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1	On a proper construction of Article 24 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 of 16 November 1988 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance-fixing certificates for agricultural products, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1199/95 of 29 May 1995, the competent authority is not permitted to carry out a correction of the tonnage stated on the export licence or extract therefrom where there is no inaccuracy in the entries made in those documents themselves.
2	The presentation to customs of goods introduced into the Community, in terms of Article 4(19) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code concerns all goods, including those hidden in a secret compartment specially made for that purpose. The obligation to present goods as set out in Article 38 of that Code rests, as provided by Article 40 of the Code, with the driver and co-driver of a lorry who introduced the goods, even though the goods were hidden in the vehicle without their knowledge.
3	a Member State which has applied Article 15b(1), by making certain production and marketing rules laid down by a producers' organisation mandatory for producers who are established in the district of that organisation and who are not members of it may not, without infringing the principle of non-discrimination, apply Article 15b(8) by making them liable for all or part of the fees paid by member producers, without distinguishing according to whether or not those non-member producers are in an objectively different situation from that of the member producers;
4	The United Kingdom does not object to the substantive content of the Regulation, but submits that Article 95 EC does not provide a proper legal basis for its adoption. The Regulation does not harmonise national law, but instead sets up a procedure at Community level for the authorisation of smoke flavourings in foods; it requires that such smoke flavourings may only be placed on the market if authorised by further Regulations to be adopted by the Commission on the basis of an opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (the Authority) as to their safety.
5	The United Kingdom submits that the legislative power conferred by Article 95 EC is a power to harmonise national laws; it is not a power to set up Community bodies or to confer tasks upon such bodies, nor to set up procedures under which lists of approved products are drawn up by the Commission on the basis of an evaluation by a Community agency. Conferring tasks upon Community bodies or upon the Commission is a matter outside the scope of national law, and doing so cannot be described as harmonising national law within the meaning of Article 95.
6	Failure to take account of the fact that the limitations placed on the Community system of reliefs from customs duties (Regulation No 918/83, as amended) by Regulations No 3316/94 and No 2744/98 are intended to protect the economy in regions bordering on Austria (border undertakings). However, despite that intended purpose, the geographical scope of the reduction in the customs allowance introduced by the abovementioned regulations is unlimited. The limitations on the customs allowance under Regulations No 3316/94 and 2744/98 are therefore unnecessary, excessive and disproportionate and thus unlawful.
7	Is the term television broadcasting within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 89/552/EEC to be interpreted as not covering an information society service within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC, but as covering services such as those set out in the indicative list of services not covered by Article 1(2) of Directive 98/34/EC, including near-video on-demand services, contained in Annex V to Directive 98/34/EC, in particular subparagraph (3), which therefore do not constitute information society services?
8	The contested provision is in contravention of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC, the second comitology decision, which sets out the criteria governing the choice of one or other type of committee (management, regulatory or advisory), with a view to achieving greater consistency and predictability. The criteria laid down by that provision have not been observed in this case. Unless it can be shown that the implementing measures envisaged are not management measures for a programme, only the management procedure or, if appropriate, the advisory procedure are generally applicable for the implementation of Community programmes.
9	Interim proceedings Competition Payment of a fine Bank guarantee Prima facie case Urgency Balance of interests Partial and conditional suspension Language of the case: French In Case T-217/03 R: Fédération nationale de la coopération bétail et viande (FNCBV), established in Paris (France), represented by R. Collin and M. Ponsard, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg, supported by the French Republic (agents: G. de Bergues and F. Million), against Commission of the European Communities (agents: P. Oliver and O.
10	The Applicant claims the partial annulment of Council Regulation 1954/2003 which replaces the fishing regime governing the Azorean fisheries. The applicant invokes a number of alleged procedural violations in the adoption of the regulation, which would justify its annulment as requested by the applicant. These procedural violations comprise failure to properly consult the European Parliament; failure to take into account evidence of an economic, technical, scientific and environmental nature; and failure to provide an adequate statement of reasons for the act adopted.
11	Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 25 March 2004 in Joined Cases C-480/00 to 482/00, C-484/00, C-489/00 to C-491/00 and C-497/00 to C-499/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio): Azienda Agricola Ettore Ribaldi v Azienda di Stato per gli interventi nel mercato agricolo (AIMA), Ministero del Tesoro, del Bilancio e della Programmazione Economica and Others (Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Milk and milk products — Additional levy on milk — Regulations (EEC) Nos 3950/92 and 536/93 — Reference quantities — Ex post correction — Notification of producers)
12	Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 25 March 2004 in Case C-495/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio): Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni e Luciano Visentin and Others v Azienda di Stato per gli interventi nel mercato agricolo (AIMA) (Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Milk and milk products — Additional levy on milk — Regulations (EEC) Nos 3590/92 and 536/93 — Reference quantities — Ex post correction)
13	Article 3(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 536/93 of 9 March 1993 laying down detailed rules on the application of the additional levy on milk and milk products, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1001/98 of 13 May 1998, must be interpreted as meaning that milk purchasers comply with the time-limit laid down in that provision where they send the requisite information to the competent authority before 15 May of the relevant year.
14	Council Regulation (EC) No 603/95 of 21 February 1995 on the common organisation of the market in dried fodder and Commission Regulation (EC) No 785/95 of 6 April 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation No 603/95 must be interpreted as meaning that they do not preclude national provisions which lay down specific requirements with respect to green or fresh fodder for processing, linked to the method of delivery, the moisture content, the time within which processing must take place and the growth of such fodder within a specified area.
