Majority in favour of deregulation of shop closing times 5. August 2006 by Thomas Jannot According to a survey by the Association of Consumer Research (GfK), which was commissioned by the TextilWirtschaft professional journal, 70 percent of all German consumers are in favour of a general deregulation of statutory shop closing times. The survey also showed a growing dissatisfaction with current shop closing hours. Back in the year 2000 about …
EU wants minor contracts to be placed in a fair manner 28. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot The European Commission has published interpretative guidelines on a fair placement of minor contracts by the public sector. The new guidelines, on which an interpretative notice is available, contain proposals on how public authorities should proceed in accordance with the EU single market principles of transparency and anti-discrimination. Examples for illustration are given as well. …
Opinion poll reveals outrage about introduction of fees for company computers 28. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot There is big outrage by companies on the introduction of broadcasting fees for company computers linked to the Internet from January 1st 2007. Many companies are threatened by multiple charges. Small entities or one-man companies will in future have to pay triple fees: as private person, for the company car and for the computer in …
New details on equal-treatment-law 28. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot At the end of June the lower house of German parliament passed a general equal-treatment-law (AGG) about which we already reported. By introducing this law Germany meets its obligations of casting four EU anti-discrimination directives into national law. This led to a big quarrel on the scope of the new law the provisions of which …
Hartz-IV subsidy mentality poses threat to entrepreneurship 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot Only one third of company founders are driven by entrepreneurial objectives. This is the finding of the DIHK-report on company founders 2006 entitled “Company foundation in times of Hartz IV”, by which the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) this year again present their assessment of the situation in business founding in the sectors …
DIHK sees 6 year high in the confidence of German SMEs 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot Confidence among small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) has not been as good in six years. This is one finding of the traditional economic report by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) for which in early summer this year about 20.000 associated companies were questioned.
Consumer prices rose by 1.9 percent 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot As was established by the Federal Statistical Office the German consumer price index for July 2006 – according to data available from six federal states – will be up by 1.9 percent as compared to July 2005 (in June 2006 + 2.0 percent). With regard to June 2006 this represents an increase by 0.4 percent. …
According to the ifo economic barometer the business climate is cooling off 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot The Munich based ifo Institute for economic research reports that the industrial business climate index for Germany has fallen by 1.2 points in July currently standing at 105.6 points which means that it remains at a high level. Thus, those companies questioned are not as satisfied any more with their business situations as in the …
Family-owned businesses lack conflict management 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot German family-owned businesses will have to face serious changes given that only one out of three companies will stay within the family once the current owner generation has retired. Such is the finding of the “Family-owned business survey for Germany 2006” presented on Tuesday in Frankfurt by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accountancy and consulting company. The …
Information day on new EU research sponsoring programme 27. July 2006 by Thomas Jannot On the 1st of January 2007 there will be the launch of the 7th EU research programme (FRP) which is endowed with 50 billion Euros. Whoever wishes to lay the foundations of their research, may inform themselves about the opportunities offered by the FRP on the 14th of September in Neuss.