Activities of Lucy ANDERSON related to 2014/2158(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Annual Report on EU Competition Policy
Amendments (11)
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that efforts to foster competition through the development of the Digital Single Market must at all times work in the interests of consumers, and that the rights enshrined in the EU Charter for fundamental rights must be fully protected in the digital domain;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to closely evaluate the implementation by Google of the binding commitments resulting from theontinue its investigation into search engine practices that may be discriminatory and to ensure that antitrust commitments made by any and all search engines agreement of February 2014 maintained; believes abusive dominant positions created by the so-called ‘first mover’ advantages and network effects in the digital sector should be more closely monitored;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Strongly wWelcomes the comments by Commissioner-designate Vestager in her hearing before the Parliament thatregarding free competition and protection against dominant positions in the digital economy; stresses that competition that is both free and fair is ultimately for the benefit of consumers;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on Member States to implement the new EU public procurement rules in a timely manner in order to boostpromote fair competition and ensure best value for money for public authoritithat incorporates social and environmental criteria as provided for in Art. 67 (2) of Directive 2014/24/EC, as well as consumer protection criteria, along with good practice in public authorities’ procurement processes; urges the Commission to ensure their application to the fullest possible extent, in order to tackle distortions of competition caused by bid- rigging, abuses of dominant positions and discrimination in the public procurement sectorand enable public authorities to choose to organise and provide quality public services so as to ensure effective and efficient public expenditure;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Underlines that pursuant to Art. 18 (2) of Directive 2014/24/EU Member States are obliged to take appropriate measures to ensure that in the performance of public contracts economic operators comply with applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour law established by Union law, national law, collective agreements or by the international environmental, social and labour law provisions listed in Directive 2014/24/EU;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to carefully monitor the centralisation of purchases in public procurement markets in order to avoid excessive concentration of purchas, and to promote market access opportunities for SMEs, ing power and coarticular by making full usion, and to preserve market access opportunities for SMEe of Art. 46 of Directive 2014/24/EU, which encourages contracting authorities to divide large contracts into lots;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. BWelcomes the adoption of the Directive on antitrust damage to give victims of infringements of EU antitrust laws access to compensation; believes that timely and adequate implementation of the Directive on antitrust damage actions is essential to evaluate its effect onintended positive effect on increasing access to legal action for SMEs and individual consumers; stresses that access to justice and the availability of collective redress in this field and consumer rights protection in general is essential to achieving the aims of EU competition policy;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the MastercardCJEU ruling of the CJEU of 11 September 2014 on anticompetitive credit card fees, as well as the successful actions undertaken by the Commission to ensure that standardisation processes in the payments sector do not affect market entry and innovation; reiterates Parliament’s position that card payment fee caps should be introduced in order to reduce unnecessary costs for consumers; in this context, asks the Commission to accelerate the process of mapping standardisation work for mobile payments, while ensuring that any action taken does not exclude new entrants;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises that thee integral internal market dimension of competition policy, which is clear from the Treaty, and the importance of consumer protection in shaping competition policy require; calls for stronger cooperation between Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and the Commission in order to ensure that the interests of consumers are protected and promoted in any and all efforts to encourage a competitive EU.
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Believes that swift actions by regulators and enforcement authorities against misleading and unfair practices are essential for implementation of competition and consumer protection policies
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Welcomes the initiative of the Commission against international car rental companies to end practices preventing consumers from accessing best available prices on the basis of their country of residence; stresses that consumers should not be prevented from making use of the best available rate when purchasing goods or services within the Single market