15	Conduct which limits the market of competitors of a dominant company is unlawful under Article 82(b) EC only if it causes prejudice to consumers. Article 82(b) EC clearly protects competition and consumers, not competitors. The Court of First Instance erred in law by its failure to consider whether BA's commissions for successful travel agents harmed consumers. The judgment under appeal makes no analysis of this requirement, but only addresses the situation of BA's competitors.
16	The Commission considers that the regime being applied in the United Kingdom, whereby a person may apply to a planning authority to issue a LDC concerning a project within the meaning of Council Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC (hereinafter the EIA Directive), means that the United Kingdom has failed to ensure the correct application of its obligations under Articles 2(1) and 4 of that Directive. The issuing of LDCs effectively by-passes the development consent procedure and as a result the requirements of the EIA Directive.
17	An appeal was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 3 March 2004 by Technische Unie BV, represented by P.V.F. Bos and C. Hubert, advocaten, against the judgment of 16 December 2003 delivered by the Court of First Instance (First Chamber) in Joined Cases T–5/00 and T-6/00 Nederlandse Federatieve Vereniging voor de Groothandel op Elektrotechnisch Gebied and Technische Unie BV v Commission of the European Communities, supported by CEF City Electrical Factors BV and CEF Holdings Ltd.
18	Declare that, by failing to transpose into its national legislation (or by doing so only partially) Article 2(1) and (2) and Article 4 of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work as regards non-civilian personnel in public authorities, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive and under Articles 10 and 249 of the EC Treaty;
19	In its judgment of 19 March 2002 in case C-13/00, the Court declared that, by failing to obtain its adherence before 1 January 1995 to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act of 24 July 1971), Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 228(7) of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 300(7) EC) in conjunction with Article 5 of Protocol 28 to the Agreement on the European Economic Area of 2 May 1992.
20	Judgment of the court of first instance of 18 March 2004 in Case T-204/01: Maria-Luise Lindorfer v Council of the European Union (Officials — Transfer of the flat-rate redemption value of retirement pension rights acquired in the course of professional activities prior to entry into the service of the Communities — Calculation of the years of pensionable service — Article 11(2) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations — General implementing provisions — Principle of equal treatment — Free movement of workers)
21	Judgment of the court of first instance Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition 19 February 2004 — In Joined Cases T-297/01 and T-298/01: SIC – Sociedade Independente de Comunicação, SA v Commission of the European Communities (State aid — Public television — Complaint — Action for failure to act — Definition of position by the Commission — Whether aid new or existing — Request for a ruling that there is no need to adjudicate — Dispute — Compliance with an annulling judgment — Commission's obligation to make an investigation — Reasonable period)
22	Judgment of the court of first instance of 18 March 2004 in Case T-67/02: Léopold Radauer v Council of the European Union (Officials — Transfer of the flat-rate redemption value of retirement pension rights acquired in the course of professional activities prior to entry into the service of the Communities — Calculation of the years of pensionable service — Article 11(2) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations — General implementing provisions — Principle of equal treatment — Free movement of workers)
23	Officials Open competitions Non-admission to the oral test Language of the case: French In Case T-19/03: Spyridoula Konstantopoulou, residing in Ioannina (Greece), represented by E. Boigelot, lawyer, against Court of Justice of the European Communities (Agent: M. Schauss) – application for annulment of the decision of the selection board in Open Competition LA/14 of the Court of Justice of 23 October 2002 – the Court of First Instance (fourth Chamber), composed of V. Tiili, President, P. Mengozzi and M. Vilaras, Judges; I.
24	establish the breach of contract and the contractual liability of the Commission in relation to the agreement signed on 13.09.1999 by Gela Sviluppo and the European Commission, recognised by the Region of Sicily, and amended on 31.05.2002, also recognised by the Region of Sicily, declare that the sum of EUR 85806.66 is not payable by the Commission, order the Commission to perform its contractual obligations with regard to the payment of the sum of EUR 2262777.76 or to compensate for damage in the same amount, or to an extent considered fair;
25	order the annulment of Article 3 (and annex II), Article 4(2), Article 5(3), Article 10(2), second paragraph, Article 11(3), Article 13 and Article 14(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2032/2003 of 4 November 2003 on the second phase of the 10-year work programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000;
26	order the annulment of Article 3 (and annex II), Article 4(2), Article 5(3), Article 10(2), second paragraph, Article 11(3), Article 13 and Article 14(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2032/2003 of 4 November 2003 on the second phase of the 10-year work programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000;
27	order the annulment of Article 3 (and annex II), Article 4(2), Article 5(3), Article 10(2), second paragraph, Article 11(3), Article 13 and Article 14(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2032/2003 of 4 November 2003 on the second phase of the 10-year work programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000;
28	order the annulment of Article 3 (and annex II), Article 4(2), Article 5(3), Article 10(2), second paragraph, Article 11(3), Article 13 and Article 14(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2032/2003 of 4 November 2003 on the second phase of the 10-year work programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000;
29	The Commission's main purpose in presenting the Green Paper on the conversion of the Rome Convention of 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations into a Community instrument and its modernisation [COM(2002) 654 final of 14 January 2003], henceforth referred to as the green paper, was to launch a wide-ranging consultation of interested parties on a number of legal questions concerning conversion and modernisation, formally declaring that it has neither taken a decision in respect of the necessary to modernise the Rome Convention nor in respect of its conversion into a Community instrument.
30	In view of the advances in substantive and procedural areas already made or in the pipeline, such as, amongst others, the Communication from the Commission on European contract law and the Rome II instrument on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, it would be advisable, as a minimum, for all aspects of private international law contained in the various above instruments and documents mentioned to be systematically linked in a single instrument, directly applicable in all Member States, as a means of ensuring uniform application of standardised rules of conflict of laws in all the Member States.
