Dear colleagues,

Various news items which I've picked up from Info-Europa
(thanks to Alfonso Moreira) which may be of interest to
some of you. Apologies if you've already seen them.

Best wishes
Patrick Overy

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CONSULTATION ON DEFINITION OF SMES
The European Commission today reminded all interested
parties that they have until 9 November 2001 to comment on
a proposal to modernise the definition of small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The definition currently
in use comes from a 1996 Commission recommendation and
serves, inter alia, to assess eligibility for a wide range
of Community and national support measures, and for state
aid purposes. The old SME definition needs to be updated,
both to keep pace with economic change and to prevent
misuse of national state aids, EU structural funds and the
EU research and development framework programme. However,
the proposal would not change the definition's key
criterion, which is the number of employees (250 maximum).
Most of the proposed changes aim to make the definition more
precise, so as to ensure fairness, facilitate
implementation in EU Member States, preclude
misinterpretation and enhance certainty as to the
law. Family businesses and craftsmen, in particular, are
expected to gain from a more precise definition of
micro-enterprises. (RAPID,
IP/01/1497)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/consultations/sme_definition/index.htm

RISK CAPITAL ACTION PLAN
The European Commission has called for sustained effort to
meet the 2003 deadline set by the European Council in
Lisbon for completing the Risk Capital Action Plan (RCAP)
action plan. In a mid-term review of the Action Plan it has
just adopted, the Commission notes that despite some
progress in removing obstacles more needs to be done. In
particular, the Commission calls for its proposals to be
adopted and implemented rapidly concerning securities
markets legislation (including implementation of
the recommendations of the Lamfalussy group), removing tax
obstacles, promoting innovative projects and agreeing on an
affordable single Community Patent system. The report is
issued at a difficult moment for the venture capitalist
industry. After spectacular growth in the nineties, markets
have become sluggish in 2000 setting the stage for a
possibly lengthy period of uncertainty. Since the adoption
of the Action Plan in 1998, overall venture capital
investment in Europe has increased three times over and
investment in "early stage" venture capital has increased
four times over. In spite of this growth, European risk
capital markets remain fragmented and the gap with the US
is still widening. The US venture capital industry is not
only much bigger but their larger investments have been
growing at a faster rate.  (RAPID, IP/01/1490)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market (click on What's New)

INFORMATION SOCIETY TECHNOLOGY PRIZES
The European Commission and the European Council of Applied
Sciences and Engineering (Euro-CASE) have announced the 20
winners of this year's European Information Society
Technologies Prize (EISTP). All 20 Winners will be
displayed in the Project Exhibition at Information
Society Technologies 2001 event (IST 2001), during which
three of them will be presented with a Grand Prize each
worth euros 200 000 - by Erkki Liikanen, the European
Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society. IST
2001, to be held in Dusseldorf from December 3-5, is this
year's 'flagship event' organised by the Information
Society Directorate General of the European Commission. The
three day conference and exhibition is the only
event covering the strategic issues of Information Society
policy, regulation and technology in Europe. With this
year's event coming on the eve of the Commission's Sixth
Research Framework Programme (2002-2006), it provides
a unique opportunity for the Commission to discuss the
future of the Information Society with European academia,
industry and users. (RAPID, IP/01/1488)
http://www.ist-prize.org

PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION
On the 23rd of October the European Commission adopted a
Communication aiming to improve the exploitation of public
sector information throughout Europe. The purpose is to
remove the many barriers content companies are facing
trying to develop the next generation of cross-border
information services and products based on public sector
information. The overall aim is to put these European
companies on an equal footing with companies in other
markets such as the US, where simpler access and re-use
regimes have led to a market up to five times larger than
that in Europe. While the Communication comprises a set of
European-level measures to facilitate the re-use of
government information resources, the Commission is
also considering to ease the existing barriers through a
directive (RAPID, IP/01/1481)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.getfile=gf&doc=IP/
01/1481|0|RAPID&lg=EN&type=PDF


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Patrick Overy
EDC Librarian

University of Exeter
Law Library
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EXETER
EX4 4RJ
tel. (01392) 263356 fax.no. (01392)263196
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internet http://www.ex.ac.uk/library/internet/eurostudies.html