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Drugs raid
- European Commission antitrust officials raided the offices of some of the world’s largest drugs companies on 16 January. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis confirmed that they were among the companies. The raids were part of an investigation into whether drugs companies were holding up the release of generic alternatives to their brand-name drugs when patents expire.
Carbon dating
- MEPs have backed a report which would give carmakers until 2015 to meet stricter limits on CO2 emissions. At their plenary session in Strasbourg on 15 January, MEPs voted for a report by German Liberal MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, which would delay setting compulsory CO2 emission targets until 2015, compared to 2012, the European Commission’s proposal in December.
Microsoft, take-two
- The Commission began two new antitrust probes against US software giant Microsoft on 15 January to see if it had abused the dominance of its operating software to favour its web browser and office application suite. The Commission was responding to complaints from Opera, a Norwegian web browser company, about Microsoft bundling its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system. The European Committee for Interoperable System (ECIS), a coalition of IT companies, also brought a complaint against Microsoft’s Office and Outlook products, saying that they were not fully interoperable with other products on the market.
Public broadcasting
- The Commission launched a consultation on public broadcasters aimed at exploring whether they are receiving preferential treatment in their funding and whether they are cross-subsidising products and services such as websites to the detriment of purely commercial rivals.
Eurozone inflation
- Annual inflation in what is now the 15-member eurozone was unchanged at 3.1% in December 2007, according to the latest statistics from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Slovenia registered the highest inflation at 5.7%, followed by Luxembourg and Spain (4.3%). Inflation in the 12 EU countries which are not members of the eurozone reached 3.2% in December. Latvia had the highest rate at 14%, followed by Bulgaria (11.6%), Estonia (9.7%), Lithuania (8.2%), Hungary (7.4%), Romania (6.7%) and the Czech Republic (5.5%).
Dumping delay
- Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner for trade, said on 11 January that he was postponing plans to update the Union’s anti-dumping strategy because member states could not agree on how to reform the existing rules.
MEPs yesterday (16 January) adopted new rules on consumer credit, paving the way for borrowers to shop across borders for personal loans.
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