EU: Follow-up Communication unscathed

Fears that the Commission’s Communication following up the Green paper on Commercial Communications might have been derailed by the Consumer Affairs Council have proved to be exaggerated. The Consumer Affairs Council last week took note of the Communication, with further work being remitted to the responsibility of those preparing for the Internal Market Council, which meets in mid-May. However, fears remain about the preparations of the MS in regard to the Commercial Communications Expert Group. With a first meeting expected as early as late May, only the UK appears to have assigned named officials to serve on the group. Several trade bodies have urged their national members to put pressure on their governments to appoint officials from the economics or trade ministries to the Expert Group. The UK Advertising Association has signalled its concern that the Expert Group might turn out to be an inconsistent collection of officials with entirely different public responsibilities.