EU news and funding bulletin

13 December 2010

The EU news and funding bulletin is a fortnightly newsletter to keep London's businesses informed of key European funding information and business events.

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Funding opportunities
Tender opportunities
EU press releases
EU legislation and consultations
Business events

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Funding opportunities

FP7 Funding calls

There are 60 new open calls for proposals under the Seventh Framework Programme, FP7. This programme supports collaborative projects which focus on research and development in the following subject areas:

• Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology ( 5 Calls)
• Health (3 calls)
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) (9 calls)
• Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies (12 calls)
• Energy (8 calls)
• Environment (including Climate Change) (8 calls)
• Transport (including Aeronautics) (9 calls)
• Socio-Economic Sciences and the Humanities (4 calls)
• Space (1 call)
• Security (1 call)
• General (1 call)

For further information contact fp7@gle.co.uk. Browse proposal deadlines.

Media

MEDIA 2007: Programme of support for the European audiovisual sector - companies may use this funding stream to part-finance the insurance and completion guarantee costs incurred in the making of audiovisual works, such as films and/or access bank financing for production costs.

Proposal deadlines:
10 January 2011 ( for projects running from June 1. 2010 - January 10 2011)
6 June 2011 (for projects running from December 12 2010 - June 6 2011)

For questions related to any of the above calls contact eurofunding@gle.co.uk.

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Tender opportunities

Subscribe to the alert service for public sector tender opportunities in the UK and beyond

The service includes:

• creation of a unique company profile tailored to your business activity
• Daily alerts by email of (OJEU) contract notices matching your company profile
• Ad hoc searches for contract notices and procurement information
• Until the end of this year, we're offering the first 25 clients a four weeks trial subscription to this service completely free of charge.

For more information, visit www.londonchamber.co.uk or contact Tessel van Essen on 020 7203 1838.

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EU press releases

• Employment:
  • Eurobarometer survey: Employers' perception of graduate employability
• Enterprise:
  • Commission reports good progress in cutting red tape
  • Commission wants broad-scale adoption of e-invoicing by 2020
• Financial Services:
  • Commission adopts a communication on reinforcing sanctions in the financial sector.
• Institutional Affairs:
  • Commission fast-tracks new draft 2011 budget to help Council and Parliament reach agreement.
• Justice
  • EU ready to start talks with US on personal data agreement to fight terrorism or crime
  • EU backs new rules to bring legal certainty to couples in cross-border divorces.
  • EU endorses law ensuring suspects’ right to information in criminal proceedings.
• Transport
  • Single European Sky performance targets agreed.
  • New website www.cleanvehicle.eu to identify greener and more efficient vehicles
  • EU proposes crackdown on drivers committing traffic offences abroad
  • More rights for passengers travelling by bus and coach approved

Read more EU press releases

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EU legislation and consultations

Agriculture: “Common Agricultural Policy towards 2020” proposals

EC consultation
This consultation seeks to gather opinions of interested parties on the diagnosis and exploration of options for reform of EU’s common agricultural policy. The results will form part of an Impact Assessment of different policy options.

Competition: Review of rescue and restructuring aid guidelines

EC consultation
The current Community Guidelines on State Aid for Rescuing and Restructuring Firms in Difficulty is to expire in 2012. Therefore the Commission seeks feedback on the experience of businesses of rescue and restructuring of both industrial and financial institutions in order to decide future policy direction.

Development: Funding for EU external action after 2013

EC consultation
The aim of this consultation is to collect views and ideas on the future of the financial instruments that the European Union has at its disposal to fulfill its worldwide responsibilities.

Education: Promotion and validation of non-formal and informal learning

EC consultation
This aim of this consultation is to collect views on whether further action is needed to make the learning acquired through work and life experience visible and give it value and, if so, what type of action is needed and which policy priorities should the EU focus on.

Environment: Appropriateness of setting targets for bio-waste recycling

EC consultation
As part of its strategy on the future steps in bio-waste management, the Commission is seeking views and experiences of stakeholders on the appropriateness of setting related targets by 2014 under the Waste Framework directive.

Environment: Future EU co-financing of Natura 2000

EC consultation
The aim of this consultation is to identify new ways of enhancing the success of financing Natura 2000. This is a network of protected areas covering almost 18% of the total EU terrestrial environment as well as substantial marine areas.

Environment: Future of EU financial instrument for the environment (continuation of LIFE+)

EC consultation
This consultation seeks to gather views on the next financial instrument for the environment for the period 2014-2020 and especially its objectives and activities.

Health: Active and healthy ageing

EC consultation
The Commission is seeking the views of interested parties on how Europe could scale up innovation to meet the challenges of the ageing population in Europe, and in particular on a pilot European Innovation Partnership on active and healthy ageing.

Internal Market: Reinforcing national sanctioning regimes in the financial sector

EC consultation
The aim of this consultation is to gather stakeholders' views on the actions suggested in the Commission Communication on how to achieve further convergence and reinforcement of national sanctioning regimes. Stakeholders are invited to indicate whether there is any issue they do not consider appropriate for further approximation and whether there are areas in which the Commission should consider additional actions.

Internal Market: Legislative steps for the Packaged Retail Investment Products initiative

EC consultation
This consultation seeks feedback from stakeholders on the next steps the Commission should take in improving the European regulation of the retail investment market. The responses will help the EC in fine-tuning its legislative proposals.

Internal Market: Review of the Insurance Mediation Directive

EC consultation
This consultation aims at gathering insights into the policy and implementation aspects of the current Insurance mediation Directive and assessing the possibility of its revision.

Internal Market: Level 2 implementing measures for Solvency II Directive

EC consultation
The purpose of this public consultation is to get valuable insights, supported by quantitative and qualitative evidence, on the impacts, costs and benefits to support the policy decision-making process for the level 2 implementing measures of Solvency II, which the Commission Services are currently developing.

Internal Market: Disclosure of non-financial information by companies

EC consultation
The aim of this consultation is to gather stakeholders’ views on ways to improve the current regime for the disclosure by enterprise of non-financial information (for example, social and environmental).

Justice : Approach to personal data protection in the EU

EC consultation
This consultation seeks to gather views on the Commission's ideas on how to address the new challenges for personal data protection (e.g. fast developing technologies, globalisation) in order to ensure an effective and comprehensive protection to individual’s personal data within the EU.

Multilingualism : Language industry market survey

EC consultation
The aim of this survey is to track developments in the European language industry, which is a particularly dynamic, fast-growing sector. The information gathered in this survey will be used to promote and support language services in the EU.

Regional Policy : of the 5th report on Economic and Social Cohesion

EC consultation
This consultation aims to collect ideas and contributions on the question of how the European Union's cohesion policy should adapt to new challenges and how its delivery can be improved in order to maximise its impact in the future. The results of the consultation will feed into the Impact Assessment for the post-2013 legislative package.

Taxation : Green paper on the future of VAT

EC consultation
The aim of this consultation is to launch a broad based debate with all the stakeholders on the evaluation of the current VAT system and the possible ways forward to strengthening its coherence with the single market and its capacity as a revenue raiser whilst reducing the cost of compliance.

Business events

• Russia Business Clinic, London, 14 December 2010
• Mobile Applications Development , London, 16 December 2010

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For more information contact Owen Hunt on 020 7203 1929 or by email at ohunt@londonchamber.co.uk.

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