Business Brief

GSK court setback

GlaxoSmithKline suffered a partial defeat at the European Court of Justice yesterday, when it failed to overturn completely attempts by the European Commission to put a stop to the company’s sales practices in Spain. The world’s second biggest drug maker had appealed against the Commission’s 2001 ruling that practices intended to discourage wholesalers exporting products from Spain at high premiums breached competition rules. The court ruled that, while the Commission should now re-examine the case, its conclusion was only partially invalid.

General interest

The European Parliament yesterday (27 September) voted in favour of German Socialist MEP Bernard Rapkay’s report on services of general interest, which calls for a framework directive on services subject to public service obligations. Rapkay’s report was a response to the Commission’s white paper of 2004 and the consultation undertaken a year later. Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced on Tuesday (26 September) that, while the Commission was willing to co-operate on creating a legal framework on services of general interest, rules must remain primarily the responsibility of member states.

Spanish rebuke

The Commission ruled on Tuesday that Spain violated EU competition rules by imposing 19 conditions on a bid by German group E.ON for Spanish utility Endesa. Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy also asked Spain to revoke the legislation granting Spanish regulator CNE the right to rule on merger deals. The same day, E.ON raised its bid by 38% to €37.1 billion in a reaction to moves by Spanish builder Acciona to build a stake in Endesa. <

Pre-packaged deal

Food companies could soon have the freedom to choose packaging sizes for products after EU mandatory rules dating from the 1970s were abolished by member state ministers. The agreement, if confirmed by the Parliament, removes the size restrictions on 70 pre-packed products, including items such as ice cream and fish fingers. Under a political compromise, national rules on the package sizes for butter, dried pasta, coffee and white sugar will remain in place for another five years.

Nordic duo near top

Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive countries according to an annual world ranking released by think-tank the World Economic Forum yesterday. The US fell from the top spot to 6th place, a result of growing economic imbalances and a lack of institutional efficiency and transparency, according to the forum. France also performed badly, falling from 12th to 18th spot.

MEPs have conceded that they are ready to give ground on some of the amendments being put forward as part of the review of the EU’s chemical substances policy.