31	This aim will be reflected in the protection of the legitimate expectations of parties to contractual relations involving multiple locations, which will also entail ensuring that there is certainty as to which law is applicable to such relations. Such stability will always be valuable when uniformity is achieved in evaluating legal situations and contractual relations in the various EU Member States. Progress towards such uniformity is without question facilitated by unifying the conflict rules, rules which prevent or resolve territorial conflicts of law.
32	Article 5(2) and (3). It is not considered necessary to maximise the substantive protection of the consumer, for example by means of a rule of alternative multiple connection, as this would run counter to what has been said with regard to the present understanding of the principle of protection of the weaker party. It is enough that a minimum level of protection be guaranteed. It is equally important not to unnecessarily jeopardise the value of the security and certainty of both parties or to entirely negate the importance of the wishes of the parties, even in this field.
33	Thus, without prejudice to the present Article 6(1), the law of the place of the body having hired the worker would be applicable, if the worker did not habitually carry out his work in that country, or if he carried it out on board a means of transport subject to registration and not travelling in the same country, on a maritime platform, or in a territory not subject to state sovereignty, unless another law displayed a closer connection, the specific circumstances of the case having been considered.
34	The approximation of regulatory solutions in the field of employment would be best carried out within the framework of Community steps to unify or align the substantive laws of the Member States. Such steps may or may not entail drafting international or Community collective agreements and defining the conditions for doing so. This work therefore will focus not so much on the strictly-defined field of rules of conflict, the subject of the regulation, but rather on approximation of substantive law.
35	This margin of appreciation may be enough, especially considering that the risks to certainty and predictability have already been allowed for when consideration of the rules was first accepted. Imposing excessive detail on the conditions for application or consideration of the rules may not only prove difficult, if done in an abstract manner, but may influence the judge to the extent that he may not be able to make a proper assessment of the requirements of legal certainty in each individual case: the final result being that the details provisions would undermine their own purpose.
36	As concerns the impact of the draft directive and its consequences for the European automotive industry, the Committee agrees with professionals from the sector that there must be sufficiently long time-limits for the application of the directive. It understands this request and considers it justified, particularly for body-builders. Although the Committee does not possess all the necessary information, it considers that the planned schedule for the enforcement of the directive, which extends from 1 January 2007 to 1 January 2012 (Article 40 and Annex XVI ), is reasonable.
37	Europe, as the rest of the industrialised world, is highly dependent on fossil fuels. Transports are almost totally and energy generation to a high and still growing rate dependent on oil, coal and increasingly natural gas. In the EU their of energy generation is around half and is forecasted to grow to 70 % by 2020. Also governments finances are substantially tied up to fossil fuels through, in particular, high taxes on transport fuels.
38	The EESC has adopted opinions on each of these proposals, and in addition produced an own-initiative opinion on Renewable energy from agriculture in 2000. In all these opinions the Committee gave its strong support to the objective of increasing the use of renewable energy sources. The proposed policy measures were also largely supported, but some detailed comments given. In its opinion on the RES-E Directive the Committee expressed its concern that leaving the choice of support measures and their level freely to the Member States could lead to distortions of competition in the internal market.
39	Support measures to renewable energy sources are necessary because many of the sources and technologies are not always competitive in relation to traditional energy production, but may have a potential to be so. Support can also be seen as compensation to renewables for the public support traditional energy sources and production methods have received over time and the external costs caused but not carried by traditional energy production and use. Many studies support these arguments, but all do not, at least not fully.
40	The Intelligent Energy-Europe, a Community support programme for non-technological actions in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, was adopted in June 2003. It runs for 2003-2006 and support is granted to projects committed to remove market barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. The programme is structured in four fields with ALTENER directed to new and renewable energy sources. The others are SAVE for energy efficiency, STEER for energy relating to transports and COOPENER cooperation with developing countries.
41	Some studies have already been made on how support systems have worked and forecasts have been made on the resulting increases in the production and use of renewables. Some of the studies take into account that the EU instruments are mostly not yet in force. Some include the effects of policies and instruments to be taken into use in the near future. Results vary substantially, but it seems that most Member States will have big difficulties reaching their targets for increasing RES by 2010, as will the EU as a whole.
42	The EESC also believes that the Agency should play a role that supplements actions by the Member States, i.e. by providing technical and scientific assistance in the event of accidental or deliberate pollution by ships. However, each Member State will continue to be responsible for drawing up pollution prevention and response plans and for providing appropriate resources for this task. The EESC regrets that, despite the fact that the Member States are already responsible in this area, some are still not properly prepared to respond to accidents such as the Erika and Prestige disasters.
43	Consequently, and given the risk of legal uncertainty in the Member States applying the reduced rates, the Commission, in agreement with the Council, has now proposed extending the 1999 directive until 31 December 2005. This proposal merely amends the period of validity of the 1999 directive without making any other changes. It does not take account of the European Commission's proposals for simplification and rationalisation or the Member States' requests for changes or additions to be made to the sectors benefiting from these measures.
44	So as to prevent a legal vacuum from arising once again in the near future and given the very positive assessment of the measure's impact, the EESC would urge Member States to reach rapid agreement on the proposal for a directive of 23 July 2003 on the global revision of the reduced VAT rates with a view to their simplification and rationalisation (COM(2003) 397 final – CNS 2003/0169), and calls on the Council to adopt this proposal as soon as possible and in so doing to include in it the activities listed in point 2.3.
45	The EESC considers that it would be better to have a single set of rules on misleading advertising, with this proposal either repealing the current directive or amending it. The legislative aim should be to focus on organising the internal market and strengthening consumer protection through an objective regulation which is concerned with the facts – misleading advertising – and which simultaneously gives protection to all those concerned, instead of establishing two regulations which may differ in content and protection mechanisms depending on the areas in which they apply (supply or demand).
