Recently added articles from Tech Europe:

COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL : BUDAPEST ENJOYS STRONGEST SUPPORT IN RACE FOR EIT SEAT.(European Institute of Innovation and Technology )(Brief article)

Jun 04, 2008 ... On the eve of the EU economy ministers' dinner that could decide where the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) will be located, the Hungarian capital, Budapest, was emerging as a favourite from the field of five contestants. However, the heated race ...

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY : MICROSOFT APPEALS LATEST ANTI-TRUST FINE.

Jun 04, 2008 ... Microsoft has lodged an appeal before the EU Court of First Instance against the new record fine of 899 million imposed by the European Commission, on 27 February, for abuse of dominant position. The US software giant is seeking "clarity" from the Luxembourg court, it states in a laconic ...

INTERNET : ACTION PLAN TO PROMOTE SPREAD OF NEW PROTOCOL.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission launched, on 23 May, an action plan aiming to favour, over the next three years, the generalised adoption in Europe of the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) - and, by doing so, confront the future shortage of IP addresses provided by the current protocol, IPv4. ...

AID FOR FINNISH PRESS OKAYED.(Brief article)

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission authorised, on 20 May, under the EC Treaty's rules on state aid, a 500,000 per year scheme to support newspapers written in Swedish and in minority languages in Finland. The scheme has been in place since 1971 and has remained unchanged since then. The Finnish ...

AIR TRANSPORT : CAUTION ADVISED WHEN BUYING AIR TICKETS ONLINE.

Jun 04, 2008 ... There are "serious and persistent" problems with online sales of airline tickets. This observation, initially made after a wide investigation carried out in September 2007, is still valid today, notes a mid-term report published by the European Commission, on 8 May. The report ...

EUROPEAN PATENT FORUM : CHANCES FOR COMMUNITY PATENT LOOKING UP, EXPERTS SAY.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The chance that the European Union could finally come to agreement on the establishment of a unified patent system is rising. After the Portuguese EU Presidency pulled the contentious dossier out of deep freeze last year and Slovenia made headway with much vigour in the last months, ...

AUDIOVISUAL POLICY : CINEMA: STATE AID REGIME TO STAY TILL LATE 2012.

Jun 04, 2008 ... EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding intend to propose to their colleagues to extend the current state aid scheme for cinema until late 2012,confirmed a spokesperson, on 19 May. "This will allow us both to study more ...

REDUCED VAT RATES : COMMERCIAL TV STATIONS DEFEND EXISTING REGIME.

Jun 04, 2008 ... Europe's commercial television stations have urged the European Commission to maintain the reduced VAT rates currently applied to broadcasting services in certain EU countries, arguing that failure to do so will penalise consumers. The commercial broadcasters in the member ...

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION : COMMISSION APPROVES BUDGET FOR EIT KICK-OFF.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The new European Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT) will start operating this year with the help of 2.9 million from the Community budget. This financing decision was adopted by the European Commission, on 23 May, in a written procedure, on the basis of a proposal submitted by EU ...

MOBILE TELEPHONY : CONSULTATION LAUNCHED ON FOLLOW-UP TO ROAMING REGULATION.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission launched a public consultation, on 7 May, aiming to assess the effectiveness of the capping of tariffs for calls made and received by mobile phone from one EU member state to another ( roaming'). The exercise should allow it to gauge the need for regulation for the ...

RESEARCH : COUNCIL ADOPTS FUEL CELLS AND HYDROGEN JTI.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The Council adopted, on 30 May, a regulation establishing a Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI). Under the plans, the European Commission will provide 470 million from the Seventh Framework Programme for six years. This should "at least" be matched by industry ...

INTERVIEW WITH MARC-ANTOINE JAMET, PRESIDENT OF UNIFAB : COUNTERFEITING: "TOO MANY COMMISSIONERS SHARE THE DOSSIER".(Interview)

Jun 04, 2008 ... During a conference on counterfeiting organised by the European Commission, on 13 May in Brussels, Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of the Union des Fabricants (UNIFAB, France), which counts some 400 companies as members, pointed out the slight results of initiatives taken until now at EU ...

TELECOMMUNICATIONS : DOOR OPENS FOR MOBILE SATELLITE SERVICES.

Jun 04, 2008 ... As satellites know no limits, the European Parliament opened the way for a selection of pan-European satellite operators who want to market high-speed internet connections, access to mobile television and emergency and civil protection services in the 27 EU member states. Applicants for ...

TELECOMMUNICATIONS : EU MUST BE CAPABLE OF FIGHTING OFF LARGE-SCALE CYBERATTACKS.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The EU has to give itself the means to combat cyberattacks, which are now the work of organised criminals rather than small-time hackers. On a visit to Brussels, on 27 May, representatives of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) called for more European action, ...

EU/US/JAPAN/WTO : EU REJECTS AMERICAN WTO COMPLAINT OVER IT TARIFFS.(World Trade Organisation)

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission has strongly rejected the decision by the US and Japan to open a dispute at the World Trade Organisation over IT products, on 28 May. The EU claims it has the right to apply tariffs on IT products such as flat screens, video recorders or photocopiers, while ...

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY : EU TO INVESTIGATE MICROSOFT'S PROMISE TO OPEN UP OFFICE.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission, which is always on its guard when it comes to announcements by Microsoft, "will investigate" whether the changes the US firm has promised to make in terms of improving the compatibility (interoperability) of its Office applications with competitors' products meet ...

EUROPEAN PATENT FORUM : EXPERTS TACKLE PROBLEM OF IP PROTECTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE.(Discussion)

Jun 04, 2008 ... What role does intellectual property management play in the fight against climate change? Is a strong protection of patents beneficial, as it is the only chance of paying back to the companies what they have invested in research? Or does it only stifle innovation and increase the costs of ...

FIGHT AGAINST PAEDOPHILIA ON THE INTERNET.(Brief article)

Jun 04, 2008 ... A European coalition against the sexual exploitation of children for commercial ends on the internet was launched, on 6 May, with the support of the European Commission. The project is called Missing Children Europe and gathers law enforcement agencies, NGOs, banks, credit card and online ...

MEDICINE : INDUSTRY DENOUNCES REUSE OF MEDICAL DEVICES.

Jun 04, 2008 ... For the European medical industry, the EU certainly has a role to play in the safety of hospital patients, particularly by attacking the growing reuse of medical hardware aimed for single use. While the practice is supposed to reduce the cost of health care, Eucomed, the European ...

TELECOMMUNICATIONS : INITIATIVE ON NEW NETWORKS ON THE DRAWING BOARD.

Jun 04, 2008 ... The European Commission is preparing a recommendation on new-generation telecoms networks such as ultra high-speed optical fibre. Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding announced the initiative for after the summer and will be consulting the sector soon. The aim is to ...