In April 1997, during the Dutch presidency of the European Union, a three-day international conference was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, on the subject of The Quality of European and National Legislation and the Internal Market. The present publication comprises the proceedings and conclusions of this timely conference, which was organized by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, on behalf of the Ministries of Justice and Economic Affairs of The Netherlands and the European Commission. The objective of the conference was to suggest ways of improving the legislation in the European Union against the background of the common market. The quality of the drafting of Community legislation is crucial if it is to be properly implemented by competent national authorities and better understood by the public and in business circles. The conference focused on European legislation and on national legislation in the Member States. Representatives of the European Union, the governments, the academic world, industry and consumer organizations gave their views of and commented on the three main themes of the conference: (I) the experiences on European and national level regarding the judicial quality of legislation; (II) simplification of existing legislation and (III) assessment of draft legislation. The updated and revised versions of their studies and comments are published in the present book. During the final session of the conference, current initiatives in the field of improving the quality of legislation were reviewed (e.g., on consolidation, codification, guidelines and deregulation). The main findings of the conference were brought to the attention of the Internal Market Council and the IGC as a preparation of the European Council of Amsterdam (16-17 June, 1997) where the Draft Treaty of Amsterdam was concluded. Many of the conference findings and suggestions were repeated in the documents of the Draft Treaty. In addition to the above-mentioned contributions, the book contains (i) a valuable methodical digest of the conference, including a closer evaluation of the Draft Treaty of Amsterdam, and (ii) a summing-up of the results of the important debate by Professor L.J. Brinkhorst (European Parliament, Strasbourg/Brussels). The book is also enriched by relevant documentation in the field.

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Following on from the first volume, this unique book is the only collection of native analyses of the status of legislation in 30 European jurisdictions plus the EU. Each chapter, written by a national authority in the legislative field, presents and critically assesses: - the national constitutional environment and its connection with EU law; - the nature and types of legislation; - the legislative process; - the drafting process; - jurisprudence conventions; - the training of drafters. The book opens with a comparative chapter on the these six themes, and concludes with an analysis of trends and best practices in Europe. Legislation in Europe is a necessary addition to law and policy libraries, law-making institutions and agencies, and an invaluable tool for constitutional and drafting academics and practitioners.

People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.

The 2020 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe focuses on the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis. Chapter 1 provides an initial assessment of the resilience of European health systems to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to contain and respond to the worst pandemic in the past century.

This monograph examines how European Union law and regulation address concentrations of private economic power which impede free information flows on the Internet to the detriment of Internet users' autonomy. In particular, competition law, sector specific regulation (if it exists), data protection and human rights law are considered and assessed to the extent they can tackle such concentrations of power for the benefit of users. Using a series of illustrative case studies, of Internet provision, search, mobile devices and app stores, and the cloud, the work demonstrates the gaps that currently exist in EU law and regulation. It is argued that these gaps exist due, in part, to current overarching trends guiding the regulation of economic power, namely neoliberalism, by which only the situation of market failure can invite ex ante rules, buoyed by the lobbying of regulators and legislators by those in possession of such economic power to achieve outcomes which favour their businesses. Given this systemic, and extra-legal, nature of the reasons as to why the gaps exist, solutions from outside the system are proposed at the end of each case study. This study will appeal to EU competition lawyers and media lawyers.

Exploring the intricate and multi-dimensional conception of clarity and obscurity in law, this volume presents and examines the most recent research and theories. It provides practical guidance on how to avoid obscurity in legal drafting, as well as legal interpretation at both the national and international levels.

The European directives on public procurement do not contain any specific provisions ensuring their effective application. These provisions can be found in the Public Sector Remedies Directive 89/665/EEC and the Utilities Remedies Directive 92/13/EEC, as these directives have recently been amended by Directive 2007/66/EC. These measures provide means of redress for tenderers who have been prejudiced by a breach of the EU rules on public procurement. Following the highly user-friendly approach of its Part I predecessor and– which cited and analyzed the Court of Justiceand’s case law concerning the substantive EU procurement rules laid down in the Public Sector Directive and the Utilities Directives and– this book combines and links the full texts of the procurement remedies directives with 31 pertinent judgements issued by the Court of Justice of the European Communities. In one easy-to-use volume this book provides: full texts of the the Public Sector Remedies Directive and the Utilities Remedies Directive, with the articles of these directives linked to the relevant Court of Justice case law; in-depth analysis of 31 judgements rendered by the Court of Justice in the period 1993and–2008 in connection with subject matter treated by the articles of the two directives; expert discussion of major innovations introduced by Amending Directive 2007/66/EC, with analysis of its ratio legis and full text; essential excerpts from the chronologically ordered judgments, with each excerpt preceded by an overview of the subject matter and points of law treated in the judgment; pertinent passages of the opinions of the Advocate General; and an exhaustive subject index. By thus combining the theory and and‘realityand’ of European procurement law the book not only saves readers time and effort, but also provides profound and practical insight into the Remedies Directives and the important rights and obligations which they create. The pursuit of remedies for breaches of the EU procurement rules is a topic of high interest to public authorities and their suppliers, contractors and service providers across Europe. This book will be of great value to practitioners and to officials charged with ensuring that decisions taken by the public contracting authorities and entities may be reviewed effectively and rapidly, thus building confidence among businesses and the public that public procurement procedures are fair.