46	The EESC fears that the adoption of the directive will not increase transparency in business-to-consumer relations and that it will not be fully consistent with other Community legislation. In particular it hopes that fears of a possible clash with the proposed regulation on sales promotions in the internal market are unfounded. The two texts should be complementary. The Committee calls on the Commission to provide further guidance on the relationship between this directive and the existing sectoral directives and other areas of law (e.g. contract law), and to make it available before the directive enters into force.
47	The proposal sets out some implementing measures that the Member States have to take in order to make the directive more effective, such as the adoption of preventive measures or the possibility of requiring the trader to substantiate claims in relation to products and services. The EESC believes that consideration should be given to other measures which are only regarded as optional in the proposal and which would reinforce the application of the framework directive, such as the publication in the mass media, at the court's discretion, of the judicial decisions enforcing the cessation of unfair commercial practices.
48	As the proposal does not provide any specific measures on resolving disagreements that may arise between Member States when providing assistance, the Commission should act as mediator and provide the administrative solutions needed to facilitate this assistance. This is particularly important given that the proposal will be implemented after enlargement, which is expected to exacerbate problems relating to compliance with Article 10 of the EC Treaty since administrative cultures in most of the new countries are not sufficiently familiar with such practices.
49	The proposal is unclear regarding the conditions for reimbursement of costs or losses incurred as a result of measures held to be unfounded by a court as far as the substance of the intra-Community infringement is concerned. It needs to specify that such court decisions must be final judgments and not therefore open to appeal. What happens if the requested Member State considers it to be inadmissible to bring an appeal but the applicant Member State thinks otherwise? The proposal does not seem to provide for such a situation, which is not merely hypothetical.
50	As regards requests for mutual assistance, a request may be refused if it would impose a disproportionate administrative burden in relation to the scale of the intra-Community infringement, in terms of the potential consumer detriment. This would seem to suggest that de minimis infringements of consumer protection could be committed in other Member States without any penalty whatsoever being imposed. The EESC fears that such situations could arise as, exceptional cases aside, consumer complaints are usually for relatively low amounts.
51	In air transport, the block exemption regulation 1617/93 was extended in June 2002 and in maritime transport, the Court of Justice delivered three judgements on the block exemption regulation 4056/86, which the Commission would like to revise after 15 years in force in order to simplify it. For rail transport, the Commission submitted a number of proposals for legislation to integrate national rail networks into a single European railway area. The Commission is right when it points out that, even today, there is still no effective competition in the railway market.
52	The Committee wholeheartedly supports the proposed measures to improve economic decision-making processes in DG Competition by creating the position of Chief Competition Economist with his/her own staff. In this way the Commission is addressing the issue of insufficient economic analysis, which was the key factor in the three above-mentioned judgements overturned by the Court of First Instance. The success of this institutional renewal will depend on the Chief Competition Economist and his/her staff being involved in the assessment of individual cases at an early stage and on an ongoing basis.
53	People who find themselves in an irregular situation are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in employment and to social exclusion as, though they are not without rights, their situation exposes them to a whole range of problems. In its opinion on immigration, integration and employment, the EESC pointed out that undeclared work and illegal immigration are closely related issues and that action therefore needs to be taken to regularise the legal situation of these people and expose undeclared work.
54	The EESC wishes to stress that effective border controls must not jeopardise the right to asylum. Many people needing international protection arrive at the external borders through illegal channels. The authorities must ensure that these people can apply for protection and that their application is assessed in accordance with international conventions and Community and national legislation. Until the administrative and judicial procedures governing asylum seekers are resolved, these people cannot be removed and must be given the corresponding protection.
55	In its aforementioned Opinion on illegal immigration, the EESC [supported] the Commission's proposal to set up a European border guard with common standards and a harmonised training curriculum and stated that: In the medium term, steps should be taken towards the creation of a border guard school. Border controls should be carried out by officials who are skilled in dealing with people and possess thorough technical know-how. The EESC also welcomed the creation of a European migration observatory and the development of an early warning system on illegal immigration.
56	In this opinion, the EESC welcomes the establishment of a European Agency for the Management of Operational Co-operation at the External Borders, which will be set up under the present Regulation. Although the Agency and its officials will have no executive power, no policy making role and no authority to make legislative proposals, it will improve co-ordination between the authorities in the Member States and the effectiveness of controls at the external borders. Article 41 of the draft European Constitution acknowledges the importance of operational co-operation between authorities in the Member States.
57	thus recommends examining whether it is in fact necessary or proportionate to lay down a specific geographical area, albeit only in terms of its maximum extent, in order to achieve the objectives at hand, or whether, under the subsidiarity principle, it should not be left up to Member States to determine the geographical area bilaterally, given their knowledge of specific local conditions and the economic, social and cultural links that exist in the area, particularly as there is no danger of any additional impact on other Member States' interests;
58	would like the implementing arrangements for the motorways of the sea to be developed so as to ensure that the regular routes planned are viable and the port infrastructures and the link-up to the hinterland infrastructures appropriate, but also taking direct account of maritime traffic safety issues and guarantees regarding the pollution risks inherent to this type of traffic. Likewise, so as to avoid distorting competition in any way between ports, it is important that regular sea routes are defined for each stretch of coastline as part of a coordinated process.
