Comunicado de imprensa

Lisboa, 2 de outubro de 2018

• ECOFIN: Progress achieved on VAT, including agreement on equal VAT treatment for e-books
  The European Commission has welcomed the progress made today by Member States on much-needed improvements to how Value Added Tax (VAT) works in the EU, and which should help to shut down fraud and evasion in the sector. Amongst others, ministers agreed to allow Member States to align the VAT rates they set for e?publications, currently taxed at the standard rate in most Member States, with the more favourable regime currently in force for traditional printed publications. They also agreed on new rules to exchange more information and boost cooperation on criminal VAT fraud between national tax authorities and law enforcement authorities, as well as measures to cut VAT compliance burdens for companies. The measures agreed today should individually help in the day-to-day running of an EU VAT system which is in urgent need of further far-reaching reform. The reboot would improve and modernise the system for governments and businesses alike, making the system more robust and simpler to use for companies. More information is available in a press release issued today and in the published speech of Vice-President Dombrovskis at the press conference following today's meeting.
   
• EU-funded scientist among Nobel Prize winners in Physics
  The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2018 has been awarded with one half to Arthur Ashkin and the other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland for their ground-breaking work in laser physics. In 1985 Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland have paved the way towards the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind. Such high-intensity lasers are today used for both industrial and medical applications, including the millions of annual corrective eye surgeries. Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "I warmly congratulate Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland on their achievement. I am proud to say that EU funding has supported one of this year's Nobel Prize laureates to help perfect laser physics. Their discoveries will help us all to stay at the cutting edge of scientific frontiers." Gérard Mourou has later in his career received EU funding under the previous research and innovation programme. The pioneer of ultrafast lasers was supported from 2012 to 2015 with €500,000 for the ambitious international project ICAN (International Coherent Amplification Network) that unifies laser and high-energy physics. The goal of the project was the development of a new laser system composed of thousands of fibre lasers. Such a system can transform nuclear waste, which today can 'survive' for thousands of years, into materials with much shorter live spans, ultimately alleviating the problem of nuclear waste management. Mr Mourou was also the initiator and coordinator of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), which is part of the European ESFRI Roadmap. More information is available in a news item and the press release of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
   
• European Commission study reveals problems with advertising and marketing practices on social media
  The European Commission today published a study that identifies unfair and manipulative advertising and marketing practices on social media. Evidence collected shows that consumers are often not aware about the way social media providers target them for marketing purposes. For example, one third of the participants surveyed were unaware of the commercial nature of native advertising, i.e. paid ads in an online publication which resemble the publication's editorial content. Conversely, consumers usually are able to quickly recognise a typical magazine advertisement. Likewise, two thirds of consumers are misled by a common practice on Facebook, which consists of showing “likes” from their friends next to other products than those that they had actually “liked”. Practices forbidden under the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Blacklist such as false offers and false prize winning competitions were also found to be commonplace. Last week, Commissioner Jourová and national consumer authorities met with Airbnb and Facebook to take stock of the progress made on two ongoing consumer enforcement actions. Today's study can be found online here.
   
• Eurostat: Les prix à la production industrielle en hausse de 0,3% tant dans la zone euro que dans l'UE28 (Août 2018 comparé à juillet 2018)
  En août 2018 par rapport à juillet 2018, les prix à la production industrielle ont augmenté de 0,3% tant dans la zone euro que dans l'UE28, selon les estimations d'Eurostat, l'office statistique de l'Union européenne. En juillet 2018, les prix avaient augmenté de 0,7% dans la zone euro et de 0,5% dans l'UE28. En août 2018 par rapport à août 2017, les prix à la production industrielle ont augmenté de 4,2% dans la zone euro et de 4,7% dans l'UE28. Un communiqué de presse Eurostat est à votre disposition en ligne.