Note added later: Hoedeman explains the difference between harmonisation and cooperation: Fullscale harmonisation in the sense of agreeing on the exact same rules is not so likely; we know from documents released under FOI requests that the commission has considered different options such as 'compatibility'mutualual recognition' and 'equivalence'equivalence
It spawned such bodies as the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (trademarks and designs).The idea took hold that no area of EU business was complete without its agency or authority.
Juncker said he had just ordered the drafting of a new EU directive on automatic exchange of information on national tax rulings between member states, and argued he had supported tax harmonisation in the EU since 1991.
It was interesting to hear EU chief negotiator Garcia Bercero today unequivocally ruling out any harmonisation in the chemical sector due to the differences between the two regions.
They said: "The lack of tax harmonisation in the EU is one of the main causes allowing aggressive tax planning, and base erosion and profit shifting [Beps] to develop within the internal market.
Responding to the proposals, the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR), which includes Britain's Conservatives, warned the Commission not to use the Luxleaks "saga" to push for tax harmonisation in the EU.
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6823/14/9/prepub This work was supported by funds from the European Union's Seventh Framework programme (FP7/2007-2013) theough the BioSHaRE-EU (Biobank Standardisation and Harmonisation for Research Excellence in the European Union) project, grant agreement 261433.
This work was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) granumberber 261433 (Biobank Standardisation and Harmonisation for Research Excellence in the European Union - BioSHaRE-EU) and grant number 284209 (BioMedBridges).
There are significant variations in legal harmonisation and in the 'spirit' of legislation and guidance, nor does the existence of common legal requirements necessarily equate with 'harmonised practice'.
Furthermore, trials show a substantial lack of quality and harmonisation, resulting in heterogeneous treatment protocols and difficulties when interpreting the findings reported in the literature.
