After almost 12 months of waiting, ANEC welcomes the adoption of a regulatory definition of nanomaterials by the European Commission, albeit with mixed feelings. We welcome application of the approach according to which the size distribution of a material should be based on the number concentration (i.e. the number of particles), and not on the mass concentration of a nanomaterial product. This is because a small mass concentration may contain the largest number fraction1.

The European Parliament and Council agreed today on a compromise to ban naked credit default swaps (CDS) on the sovereign debt of European countries under new EU rules. Commenting on the agreement, Green MEP and EP draftsman for the legislation Pascal Canfin said:

Despite continued high-level efforts on the part of policy makers, a positive business case and millions spent on pilot projects, the development of demand response programs in Member States has been slow to non-existent.

Today Visa Europe announced the launch of their report, “The Shadow Economy in Europe” at a lunchtime event which they hosted together with the European Credit Research Institute (ECRI) in cooperation with the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). The event brought together representatives of the payments services industry experts, policymakers and academics who discussed possible best practices in which innovative systems including electronic payments can be used to address the shadow economy in Europe.

This week, on 19 and 20 October EFIB is set to provide a snapshot of what has been achieved in the field of industrial biotech and the bio-based economy over the past year and to highlight the most important opportunities and challenges in the pipeline.

The Conference, which this year will attract over 350 participants, has since 2008, established itself as the meeting place for policy and business and, year upon year has provided a fertile ground for lively debate and constructive discussion on the development of the bio-based economy.