Directive

About: Directive is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5695 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56084 citations.

Regulating stem cell research in Europe by the back door

Abstract: Regulation of stem cell research in Europe should not take place without public and scholarly input The European Union (EU) has, at present, no jurisdiction over research carried out in the member states, or concerning the “ethics” of member states. This does not, however, mean that decisions made by the European institutions cannot influence such matters greatly. There has recently been a lot of focus on the decision not to fund embryonic stem cell research during the first year of the 6th framework programme (mainly due to opposition to funding from the German government), but behind the scenes a much more important and wide ranging set of regulations are being prepared. The European Commission has prepared a draft directive on setting standards of quality and safety for the donation, procurement, testing, processing, storage, and distribution of human tissues and cells.1 The purpose of this directive was originally to “ensure the quality and safety of human tissues and cells for clinical use” in the EU. This is clearly a laudable objective, fully in line with the EU’s jurisdiction in consumer protection and public health. During the intricate processes of political …

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Abstract: The 1997 Amsterdam treaty added new provisions to combat discrimination, including on grounds of race and ethnicity, religion, handicap, age and sexual orientation (Article 13 EC Treaty). Two directives were adopted in June 2000, namely a “race directive” that focuses on combating discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity in areas such as housing, employment, education and training, and the provision of goods and services (directive 2000/43/EC of 28 June 2000); and a directive combating all forms of discrimination in employment (directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000). The directives covered both direct and indirect discrimination and allowed scope for “positive action”, including in areas such as housing where there was no prior Treaty competence. A Community action program for the period 2001–2006 is under way with a budget of €100 millions (Council decision of 27 November 2000). This program aims at developing non-legal instruments, such as comparative measures of discrimination, that would allow for the monitoring of the various groups targeted in Article 13.

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: a Law and Economics perspective

Abstract: Abstract Directive 2005/29 on unfair commercial practices constitutes an ambitious attempt at building a general regulatory framework for the conduct of businesses towards consumers in the marketplace. The declared objectives of the Directive, namely consumer protection and eliminating barriers for the internal market, do not seem to provide enough support for such an overreaching legal intervention. The paper explores whether other rationales can justify the new rules and critically examines the scope and the tools to determine unfairness in commercial practices. From an efficiency perspective, Directive 2005/29, although not devoid of merit and interesting solutions, is lacking both in terms of over-optimism in regulating practices that differ widely across markets for a whole range of goods and services, and disregarding several factors that greatly affect the necessary cost-benefit analysis for the major regulatory options. Résumé La directive 2005/29 sur les pratiques commerciales déloyales constitue une ambitieuse tentative de construire un cadre général de régulation des comportements des entreprises vis-à-vis des consommateurs. Les objectifs déclarés de la directive, en particulier la protection des consommateurs et l'élimination des barrières du marché interne, ne semblent pas soutenus par des moyens à la hauteur d'une telle ambition législative. L'article explore les autres raisons qui peuvent justifier les nouvelles règles et procède à un examen critique du but et des moyens employés pour caractériser la déloyauté dans les pratiques commerciales. Dans une perpective d'efficacité, la directive 2005/29, bien que non dénuée de mérites et de solutions intéressantes, pèche à la fois par son optimisme excessif dans la régulation de pratiques qui diffèrent largement d'un marché à l'autre pour toute une série de biens et de services, et aussi par le fait qu'elle ignore plusieurs facteurs qui affectent l'analyse coûts/avantages nécessaire pour choisir entre les principales options de régulation. Kurzfassung Die Richtlinie 2005/29 über unlautere Geschäftspraktiken stellt einen ambitionierten Versuch dar, einen allgemeinen Regelungsrahmen für das Geschäftsgebaren von Unternehmern gegenüber Verbrauchern aufzustellen. Den erklärten Zielen der Richtlinie, namentlich Verbraucherschutz und Hindernisse für den Binnenmarkt zu beseitigen, scheinen jedoch nicht ausreichend Anlass für solch ein überzogenes gesetzgeberisches Vorhaben zu bieten. Der Beitrag untersucht, ob andere Gründe eine solche Neuregelung zu rechtfertigen vermögen und setzt sich kritisch mit der Zielsetzung und den Grundsätzen, nach denen die Unlauterkeit von Geschäftspraktiken bestimmt wird, auseinander. Obgleich ihr einige Verdienste und interessante Lösungen nicht abgesprochen werden können, krankt die Richtlinie unter Effizienzgesichtspunkten doch an ihrem übersteigerten Optimismus, Praktiken, die für eine ganze Reihe von Gütern und Dienstleistungen in den Märkten voneinander abweichen, zu vereinheitlichen. Darüber hinaus lässt sie einige Faktoren für eine Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse zur Bestimmung der wesentlichen Regelungsoptionen auβer Acht.

Trade Effects of the European Union's Service Directive: Contrasting ex ante Estimates with Empirical Evidence

Abstract: One of the top priorities to improve the European Union's growth performance is the creation of a single market for services. The directive on services adopted by the Parliament and the Council by the end of 2006 aims at removing barriers to the free movement of service providers on the internal market. Previous studies quantified ex ante sizable effects of implementing the directive in its original form. This paper is a first attempt to evaluate ex post the trade effects induced by a directive – which excludes the country-of-origin principle – by performing a difference-in-difference-(in-differences) estimator on a sample of EU- and non-EU countries in the period 2004 to 10. We account for non-tariff trade barriers and the endogeneity of regional trade agreements and find that the service directive adds to a reallocation of business services trade within the EU. Accounting for the trade effect of past deregulations, the EU directive fosters a deeper integration of the new member states into the European service value-added-chain and promotes business service exports from third countries towards the EU significantly more than trade of country pairs in the control group. The reorientation of the EU-15 towards the new members is in turn associated with less intense intra-EU-10 businesses, while business trade between EU-15 members is not significantly affected.