The biggest problem of measuring de jure
harmonisation is that the research term measures comparability with legislation and not real approaches companies use.
He and Anastasiades agreed on Monday to institute an ad hoc committee for the north's
harmonisation with the EU's acquis communautaire.
Since direct taxes are seen to have less of a negative impact on the operations of the Common Market, therefore work on their
harmonisation has begun late and has not progressed as far as the work done on indirect taxes.
The current push for
harmonisation was "misguided" and displayed a lack of economic understanding, he said.
Whereas the Commission seeks total
harmonisation of remedies for non-delivery of goods within 30 days following conclusion of the contract, Schwab proposes to give member states the choice to maintain or adopt national measures establishing other means of remedy for the consumer.
An ICH note clarifies these exercises' aim: "To make recommendations on ways to achieve greater
harmonisation in the interpretation and application of technical guidelines and requirements for product registration ...
"The weekend's strike will be a demonstration by our members that they expect talks about
harmonisation to produce proposals about
harmonisation, not ever-longer lists of the conditions the company wants to destroy.
The Endesa CEO also wants greater integration and more European focus in policy-making as well as
harmonisation of national policies to end current market distortions.
Another example is the
harmonisation and standardisation issue, and its trade-off with technology and service flexibility.
Reports that the European Union plans to recommend that plcs of any nationality which report under US rules to a regulator in the EU needn't restate their figures to the standards used across Europe brings us one step closer to
harmonisation. This follows the US Securities and Exchange Commission's statement in early April that it may allow European companies following IAS to report figures without reconciling them to US rules.
And, while tax
harmonisation might be the way forward for a 'sheltered trade bloc', it was not the future for the EU member states in a competitive global market.