EU Bulletins

In the context of seasonal influenza vaccination, the objective to reach 75% vaccination coverage of the older age groups, recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), will clearly be facilitated by concerted action at the level of the EU. Member States are therefore encouraged to adopt and implement national, regional or local action plans or policies, as appropriate, aimed at improving seasonal influenza vaccination coverage, with the aim of reaching, as early as possible and preferably by the 2014-15 winter season, a vaccination coverage rate of 75% for "older age groups" and, if possible, for other risk groups. The European Commission is invited to report regularly to the Council on the implementation of this Recommendation, on the basis of the data the Member States will make available.

Art. 4b of Council Directive 1999/32/EC relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels provides for the maximum sulphur content of marine fuels used by ships at berth in Community ports, including, as of 1 January 2010, the obligations for Member States to ensure that vessels do not use marine fuels with a sulphur content exceeding 0.1 % by mass and that marine gas oils are not placed on the market in their territory if the sulphur content of those marine gas oils exceeds 0.1 % by mass. Art. 6 of the Directive also provides that Member States must check by sampling that the sulphur content of marine fuels complies with the relevant provision of Art. 4b and that sampling commences from the date of entry into force of the requirement. As part of the enforcement actions against ships which fail to comply with these requirement while at berth, Member States should request them to provide detailed evidence of the steps they are taking to achieve compliance. This should include a contract with a manufacturer and an approved retrofit plan which should be approved by the ship’s classification society or, for ships flying the flag of a Member State, by the organisation having recognition in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The retrofit plan should clearly state the date of completion of the adaptation and certification process.

Germany and the Netherlands wish, as regards Ethiopian nationals, to limit the airport transit visa (ATV) requirement to persons who do not hold a valid visa for a Member State or for a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) of 2 May 1992, Canada, Japan, or the United States of America. Annex 3, Part I, to the Common Consular Instructions should therefore be amended accordingly. This Decision constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which the UK does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2000/365/EC concerning its request to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis. The United Kingdom is therefore not taking part in its adoption and is not bound by it nor subject to its application. This provision also applies to Ireland. This Decision enters into force on 18 January 2010.

On 17 July 2009, the Romanian authorities informed the European Commission about their intention to provide two support measures in favour of Oltchim SA Râmnicu Vâlcea, a petrochemical company in which the Romanian State owns a majority stake of 54.8%. The Commission has decided that it should examine whether the two planned measures satisfy the private market operator test, as argued by Romania. It has notified that Member State of its intention to open an investigation and now invites interested parties to submit comments within one month of the date of publication of this summary (on 29 December 2009).

Given the importance of electronic communications, infrastructures and services as a basis of economic and social activity, Network and Information Security (NIS) contributes to important values and objectives in society, such as democracy, privacy, economic growth, the free flow of ideas, and economic and political stability. In this context, the Council invites the Member States to continue work to increase end-user confidence in ICTs (information and communication technologies) through awareness-raising campaigns and to organise national exercises and/or participate in regular European exercises in the area of NIS. It invites the European Commission to regularly inform the European Parliament and the Council on initiatives taken at EU level relating to NIS and, in collaboration with the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), to initiate an awareness-raising campaign among European public and private actors regarding the importance of appropriate risk management with regard to NIS.

On 3 October 2007, the European Commission adopted a decision relating to a proceeding under Art. 81 of the EC Treaty. In accordance with the provisions of Art. 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, the Commission is required to publish the names of the parties and the main content of the decision, including any penalties imposed, having regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets. A non-confidential version of the full text of the decision is available at http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/index_en.html. The decision imposes a fine on five undertakings as, from 1991 to 2002, they took part in an agreement to share the market and coordinate prices for penetration bitumen on the Spanish market. Of the five, Repsol and Proas filed an application for a reduction of fines under the Leniency Notice. The Commission accorded a reduction of the fine of 40% and 25% to each of these undertakings respectively in recognition of their cooperation. In total, it has imposed fines totalling €183.651 million on the groups BP, Repsol, Cepsa, Nynäs and Galp.