1st Football: procedure against France closed
The European Commission has closed the infringement procedure initiated against France on account of its legislation preventing football and other professional sports clubs from being listed on stock markets (see Monthly report December / March 2005). This prohibition constituted an unjustified obstacle to the free movement of capital, infringing the EC Treaty (Article 56). The decision to close the case has been taken following a satisfactory amendment made to the French legislation.
Background: The Commission had sent France a reasoned opinion since its legislation prohibited limited companies operating in the field of sport from raising capital from the public. This prohibition prevented in particular football clubs from being listed on the stock market. While acknowledging that protection of savers and the promotion of a certain degree of equality in sports competitions are relevant objectives of general interest, the Commission considered that a total ban on raising capital from the public was disproportionate and therefore incompatible with the rules of the EC Treaty on the free movement of capital.
2nd Public consultation on the revision of EMAS
The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is the EU voluntary instrument which recognises private and public organisations that improve their environmental performance on a continuous basis. EMAS registered organisations must comply with environmental legislation, run an environment management system and report on their environmental performance improvements.
The European Commission is currently in the process of revising EMAS. A questionnaire is the second part of a process which began around two years ago, with the launch of an external evaluation study.
The study showed that EMAS achieves its objectives of significantly improving the environmental performance of participating organisations but at the same time, it also showed that the scheme has not reached its full potential in terms of diffusion.
The public consultation will look in more detail at the issues raised by the evaluation study and seek views on the best way forward for EMAS in the future.
The results of this consultation, as well as other inputs from various stakeholders, will constitute the background information which will help the Commission frame its proposal due in the first half of 2007- to the European Parliament and the Council for a revised EMAS Regulation.
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=EMASRevision