59	The Commission is intending to amend the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement in order to include mechanisms in the legislation giving access rights to SIS data on stolen vehicles and trailers, and on stolen blank official documents and issued identity papers (passports, identity cards, driving licences). The aim is to make it possible to check whether vehicles presented for a second registration have been stolen, misappropriated or lost and also whether people applying for a registration certificate are using stolen identity or vehicle registration documents for this purpose.
60	The Committee appreciates that because there are no known threshold levels for estimating adverse effects on human health, setting targets is especially difficult. Given that the impact on human health and the environment from these pollutants occurs via concentrations in ambient air and via deposition to terrestrial and aquatic environments and that the deposition to the terrestrial environment can also effect soil quality and fertility and the contamination of vegetation, the Committee therefore welcomes the Commission's proposal.
61	The EESC welcomes in principle the Commission's Regulation with its emphasis on nutrition and health. It comes at a time when the WHO (Europe Region) has pointed out that up to 20 %-30 % of adults are overweight and that poor diet and lack of physical activity are also linked with cardiovascular disease. Governments too are increasingly recognising that there is a connection between the foods people eat and the health and well-being they enjoy, as well as the consequences of ill-health to national economies.
62	In the light of this background, the Commission has proposed in the first instance, as a supplement to Directive 2000/13/EEC (relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs), this Regulation setting out criteria for producers who wish voluntarily to make claims. In doing so, its intention is to both create a level playing field in an area where interpretation varies and to provide for non-biased information to consumers, thereby overcoming some of the lack of clarity in this regard caused by the present Advertising Directive.
63	The EESC points out that legislation must go hand in hand with life-long consumer education which includes the acceptance of personal responsibility. At a time when obesity in particular is rapidly increasing even in young children, the importance of achieving a balanced diet must be emphasised — yet without taking away enjoyment of good food and drink. It must also go hand in hand with exercise. The EESC recognises the challenge in reaching consumers with this essential message of balance, moderation and avoidance of excess.
64	It supports the general aims of the present proposal, but suggests the need for simplification of procedures and a careful scrutiny of timescales. Moreover, the EESC here recommends certain compromises, which may be needed to balance the requirements of consumers for more substantiated information and the needs of industry to operate in a market free from excessive constraints. It stresses the important contribution of consumer education and the role that all stakeholders have to play in providing it.
65	The EESC stresses the negative implications of the non transposition of the 2000/78 EU directive on equal treatment in the workplace in most of the EU Member States. The EESC urges the European Commission to fully use the available tools against those Member States that have not implemented the directive or have not implemented it properly. Additionally, measures need to be undertaken to increase the capacity of disability organisations, social partners and the judiciary system in order to ensure an effective implementation of the directive.
66	The EESC has asked in several of its previous opinions for a disability-specific directive based on Article 13 of the EU Treaty to combat discrimination of disabled people in all areas of life. The EESC is therefore extremely disappointed not to see any reference to this initiative in the EC Communication. While being aware of the current difficulties to launch successfully such an initiative, the EESC would have at least expected an acknowledgement of the need for such an initiative, as well as number of preparatory actions which would have paved the way for such an initiative to be launched.
67	Provisions exist for the temporary withdrawal of benefits from countries which are in breach of human rights, have committed serious and systematic violations of core labour standards, have exhibited shortcomings in customs controls, have connived at drug trafficking, have been involved in fraudulent behaviour or unfair trading practices, have infringed international conventions concerning the conservation and management of fishery resources or have contravened one or more of a number of other requirements. However, this sanction has been invoked so infrequently as to be largely ineffective; the only country presently being disciplined in this way is Myanmar.
68	On the one hand, it includes major trading nations such as China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa, who are formidable competitors of the EU in many market sectors; at the other end of the scale, it embraces remote island territories with miniscule economies such as Christmas Island, Heard Island, the Mc Donald Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; in between these two extremes fall tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, oil-rich nations like Kuwait, countries with well-developed economies such as Egypt and those with totalitarian regimes such as Zimbabwe.
69	The EESC believes that simplification of the system should be a primary objective for the new guidelines. It hopes that the proposals which it has made to, inter alia, reduce the number of beneficiary countries, replace the special incentive arrangements by application of the temporary withdrawal mechanism based on clearly-defined standards, replace the current rules of origin by rules based on the non-preferential rules of origin, reduce the interval between the graduation point and the reference period and rationalise the industrial sectors and product categories covered by the scheme will go some way towards achieving this goal.
70	The project is based on a North American initiative of the 1980s. In May 1982 the Reagan administration launched the Caribbean Basin Initiative, with the aim of setting up an economic partnership programme oriented towards trade liberalisation and private sector initiative. In January 1988 the US government signed a free trade agreement with Canada. Talks on extending this agreement to Mexico were initiated by the Bush (senior) administration and formalised under the Clinton administration, with the conclusion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
71	The aim of the third phase of the negotiations was to prepare a more detailed version of the future agreement. Accordingly, at the 7th ministerial meeting held in Quito in November 2002, a new draft agreement was published setting out the guidelines for the negotiations over the coming 18 months. The ministers also agreed to launch a Hemispheric Cooperation Programme, aimed at strengthening the ability of the region's smaller economies to participate in the FTAA. The Quito meeting marked the beginning of the final phase of the negotiating process, which is being chaired jointly by the USA and Brazil.
72	The data also point to an asymmetry in per capita GDP: the USA is in first place, with a per capita GDP of EUR 34,400, followed by Canada (EUR 21,930), Argentina (EUR 6,950), Uruguay (EUR 6,000), Mexico (EUR 5,560) and Brazil (EUR 3,060). At the other extreme, the per capita GDP of Nicaragua and Haiti was EUR 745 and EUR 480 respectively. The project therefore incorporates very different economies with widely varying levels of development.
