Car emissions deal

The approval of a compromise deal in the European Parliament on 13 December should set stricter standards for pollutant emissions from cars. Green groups reacted angrily to an agreement between ministers and MEPs to give sports utility vehicles (SUVs) an extra three years to meet the ‘Euro 5’ standards. The exemption was originally proposed by the Parliament’s environment committee because of concerns that Euro 5 standards for SUVs would be expensive for large families.

The European Commission has delayed adopting a proposal aimed at cleaning up member states’ patchwork of different rules for copyright levies on blank recording media and digital music file players such as Apple’s iPod.