Business Operations in the European Union — Regulatory (Portfolio 7451)

Tax Management Portfolio, Business Operations in the European Union — Regulatory, No. 7451, provides a comprehensive guide to the legal issues, other than tax, affecting business in the European Union. Unlike the usual Tax Management Portfolios, this one does not focus on taxation issues, but rather examines the broad, wide spectrum of other areas of EU law which should be viewed as relevant and critical to all businesses already ensconced in or trading with the EU, or which are now seeking to enter the European market.

Chapter I provides an historical overview of the efforts to achieve European integration and examines in detail the EU’s institutional structure and its decision-making processes. It will prove especially useful to those seeking to understand how the EU works. Chapter II examines the seminal single Internal Market Program, which defined the EU’s efforts to move from a pure customs union to something greater, as it is now.

Chapters III and IV concentrate on the laws and procedures concerning competition (as antitrust law is generally called in Europe) and trade law and policy (focusing on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures). Chapters V–XI provide a legislative overview of company law developments, consumer protection and product liability issues, the opening of public procurement markets, environmental and social (labor law) policies, exchange controls and capital movement restrictions, and the common monetary policy which resulted in the creation of a single European currency — the Euro — for much (albeit not all) of Europe.

Chapters XII–XIV describe the “new” field of data protection (which has become increasingly important for business over the past decade), the protection of industrial and intellectual property rights, and technical standardization. And Chapters XV and XVI focus on two specific industry sectors — the provision of financial services and telecommunications — as they have tended to be of broad interest and relevance within the European context over the past 20 years or more. The last chapter discusses the authors’ conclusions and future prognosis.

This Portfolio may be cited as Liebman, Antonini, Amory, and Amato, 7451 T.M., Business Operations in the European Union — Regulatory.