73	The effects of the absence of a social clause are likely to be even more marked in view of the fact that, over the past ten years, orthodox structural adjustment policies have led to steep rises in unemployment and increased poverty in the LAC, where, according to ECLAC, the number of poor people amounted to more than 220 million, or 43.4 % of the population, in 2002. The continent's social, economic and political problems have not facilitated the progress of talks since the Quebec Summit.
74	Although Europe's return to Latin America began almost thirty years ago, it was not until the 1990s that – largely as a result of the impetus provided by the accession of Spain and Portugal – the EC/EU developed a strategy to forge relations with the entire LAC area. Acting on the European wish to develop preferential relations with Latin American countries, the EEC signed a series of sectoral, first generation agreements in the 1960s, followed by second generation agreements in the 1970s, covering a range of sectors.
75	The armed conflicts in Central America during the 1980s and the establishment of European political cooperation led the EEC to play an important political role as intermediary. The talks held in San José (Costa Rica) in September 1984 brought together the foreign affairs ministers from the EEC, Spain and Portugal alongside representatives from Central America. The talks aimed to restore peace and discuss measures to bring democracy to the continent and marked a renewal of EEC/Latin America relations (culminating in the San José process).
76	The summit was a historic milestone. It showed the EU to be an increasingly mature player on the international stage and the growing interest of the industrialised countries in the LAC region. The summit also aimed to provide a response to the unipolarism of the post-cold war period and instead favour regionalism as a new force in international relations. Some were quick to see this as the first step towards the creation of a multi-polar world, no longer dominated by the USA.
77	The main achievement of Rio was undoubtedly the launch of trade negotiations between the EU and MERCOSUR. The agreement concluded between Mexico and the EU entered into force in 2000 while Chile concluded an agreement with the EU at the Madrid summit in 2002. These agreements included the three pillars of the European strategy for Latin America: political dialogue, cooperation and economic and commercial integration. Apart from the agreement with Chile, however, it is hard to say what progress was actually made in Madrid with regard to this new strategic alliance.
78	Paradoxically, the Latin America regional process, as advocated by the EU, has so far failed to conclude association agreements with Europe. At the Madrid summit, the EU proposed launching negotiations with the CAN and the CACM through political dialogue and cooperation, which came to an end in October 2003. On the other hand, the start of trade negotiations depends on the conclusion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which is scheduled for the end of 2004, and developments within the CAN and CACM.
79	Given the European strategy of negotiating with these regional blocs, it is surprising that the EU has given priority to Mexico and to Chile, both countries being far from the integrationalist model and closer to Washington's plans for hemispheric integration. So, contrary to the Joint Declaration and Action Plan approved at the Rio summit, which sought to steer EU-LAC relations towards a new strategic relationship, the EU's actions to date have been a reaction to the FTAA project.
80	There is a strong demand for change in Latin America, witness for example the many demonstrations and expressions of popular discontent in Andean and South American countries in recent years as well as the election of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Néstor Kirchner in Argentina, who have expressed their willingness to strengthen the region, even before concluding the FTAA, and to promote relations with the EU, as shown by the visits the two presidents made to various European capitals in July 2003.
81	The EU is ready to back a new consensus between the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, which must take official form at the Mexico Summit with a firm commitment to achieving a number of targets relating to social, tax, economic development and social expenditure policy amongst others. The EU plans to contribute to this objective, which is an aspect of particular importance for the strategic association between the two regions, with a EUR 30 million programme aimed at transferring experience and know-how in defining and implementing social policies.
82	To kick-start this initiative, on 5 and 6 June 2003 the Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) organised a seminar on Social Cohesion in Latin America and the Caribbean, the objective of which was to open a broad debate on the scope of the problem, its negative impact on development and stability, different policy options and steps that must be taken by Latin American governments to tackle problems arising from the lack of social cohesion, such as inequality and social exclusion.
83	Social cohesion is intrinsically linked to territorial cohesion: the ability to generate synergies between all players in a given area; sufficient provision of all types of infrastructure, including new information and communication technologies; and access for all to essential public services (ranging from health and education to water supplies, transport, electricity and housing). Inequalities are reflected on the ground, between the centre and outskirts, between urban and rural areas, between coastal regions and the interior, and concerning sectors of society such as indigenous peoples, new migration patterns, etc.
84	Labour relations are marked by patchy and incomplete recognition of basic labour rights (ranging from countries with labour relations systems nominally comparable to those in Europe to others where dozens of trade unionist activists are murdered each year in the course of their work), under-developed systems for collective bargaining and consultation, low levels of trade union membership (only 14 % of the urban work force) and few employers' associations, and mistrust and conflict as the form in relations between workers and employers.
85	However, migration also has many negative aspects. Here we refer only to macroeconomic aspects and do not touch upon the effect that abandoning country and being far from family has on people. The primary negative aspect is the loss of human capital, as it tends to be the most highly educated and enterprising people with the most initiative who emigrate. Moreover, migration flows over a long period of time create a certain culture of emigration, encouraging the idea that only by emigrating can a person prosper. This undermines the economic dynamics of society and favours social discohesion.
86	The social fabric of Latin America is very weak. Civil society is not very well organised and the role of the institutions does nothing to improve this situation, as the political elite seems to have serious reservations about allowing civil society to participate in them. This simply results in a weak and vulnerable social fabric. It is, nonetheless, essential to be able to call on efficient and socially credible social partners and effective cooperation between the public and private spheres of action, in order to make social cohesion policies more effective.
