Square Pegs and Round Holes (Continued): Financial Market Surveillance Authorities and Internal Market Association

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 32-59
Author(s):  
GEORGES S BAUR

AbstractAfter the financial crisis of 2008, the European Union (‘EU’) not only increased its substantial legislation regarding financial services, but also built up a strong and unified system of financial market supervision. In particular, central surveillance authorities were created. These were given far-reaching competences with regard to substituting dysfunctional national authorities or players in the financial services sector. The three European Economic Area (‘EEA’) and European Free Trade Association (‘EFTA’) States—Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway—participate in the EU's internal market through their membership of the EEA. In order to continue participating on an equal footing in the internal market for financial services and to honour their duty to maintain homogeneity, the EEA EFTA States also had to incorporate the new institutional setup regarding financial services supervision. This obligation, however, in particular relating to certain intrusive powers of the new surveillance authorities, collided with some constitutional reservations, above all of the two Nordic EEA EFTA States. This article will show how these conflicting aims could be merged into a system that on the one hand guarantees the unified overall approach needed for strengthened surveillance of the internal market for financial services, and on the other hand safeguards certain constitutional reservations of the EEA EFTA States. It also looks at how third countries that do not (fully) participate in the internal market, such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland, are likely to be treated in this context by the EU.

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
Author(s):  
Merja Rantala ◽  
M J van de Laar

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are frequent causes of acute and chronic hepatitis worldwide and leading causes for hepatic cirrhosis and cancer. There is a distinct geographical variation in HBV and HCV incidence and prevalence in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association (EEA/EFTA) member states and neighbouring countries. The HBV carrier prevalence ranges from 0.1 to 8.0% and that of HCV from 0.1 to 6.0%. Within the last few years, the HBV incidence has decreased while the HCV incidence has increased. Both diseases are concentrated in certain subpopulations, such as injecting drug users, with tens of times higher prevalence than in the general population. Most EU and EEA/EFTA countries have a surveillance system for HBV and HCV infections, but due to differences in system structures, reporting practices, data collection methods and case definitions used, the surveillance data are difficult to compare across countries. The harmonisation and strengthening of HBV and HCV surveillance at the European level is of utmost importance to obtain more robust data on these diseases.


Author(s):  
Gabriel Moss QC ◽  
Bob Wessels ◽  
Matthias Haentjens

Iceland is not a member of the EU. However, as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), it participates in the EU’s internal market through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA). Iceland adopts EU legislation with the most notable exclusions being laws regarding agriculture and fisheries. The EEA was established on 1 January 1994 upon entry into force of an agreement between the EFTA States and the EU’s predecessors. A Joint Committee consisting of the EEA–EFTA States plus the European Commission, representing the EU, has a role of extending relevant EU law to the non-EU members. An EEA Council meets at least biannually to govern the overall relationship between the EEA members. The EFTA Surveillance Authority and the EFTA Court regulate the activities of the EFTA members in respect of their obligations under the EEA Agreement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (35) ◽  
pp. 313-321
Author(s):  
Lucia Khúlová

Abstract The Member States of the European Free Trade Association are the considerable opportunity for export, especially for countries of the European Union. The European Economic Area unites the Member States of European Union and Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland (the three EFTA countries) into an Internal Market. The paper deals with comparison the basic data of EFTA Member States such as geography, infrastructure, GDP. Due to Logistics Performance Index, it is possible to compare the level of logistics and transportation conditions in selected countries. The export costs and delivery time from a one Member State of European Union to capital cities of EFTA Member States are identified by using online calculator of chosen integrators.


Author(s):  
Niamh Hardiman ◽  
David M. Farrell ◽  
Eoin Carolan ◽  
John Coakley ◽  
Aidan Regan ◽  
...  

Modern Ireland is a relatively wealthy and politically stable democracy, but it bears the deep marks of its route to this point. This introductory chapter draws together some key themes that run through this volume and profiles the core contributions of each of its chapters. The overall story is one of contradictory influences. The political institutions of the state, notwithstanding much innovation over time, retain a bias toward a remarkably strong executive. The long-standing weaknesses of social democratic electoral mobilization both reflect and reinforce a conservative and market-oriented tilt in policy priorities. The ideas that animate public discourse show a creative but sometimes problematic tension between republican and communitarian ideals on the one hand, and liberal ideas and values on the other. Ireland has assumed a confident role on the world stage and especially within the European Union (EU), but relations with its nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, can often be problematic, not least because of the complexity of the politics of Northern Ireland. And while on many measures Ireland is among the wealthiest of the EU member states, this is not the lived reality for a great many of its citizens, and the nuances of why this is so need to be carefully assessed. Overall, this introductory chapter offers an overview of the whole Handbook while also making an original contribution in its own right.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Loukas Samaras ◽  
Miguel-Angel Sicilia ◽  
Elena García-Barriocanal

