EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

EU News: The insecticide fipronil poses a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize, EFSA has concluded in a report requested by the European Commission.  

EFSA was asked to perform a risk assessment of fipronil, paying particular regard to the acute & chronic effects on colony survival & development and the effects of sublethal doses on bee mortality & behaviour.
Press release & links
 
EU News: According to the eGovernment Benchmark 2012 report, 46% of EU citizens now go online to look for a job, use the public library, file a tax return, register a birth, apply for a passport or use other eGovernment services.  

80% say online public services save them time, 76% like the flexibility and 62% say they save money.  But these users are more satisfied with online banking (8.5 satisfaction rating on a scale of 0 to 10), and online shopping (7.6) than with public services online (6.5).
Press release & links
 
NHS ConfedNew EU law to reduce the tangle of bureaucracy that has caused a rapid decline in the number of clinical trials carried out in the UK moved a step closer last week, the NHS Confederation’s European Office says.
 
The European Parliament's Environment and Public Health Committee voted in Brussels this week on a new EU Regulation to replace the controversial Clinical Trials Directive, introduced in the UK in 2004.  

Aimed at harmonising clinical trials activity & promoting good clinical practice across the EU, the Directive resulted in a 25% fall in the number of trials across the EU, with the time taken to launch a clinical trial almost doubling.
Press release & links
 
EU News: The European Commission is taking new action to help Member States recover national treasures which have been unlawfully removed from their territory.  

The changes would ensure that more cultural goods will be recovered, the deadline for restitution claims will be extended, any possessor of an object requiring compensation for returning the object would be required to prove it was not knowingly acquired illegally, and information sharing between national authorities on the movement of culturally significant objects will be improved.
 
The proposed modifications would apply to cultural goods classified as ‘national treasures’ unlawfully removed after 1993 that are now located on the territory of another Member State.
Press release & links
 
EU News: Siim Kallas, Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, recently welcomed the agreement between the Commission, the Council and the Parliament on proposals to transform the existing patchwork of European roads, railways, airports & canals into a unified transport network (TEN-T).
 
The agreement recently established a core transport network to be established by 2030 to act as the backbone for transportation within the Single Market.  Transport financing under the Connecting Europe Facility (for the period 2014–2020) will also focus on this core transport network, filling in cross-border missing links, removing bottlenecks and making the network smarter.
Press release & links
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story