EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

EU News: The European Commission has adopted a Decision on how free emission allowances should be allocated from 2013 to industrial installations covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

Although auctioning will become the main principle for allocating allowances as of 2013, a proportion of free allowances will still be given to industry until 2020, notably to reduce costs for installations in sectors deemed to be exposed to significant competition from outside the EU.
Press release & links
 
EU News: The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has criticised the misleading information given to air passengers by the European Commission during the volcanic ash crisis in 2010.  This followed a complaint from the European Regions Airline Association about, among others, inaccurate information concerning compensation for delayed luggage.  The Ombudsman asked the Commission to inform him by 31 May 2011 of the measures taken to prevent such a problem from occurring in the future.
Press release & links
 
EU News: May 1st 2011 marked the removal of restrictions on the right to work in any Member State for citizens from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.  All workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 will now be able to take up employment freely in those Member States where labour market restrictions have been in place until the very end of the 7 year transitional period ending April 30th 2011.
Press release & links
 
EU News: The European Commission has made public a set of draft best practices aimed at fostering & facilitating information sharing between national competition authorities ("NCAs") within the European Union, for mergers that are not subject to EU merger control, but require clearance in several Member States.  Comments can be submitted until 27 May 2011 – See ‘Consultations’ section for more information.
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story