87	Political and economic corruption is a phenomenon that is found in almost every country in the world and, it must be remembered, always has two faces: the corrupted and the corrupter. Such corruption is considered to be one of the most serious problems affecting the region. This may explain the increasingly negative image of governments and the political parties that underpin them – but not democracy itself – the re-emergence of populist political groupings and the rejection of a number of economic reforms, including some of the privatisations of the 1990s.
88	Over the last few decades, although the radical economic reforms in Latin America in keeping with the Washington consensus have secured their third objective (privatisation, liberalisation and macroeconomic stability), overcoming high inflation levels and monetary instability, they have not produced substantial improvements in the variables of a real balance: employment, income growth and distribution. Indeed, as seen above, some of these parameters have actually worsened (especially in countries such as Argentina).
89	The EESC also calls for all agreements between the EU and the various countries or sub-regional groupings of LAC to establish formal procedures – such as Joint Consultative Committees – to ensure that civil society organisations are involved and consulted when such agreements are drawn up. The EU should therefore encourage civil society organisations to be set up or developed in areas where they are either non-existent or embryonic, in order to meet this objective.
90	Promoting direct relations between socio-occupational organisations in the EU and LAC can contribute towards the transfer of experience and to economic, political, social and cultural exchanges, as well as stronger civil society organisations. The EESC is of the view that existing experiences – e.g. the EU-Mercosur Business Forum, forums for NGOs from the EU, Central America and Mexico, etc. – should be extended to other sectors such as trade unions (an EU-Mercosur Labour Forum has already been set up), the social economy and agriculture.
91	The EESC agrees with the European Parliament's recent call for the EU to set up and release the necessary resources for a bi-regional Solidarity Fund for Latin America (intended to support the management and funding of programmes on health, education and the fight against extreme poverty, inter alia), as well as increase the amount of ODA for Latin America (over and above the commitments already made by the EU and its Member States) and re-define the ways in which it is applied. Likewise, coordination with other regional or international financial bodies should be stepped up.
92	In the EESC's view, the EU could encourage greater and more balanced regional integration in LAC - a key factor for stepping up its development and autonomy - not only through association agreements, but also through technical assistance and investment in infrastructure, introducing formal procedures based on the experience of Community policies. It is not only the EU and national governments that should be given a key role in this, but also business, trade union and social organisations.
93	In relation to the abovementioned factors, this opinion draws on two of the studies available which were conducted for the Commission: the European Energy Outlook by P. Capros and L. Mantzos from the University of Athens and World Energy, Technology and Climate Policy Outlook (WETO), DG. Research. We have chosen them because both studies aim to elucidate the long-term energy outlook up to 2030, but one covers the European outlook and takes the abandonment of nuclear power for granted, while the other covers the outlook worldwide and assumes the continued use of currently available technologies.
94	The European Commission's Green Paper Towards a European Strategy for Energy Supply (2001) addresses the key challenge for the European Union: How can the EU, which has insufficient energy resources and relies on foreign imports, often from unstable countries, for 50 % of its energy supply - essentially from fossil fuels - simultaneously maintain its competitiveness, comply with its Kyoto commitments and ensure the well-being of its population? This balancing act is further complicated by the prospect of growing energy dependence towards 2020-2030 and the need for urgent action to combat climate change.
95	One of the suggestions put forward in the Green Paper is that: the Union must maintain its expertise in civil nuclear technology in order to maintain the necessary expertise and develop more efficient fission reactors, as part of an approach geared to sustainable development, which reconciles economic development, social balance and respect for the environment. In its response to the Green Paper, the European Parliament confirms the existence of these issues. It must be recognised that maintaining this expertise requires the continued operation of the present reactor population.
96	Expressed as an effective dose, natural and medical exposure to ionising radiation (accounting for 30 %) in Paris or Brussels stands at around 2.5 m Sv/year (a thousandth of a sievert per year). It reaches levels of approximately 5 m Sv/year in granite sites such as the Massif Central in France and is over 20m Sv/year in some areas of the world (e.g. Iran and Kerala). For a European, by way of comparison, radiation from the nuclear industry represents around 15 μSv/year (a millionth of a sievert per year).
97	The above observations are not, however, to be construed as opposition to further open coordination and hence Europeanisation of the basic research programmes of the individual Member States, insofar as these processes are necessary and helpful. These objectives should, however, preferably be achieved by providing adequate incentives for bottom-up processes generated from within the sectors concerned and also by providing support for projects or large-scale facilities which, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, exceed the capacity or ambition of national aid programmes and from which European networks are built up in the fields concerned.
98	With regard to minimum mesh sizes, the proposals are not based on reliable scientific studies and the practical application of the Commission proposals could mean the disappearance of numerous fishing-sector firms and jobs, as activities would cease to be profitable. For this reason, the EESC suggests that, before any firm decision is taken on minimum mesh sizes, the Commission should step up scientific research to improve our knowledge of the kind of materials to be used in order to test their selectivity, thus enabling fishing activity to continue in the future.
99	The need to ensure that RAC members are sufficiently representative of the various interests of each country concerned will necessarily require the involvement of a large number of organisations. However, the fact that it is the Member States who appoint the members of the general assemblies could lead to problems and disputes as to how representative the appointees actually are. Given that it has been proposed that the general assemblies meet once a year, provision should be made for as extensive participation as possible, involving all the recognised representative organisations with interests in the RAC in question.
100	Recently there have been a number of cases where trade union representatives have not been included amongst the representatives appointed by Member States to meetings on CFP issues. In advocating the involvement of those working in the sector, the EESC believes that ship owners and employed fishermen should also be included, since it is the latter who will really put into practice the measures adopted. The EESC thus recommends that the regulation explicitly set out the need to secure the participation of both ship owners and employed fishermen.

