interoperability investigation, the European Commission will therefore verify whether Microsoft is complying with EU antitrust rules, whether the principles announced today would end any infringement were they implemented in practice, and whether or not the principles announced today are in fact implemented in practice. Today's announcement by Microsoft does not address the tying allegations.
[European Commission Press Release]

The European Commission has approved today the proposal of the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom to de-regulate the wholesale broadband market in some parts of the UK, covering around 65% of all UK homes and businesses. This is the first time that a national telecoms regulator in the EU has identified different broadband markets in different geographic areas within a country and proposed lifting regulation in those geographic areas now characterised by effective competition. The European Commission supports Ofcom's proposal, which is based on detailed economic evidence, to deregulate local exchanges with four or more actual or potential providers serving areas with more than 10,000 homes and businesses. For the European Commission, Ofcom's proposal represents a reasonable move towards better targeted regulation, concentrating on those geographic areas where structural competition problems persist.
[European Commission Press Release]

Following complaints from two major players in the European film sector, the European Commission is launching an in-depth investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into the funding of the Ciudad de la Luz film studio complex near Alicante in Spain. The investigation should enable the European Commission to determine whether the funding by the Valencia Regional Government constitutes illegal state aid which distorts competition between European film studios. The European Commission would welcome comments from interested parties and, in particular, from competing film studios. The opening of an in-depth investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
[European Commission Press Release]

Today, 100 organisations in over 50 countries worldwide celebrate Safer Internet Day. In Brussels a first ever pan-European Youth Forum on Safer Internet is organised by the European Commission with the participation of Meglena Kuneva, the EU's Consumer Commissioner. The purpose is to increase dialogue between children and decision makers on safer Internet issues and to raise awareness of the best ways for protecting minors online. Safer Internet Day is organised under the patronage of the EU's Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.
[European Commission Press Release]

Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media: Mobile goes Internet - Key Challenges for Mobile Ubiquity in Europe's Single Market, GSMA Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 11 February 2008
[Speech]

The European Commission is launching an open consultation and is asking all interested parties to submit information on services that use conditional-access systems, such as pay-TV or video on demand. This consultation follows an impact assessment study of the European Directive on conditional-access services. The European Commission will use the information gathered during the study and the consultation process to draw up its second report on the implementation of the Directive. The consultation will remain open until 4 April 2008.
[European Commission Press Release]

Council Regulation (EC) No 74/2008 of 20 December 2007 on the establishment of the 'ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking' to implement a Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems
[[2008] OJ L 30/52]

The European Commission has decided to close its infringement procedure against Greece for failure to fully comply with the European Court of Justice's ruling of 14 April 2005. The ruling had confirmed that Greece had failed to implement the Electronic Communications Competition Directive with regard to broadcasting transmission services. In 2007, the European Commission had therefore decided to refer Greece again to the Court for continuing the infringement after the Court's April 2005 ruling. In September 2007, Greece formally notified its new "Law on Media Concentration" to the European Commission. This new law liberalises broadcasting services.
[European Commission Press Release]