The European Union has failed to agree a new, slimmed down patent system, after a dispute over whether companies should be allowed to apply for a patent in Spanish or Italian scuppered talks. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, said the failure to agree the creation of an EU-wide patent would have […]
Europe
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Europe Rules No Privilege for In-house Counsel
The European Union’s highest court has rejected a claim that documents created by in-house counsel are covered by lawyer-client confidentiality in competition cases. The ruling leaves E.U. law in conflict with the legal position that holds in several of its member states. The European Court of Justice this week upheld a controversial lower court ruling […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Europe Agrees U.S. Audit Intelligence Swap, for Now
The European Commission has finally allowed national audit oversight bodies to share intelligence with their U.S. counterparts, but only on a trial basis. The Commission shut U.S. audit regulators out of a deal reached with other countries last September because they wouldn’t agree to share their working papers in return. In the European Union, audit […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
European Shareholders Lack Influence
The European Commission should not overestimate the role that shareholders can play in corporate governance improvement, according to a body that represents big pension funds. A recent Commission green paper on governance reform said institutional shareholders were partly to blame for the financial crisis because they hadn’t performed their ownership role properly. It also said […]
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Europe Starts Overhaul of Market Abuse Directive
The European Union is planning to toughen its rules on insider dealing and wider market abuse in an effort to plug gaps in the way its current directive on the issue is enforced. The trading bloc agreed a directive in 2003 that was meant to usher in a common approach to market abuse among its […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Eight EU Members Fail on Shareholder Rights
The European Commission has started legal action against eight of its 27 member states – including France and Spain – for failing to implement a directive aimed at protecting shareholder rights. The countries have all missed an August 2009 deadline to transfer the European Shareholders’ Rights Directive into their national laws. The directive says shareholders […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Europe Starts Financial Sector Governance Reform
The European Commission has launched a review of the corporate governance rules followed by financial firms in its 27 member states. A wide-ranging Green Paper floats a series of potential governance reforms, including new duties for directors, better risk reporting, and a wider remit for external auditors. The paper argues, “Although corporate governance did not […]
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Europe Busts First Cartel With New Plea Powers
The European Commission has reached its first cartel-busting settlement under “fast track” procedures introduced two years ago. Under the deal, ten companies that produce memory chips have agreed to pay fines totaling €331 million ($409 million). The companies were involved in price-fixing between 1998 and 2002. Samsung will pay the biggest single penalty in the […]
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German Ban Dents European Regulation
Germany undermined European efforts to maintain a coordinated response to the financial crisis in Greece and to market regulation more widely this week when it took unilateral action to clamp down on short-selling. The country’s financial regulator, BaFin, surprised other regulators when it announced a ban on “naked” short-selling transactions in government euro-zone bonds and […]
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Europe Inconsistent on Insider-Dealing Rules
The European Union’s 27 member states have taken an inconsistent approach to new laws aimed at cracking down on insider dealing, meaning that compliance requirements across the trading bloc vary widely, according to European securities regulators. The EU agreed to a common legal approach to insider dealing and stock mark manipulation seven years ago in […]