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EuroPIRQ: European Parallel Information Retrieval Queries

Dataset Details

The EuroPIRQ retrieval dataset is a multilingual collection designed for evaluating retrieval and cross-lingual retrieval tasks. Dataset contains 10,000 parallel passages & 100 parallel queries (synthetic) in three languages: English🇬🇧, Portuguese🇵🇹, and Finnish🇫🇮, constructed from the European Union's DGT-Acquis corpus.

Languages: English (en), Portuguese (pt), Finnish (fi)
Format: JSONL (separate files for each language)
Parallel passages: 10,000 per language each having parallel content
Parallel (synthetic) queries: 100 per language each having parallel content

How to use

from datasets import load_dataset

# subsets available: "english_corpus", "english_queries", "portuguese_corpus", "portuguese_queries", "finnish_corpus", "finnish_queries"
dataset_corpus = load_dataset("eherra/EuroPIRQ-retrieval", "english_corpus")
print(dataset_corpus)

dataset_queries = load_dataset("eherra/EuroPIRQ-retrieval", "english_queries")
print(dataset_queries)

# prints:
# DatasetDict({
#    corpus: Dataset({
#        features: ['id', 'content'],
#        num_rows: 10000
#    })
# })
# DatasetDict({
#    queries: Dataset({
#        features: ['id', 'query', 'context', 'chunk_id'],
#        num_rows: 100
#    })
# })

I added simple example retrieval evaluation script to the examples/faiss/retrieval_evals.py file.

Retrieval Evaluation

Below, you will find the evaluation results of vector search retrieval using FAISS, comparing the Flat and HNSW index types, with 8 different multilingual embedding models. The evaluation also includes results from using quantized embeddings (int8) and binary in retrieval.

With a Radar chart highlighting the quantization performance impact:

Links to evaluated models in HuggingFace:

Dataset Structure

The dataset consists of two separate JSONL files per language, one for queries and one for the full corpus chunks. JSONL files has the following structure:

data/[en|fi|pt]/full_corpus.jsonl

{
    "id": 1,
    "content": "On a proper construction of Article 24 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 of 16 November 1988 laying down common detailed rules for the application ..."
},
{
    "id": 2,
    "content": "The presentation to customs of goods introduced into the Community, in terms of Article 4(19) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing ..."
},
// ...more data

data/[en|fi|pt]/queries.jsonl

{
    "id": "71b4463c-0376-44a6-9aeb-597eca7573da",
    "query": "What concerns does the Committee have about the legislative process for a future directive?",
    "context": "The Committee recognises that consulting all the interested parties \u2014 the market, supervisory authorities and governments \u2014 will necessarily ...",
    "chunk_id": "1139"
},
{
    "id": "e0d3ba10-86bf-4dfb-b49d-7545f0eb1c5d",
    "query": "What role did Serge Durande play in the process involving the Statement of Objections sent to various parties in April 2007?",
    "context": "The Statement of Objections was adopted on 24 April 2007 and sent to the following ...",
    "chunk_id": "6686"
},
// ...more data

Data Fields

queries:

id: A unique identifier for each entry.
query: A question generated from the context chunk, used for retrieval tasks.
context: The corresponding passage (or chunk) from the respective language, providing the context for the query.
chunk_id: The identifier linking the query to its corresponding passage

full_corpus:

id: A unique identifier for each text chunk, same across all three languages. Maps to chunk_id in queries.jsonl
content: The actual text content of the chunk.

Dataset Construction

This dataset was constructed by processing the DGT-Acquis Paragraph-Level Corpus (da1-pc) through the following steps:

Text File Extraction: Paragraph-level text files were downloaded from the DGT-Acquis and merged into a structured format.
Text Cleaning: Concatenated words were corrected, and specific tags (e.g., <HT TYPE="SUP">) were removed.
Sentence Splitting: Chunks of 70–100 words (English/Portuguese) and 60–100 words (Finnish) were selected.
Language Detection: Texts were validated using the lingua-py library.
Cosine Similarity: Similarity checks ensured alignment across three languages (cosine score ≥ 0.8).
Final Selection: The first 10,000 chunks which passed these checks, were chosen.
Synthetic Query Generation: 100 randomized English chunks were used to generate synthetic query-passage pairs using LlamaIndex and GPT-4o, and then created same query in Finnish and Portuguese.

Final Dataset Composition:

3x 10,000 parallel context chunks across the languages
3x 100 synthetic questions across the languages, mapped to the corresponding passage.

Source Data

This dataset is derived from the DGT-Acquis corpus, which is owned by the European Commission and released under the European Union Public License (EUPL).

Original Corpus: DGT-Acquis (paragraph-level, 2004–2011).
Producers: The European Commission, Directorate-General for Translation (DGT).
Data Processing: The dataset was processed by a custom pipeline, which included text extraction, cleaning, chunk selection, language detection, similarity checks, and synthetic question generation.

Downloads last month: 88

Size of downloaded dataset files:

18.9 MB

Size of the auto-converted Parquet files:

9.66 MB

Number of rows:

30,300