Abstract Background In recent years new forms of syndromic surveillance that use data from the Internet have been proposed. These have been developed to assist the early prediction of epidemics in various cases and diseases. It has been found that these systems are accurate in monitoring and predicting outbreaks before these are observed in population and, therefore, they can be used as a complement to other methods. In this research, our aim is to examine a highly infectious disease, measles, as there is no extensive literature on forecasting measles using Internet data, Methods This research has been conducted with official data on measles for 5 years (2013–2018) from the competent authority of the European Union (European Center of Disease and Prevention - ECDC) and data obtained from Google Trends by using scripts coded in Python. We compared regression models forecasting the development of measles in the five countries. Results Results show that measles can be estimated and predicted through Google Trends in terms of time, volume and the overall spread. The combined results reveal a strong relationship of measles cases with the predicted cases (correlation coefficient R= 0.779 in two-tailed significance p< 0.01). The mean standard error was relatively low 45.2 (12.19%) for the combined results. However, major differences and deviations were observed for countries with a relatively low impact of measles, such as the United Kingdom and Spain. For these countries, alternative models were tested in an attempt to improve the results. Conclusions The estimation of measles cases from Google Trends produces acceptable results and can help predict outbreaks in a robust and sound manner, at least 2 months in advance. Python scripts can be used individually or within the framework of an integrated Internet surveillance system for tracking epidemics as the one addressed here.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-450
Author(s):  
Balázs Tóth ◽  
Edit Lippai-Makra ◽  
Dániel Szládek ◽  
Gábor Dávid Kiss

Nowadays more and more economic actors publish information regarding sustainability, through economic (E), social (S), and governance (G) performance. In the case of banks, ESG performance is important as they affect most of the industries through their investments and loans. In this research our aim is to investigate the relationship between financial stability and ESG performance. We applied panel regressive methods during the analysis. The sample consisted of stock exchange listed lending institutions (243 banks) from the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Our results show that ESG performance reduced the ratio of non-performing loans significantly. Furthermore, the positive effect of regulatory capital has been confirmed. Consequently, we can assert that the economic, social, and governance performance have beneficial impacts on financial stability. Therefore, the consideration of these pieces of information should be important for the investors and the regulators as well.


1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-360 ◽  

The January 14, 1960, meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was preceded by a meeting of representatives of the organization's eighteen members and of the United States and Canada to examine the resolutions adopted by a special economic conference. At this meeting, which ended with approval of a move sponsored by the United States that was designed to reorganize economic cooperation and transform the organization, it was decided, and subsequently approved by the OEEC Council and the United States and Canada, that: 1) four experts, representing respectively North America, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the European Economic Community (EEC) and other European nations, would prepare a report on the transformation of OEEC for consideration by senior officials of twenty countries, namely, the OEEC nations and the United States and Canada, at a meeting scheduled for April 19, 1960; 2) a preparatory meeting of representatives of the same twenty nations would be held in a month's time, when decisions would be taken to appoint a permanent chairman, a secretariat, and working parties to look into outstanding trade problems; and 3) a group, consisting of Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom, and a representative of EEC, would be informally set up to coordinate aid policies to underdeveloped countries. The outcome of the discussions was regarded as paving the way for a new Atlantic economic grouping, composed of the members of OEEC plus the United States and Canada, which would give priority to consideration of the problems between the two rival European economic groups, EEC and EFTA. Other matters discussed by the Council were the removal of discriminatory measures against imports from the dollar zone and the increase in assistance to underdeveloped countries.


1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32
Author(s):  
Fariborz Nozari

On October 22, 1991, after exhaustive negotiations between the European Community (EC) and the Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) an agreement on the formation of the European Economic Area (EEA) was reached. Hence, the foundation was laid for an economic and social unit embracing 19 countries and about 380 million people, forming the world's largest economic bloc and a regional single market responsible for ca.40 percent of the world trade.The Agreement consists of a preamble and nine parts covering the objectives and principles, the four freedoms of movements of goods, persons, service and capital, provisions on competition and other common rules, horizontal policies relevant to the four freedoms, cooperation outside the four freedoms, institutional provisions, funding, and final provisions.


Author(s):  
Torremans Paul

This chapter examines how foreign judgments and arbitral awards are recognised and enforced in England. Unsatisfied foreign judgments and arbitral awards give rise to complicated questions concerning private international law. Owing to the principle of territorial sovereignty, a judgment delivered in one country cannot, in the absence of international agreement, have a direct operation of its own force in another. This chapter first considers the effect given to foreign judgments and arbitral awards before discussing the different regimes governing recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In particular, it looks at judgments from outside the European Union and European Free Trade Association (EFTA), judgments from an EU or EFTA state, and judgments from other parts of the UK. It also analyses issues relating to insolvency, family law, and wills and successions and concludes with an overview of rules under which foreign arbitral awards are recognised and enforced.


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