The existing legislation on foreign investment

1. The existing legislation on foreign investment.

2. The incentives that could attract foreign investments (e.g. current tax system e.t.c.).

We would like to thank you in advance for your kind co-operation.

Sincerely yours,

Kl. Stavrakakis Director

Task III. Conversation on the topic of your thesis

аспирантура (канд. экз.)

Экзаменационный билет (на 2 листах) по дисциплине

английский язык

(специальность: международное право; европейское право)

Task I. Translate from English into Russian in writing using a dictionary. Your time is 45 minutes

If the goals of the original EEC Treaty were, as its name implied, primarily economic, they were so in the widest sense. The treaty was from the beginning much more than a free trade agreement. The Community's activities, outlined in Article 3 EEC, were to include the elimination of all internal barriers to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital (the common or single 'internal market', see now Article 7a EC); the approximation of the laws of member states to the extent required for the proper functioning of the common market (Article 100 EEC); the harmonisation of indirect taxation (Articles 95-99); the establishment of common policies in the spheres of agriculture and transport and the creation of a Community competition policy. States were to co-ordinate their economic policies 'in order that disequilibria in their balances of payments might be remedied'. In the field of external affairs the Community was to establish a common customs tariff and a common commercial policy towards countries outside the EEC ('third countries') and to 'associate with overseas countries in order to increase trade and to promote jointly economic and social development'. The Community thus had extensive internal and external competence in economic matters.

But even at the outset the goals of the EEC were not purely economic. The preamble of the EEC Treaty expressed the resolve of member states 'to ensure the economic and social progress of their countries'; their essential objective being the 'constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their peoples'. Articles 117-128 provided for action in the field of social policy, requiring states to promote improved working conditions and improved living standards for workers. Article 119 provided a principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women, the purpose of which, according to the European Court, was both economic, to remove the competitive advantage of a (normally) cheaper workforce in states which failed to provide for equal pay.

If the sphere of Community competence was large even at the Community's inception, it has been greatly extended since then, either by action by the EC institutions under Article 235, which allows the institutions to 'take the appropriate measures' if action by the Community 'should prove necessary to attain ... one of the objectives of the Community and this Treaty has not provided the necessary powers', or by amendments to the EEC Treaty provided by subsequent treaties, the Single European Act (1986) and the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty (1992)).

________________________

EC European Community

EEC European Economic Community

Task II. Translate the letter from English into Russian without a dictionary. Your time is 5-7 minutes

Dear Mr. Minister:

It was a pleasure to meet you during our recent visit to Moscow. I was encouraged with the discussion and look forward to moving ahead to assist small- and medium-sized businesses in Russia.

Mr. Paul Tumminia, Ex-Im Bank Director-Russia and NIS, will be in contact with you as to our future plans on this matter.

Please do let us know if you are planning to be in the U.S.

Sincerely.

Task III. Conversation on the topic of your thesis

аспирантура (канд. экз.)

Экзаменационный билет (на 2 листах) по дисциплине

английский язык

(специальность: международное право; европейское право)

Task I. Translate from English into Russian in writing using a dictionary. Your time is 45 minutes

In relation to the EU's tender regulations, the Court has established that when a parent company submits a tender for a public contract and must document expertise and experience in the relevant area (eg building and construc­tion work), the parent company may also include the expertise possessed by one or more of its subsidiaries rather than by the parent company itself, provided that it is proved that the parent company 'actually has available the resources of those companies which are necessary for carrying out the works'.

With regard to the EU's non-competition rules, when a competitor has complained of competition distorting group agreements and practices, the Court has deemed several companies acting as one entity to be one entity under the non-competition rules. The Court ruled that when subsidiaries are completely unified with the parent company in their polices, they and the parent company constitute a single economic unit in the sense of Art 85 of the Treaty. It follows they the group's policy (eg co-ordinated price policy) does not constitute distorting agreements or practices among undertakings for the simple reason that these are not undertakings, but a single undertaking irrespective of the formal division into a number of companies.

With regard to the EU's Television Broadcasting Directive, the Court has ruled that a television group is domiciled, and thus governed, by the television legislation in the state where the centre of its activities is located [programming etc). This means that the Court identifies all group companies and considers them as a single entity, irrespective of whether or not the broadcasting activities are formally divided among a number of companies across a number of states. In practical terms this means that each subsidiary is seen as a branch, and this makes the Court's decision worthy of note. See also the Court's Decision of 10 September 1996. These judgments (and there arc more) are all identifica­tions to the advantage of the group. But a small number of cases where the identification disadvantaged the group may also be mentioned. The Court has affirmed that legal action may be brought against a parent company in another state where its subsidiary was domiciled, because the Court deemed it to be the parent company which in real terms was conducting its business in another state, using its subsidiary merely as an extension of itself.

___________________

EU European Union

European Business Law Review. September/October, 1998

Task II. Translate the letter from English into Russian without a dictionary. Your time is 5-7 minutes

Der President 10965 BERLIN

des Bundeskartellamtes