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MEPs back laxer product-placement rules
- Members of the European Parliament’s culture committee voted on Tuesday (8 May) to approve amendments to the audiovisual media services directive which would relax the rules on product placement in television programmes and increase the quantity and frequency of adverts. The changes are expected to be agreed in plenary session and endorsed by EU broadcast ministers in May.
Holiday merger gets go ahead
- Travel firm Thomas Cook won approval from the European Commission on 4 May to buy UK holiday company MyTravel. In a statement, the Commission said that the deal would not "significantly impede effective competition".
Equitable lifeline
- A temporary committee of the European Parliament investigating the case of Equitable Life investors, voted on Tuesday for a report saying they should be compensated because of the way the UK authorities implemented insurance legislation was "flawed".
Minister seeks ABN?Amro takeover ‘clarity’
- Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos called on Tuesday for "clarity as completely and rapidly as possible" over bids by an international consortium of banks to buy Dutch finance house ABN Amro, which is a rival to an agreed bid by Barclays.
Dawn raids on marine hose firms
- As part of a cartel investigation, Commission antitrust officials raided the offices of French, Italian and British makers of marine hose which is used to transfer oil between tankers and storage facilities. The investigation was co-ordinated with the US antifraud officials from the Department of Justice.
Synthetic rubber cartel probed
- The Commission has asked firms making synthetic rubber for information about an alleged cartel in the market for chloroprene rubber, a substance used in cables, belts, as an adhesive and as latex for diving equipment.
The European Commission and EU industry will next Tuesday (15 May) launch a €2 billion scheme to speed up the development of new medicines and healthcare technologies.
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