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BusinessEurope Headlines No. 2017-36

European employers step up their cooperation for social policies facilitating job creation

“Employment regulations need to be flexible enough to help companies adapt to constantly changing economic circumstances, while providing appropriate levels of worker protection”, said BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer at the European Employers Network (EEN) Seminar, organised in Brussels on 26 October 2017. In the presence of European Commission's Head of the Directorate-General for Employment Michel Servoz, European private employers cross-industry and from about 20 sectors of the economy shared their views on the European Pillar of Social Rights. European employers discussed their goal of building a more inclusive and sustainable growth model by improving Europe's competitiveness and making it a better place to invest, create jobs and foster social cohesion. The seminar was an opportunity for employers to discuss their respective social dialogue practices, and the way forward to improve the way they work together.

Contact: Sabina Dross

 

Discussing Blockchain technology with VAT-experts

Blockchain could contribute to the fight against VAT-fraud, but consistency and careful analysis will be essential. This was the key message of Kristian Koktvedgaard, Chair of BusinessEurope’s VAT Policy Group, at a seminar on Blockchain & VAT on 26 October 2017. The seminar, organised by both BusinessEurope and the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), focused on how the new Blockchain-technology is increasingly finding its way into businesses and tax administrations. Participants, including officials from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), discussed the merits and limitations of Blockchain, and how it could modernize the VAT-system to lower administrative burden. In particular, the debate centred on how the technology could support tax administrations in the important fight against VAT-fraud, which has a negative impact on government revenues, is a threat to the internal market and harms legitimate businesses.

Contact: Pieter Baert

 

EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement setting high standards in key areas

“Our shared values, highly developed regulatory and product standards, and our food safety requirements mean that the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is beneficial to consumers, business and workers on both sides”, said Luisa Santos, Director of International Relations at BusinessEurope at a panel discussion on the EU-Japan FTA hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 26 October 2017. Although the negotiations between the EU and Japan have been ongoing for over four years, the agreement in principle came at the right time, ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg that witnessed tough debates on trade between world leaders. “If the final agreement matches our expectations, it will be an opportunity to set standards in new product areas and to converge global trade rules around a high level of ambition,” Santos said. In addition to an increase in bilateral exports of around 34% for the EU and 29% for Japan, the FTA will allow consumers and importers to benefit from 1 billion euros in tariff cuts. The European business community looks forward to an ambitious and comprehensive FTA, which is the only kind that makes sense for partners of our size.

Contact: Maurice Fermont

 

Legal Affairs Committee meets Ministry of Justice and visits Bundestag in Berlin

BusinessEurope and the members of its Legal Affairs Committee gathered in Berlin for a meeting hosted by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on 26 and 27 October 2017. The Committee had an exchange of views on intellectual property law and company law with Dr. Hubert Weis, Director General at the German Justice Ministry. The Committee also visited the German Parliament (Bundestag) where it met with Patrick Ernst Sensburg, Chairman of the Bundestag Sub-Committee on European Law and Member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection on the involvement of national parliaments in the EU legislative procedure and on the challenges of the EU for 2030. Photos.

Contact: Pedro Oliveira

 

EU urgently needs a position on cross-border data flows

In a letter published on 30 October 2017, BusinessEurope called for the rapid adoption of an ambitious EU position on cross-border data flows in the context of EU’s trade agreements, fully respecting the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. The facilitation of cross-border data flows benefits the economy as a whole, as it enables business operations for companies of all sizes and gives consumers access to a wider variety of products and services. Currently, European companies face an increasing number of trade barriers in this field, including on data localisation. BusinessEurope sees the issue of cross-border data flows as of strategic interest for the EU, as already identified in the European Commission’s “Trade for All” Communication of September 2015. In this framework, we believe that the EU should maintain its leadership and fight for the inclusion of modern rules in the EU’s trade agreements, starting with the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement, as well as for the development of rules at multilateral level.

Contact: Sofia Bournou

Effective enforcement of EU antitrust rules

National competition authorities should have key investigative powers and the ability to impose effective fines albeit not without appropriate procedural guarantees to counterbalance these powers, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer wrote to the European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager and the European Parliament on 30 October 2017. Competition authorities should not only respect minimum rights of defence but aspire at setting the highest standards for due process. This should not be jeopardised by the proposal for a Directive to empower national competition authorities to be more effective enforcers of EU antitrust rules. With respect to leniency, BusinessEurope has always supported an effective leniency programme which provides incentives to companies which are able to provide relevant information about serious and harmful restriction of competition. Unfortunately, both the European Commission and national competition authorities apply different systems which negatively affect the effectiveness of the programmes. BusinessEurope welcomes the attempts of the Commission to try to solve this issue but believes that more is needed to introduce a one-stop-shop or binding marker system. 

Contact: Erik Berggren

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Last updated: 3 November 2017