Double non-taxation occurs when cross-border companies escape paying taxes due to mismatches between national tax systems thereby depriving Member States of significant revenues and creating unfair competition between businesses in the Single Market.

As a first step in combating this problem, the Commission launched on 29 February a public consultation on the double non-taxation of cross-border companies. The aim of the consultation is to gauge the full scale of the problem and see where the main weaknesses lie. On this basis, the Commission will develop the most appropriate policy response before the end of 2012. In order to encourage participation by those who may have insight into real-life exploitation of double non-taxation by companies, anonymous contributions will be accepted.

The consultation is available in all official EU languages and will run until 30 May 2012.

Further information is available here.

The Commission launched on 30 March a public consultation to gather views on the 7th EU Environmental Action Programme (7th EAP),
which will set out priority objectives to be pursued up until 2020.

In recent months, the Commission has adopted a number of strategic initiatives on environment policy – the Resource Efficiency Roadmap, the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy and a Communication on improving the implementation of EU law. They aim at improving Europe's competitiveness and enhancing its ecological resilience and are an integral part of the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The 7th EAP should provide an overarching, coherent framework for these strategic initiatives, setting out priority objectives and showing clearly how environment policy can contribute to green growth and deliver better health and well-being. It should secure the commitment of all actors concerned – EU institutions, Member States, regional and local administrations, businesses and private sector stakeholders, NGOs and civil society – to a common agenda.

The consultation remains open until 1 June.

The results of the public consultation, together with the views of the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, will inform the further development of the Commission's proposal for the 7th EAP, which it plans to present before the end of this year.

See here for further information.
 

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the state aid criteria it proposes to use to assess Member States' film support schemes in future. The criteria are set out in a draft Communication, on which the Commission invites comments. The final Communication is due to be adopted by the Commission in the second half of 2012.

This is the second and final consultation in the process of reviewing the current state aid assessment criteria, which are due to expire by 31 December 2012 at the latest. The draft Communication is intended to create a level playing field between Member States and to encourage cross-border productions, taking advantage of the internal market rules. It should ensure that European audiences are offered a more culturally diverse choice of audiovisual works.

The consultation runs until 14 June 2012.

See here for further information.

The "Internet of Things" (IoT) is a future in which everyday objects such as phones, cars, household appliances, clothes and even food are wirelessly connected to the Internet through smart chips, and can collect and share data.

The European Commission wants to know what framework is needed to unleash the potential economic and societal benefits of the IoT, whilst ensuring an adequate level of control of the devices gathering, processing and storing information. The information concerned includes users' behavioural patterns, location and preferences.

The Commission wants to ensure that the rights of individuals are respected and is launching a public consultation inviting comments by 12th July 2012.

This public consultation will feed into a new Recommendation on the IoT. This Recommendation will be the follow-up to the Commission's Communication on IoT published in 2009, which identified 14 lines of action for enabling Europe to design IoT technologies and systems compatible with its core values, such as the protection of privacy and personal data.

See here for further information.

Europe needs new ideas to boost its growth potential. Industrial innovation is one of the key drivers to improve our competitiveness. This is why the Commission has launched a new public consultation, which is meant to provide input for the mid-term review of the industrial policy communication planned for September 2012.

The main objectives of the consultation are to discuss what policy priorities the European Commission should focus on and to gather recommendations from stakeholders on how to boost competitiveness of European industries.

The public consultation will encourage stakeholders and others to consider questions like:

• Which are the major policy priorities facing European industry today?
• How can businesses themselves better respond to these issues?
• What can policymakers do to address the issues at Member state, local or regional level?
• What can policymakers do to address the issues at EU level?

The public consultation runs until 7 August 2012. A summary report will be published on the public consultation webpage.

See here for further information.

The European Commission is calling on citizens all over the European Union to help set the policy agenda for the next years and shape the future of Europe in the biggest ever EU public consultation on citizens' rights.

The consultation will be open for four months during which time the public will be asked about the obstacles they face in exercising their rights as EU citizens, be it when travelling in Europe, when voting or standing as a candidate in elections or when shopping online.

The public concultation comes ahead of the 2013 European Year of Citizens.

The input received from the public will feed directly into the Commission's policy agenda and form the basis for the 2013 EU Citizenship Report, to be presented in exactly one year's time: on 9 May 2013.

The consultation is open until 9 September 2012.

See here for further information.