Sir, Your editorial “Blocking the way to bank stability” (August 3), on the European Union’s proposed implementation of Basel III rules to strengthen banks’ capital, seems to be based more on speculation than a close reading of the text.

We are not watering down the definition of capital. The Basel criteria are included in our legislative proposal. We await similar action by other jurisdictions.

The so-called “flexibility” for countries to increase capital requirements above Basel levels is not a matter of interpretation. Our proposals make clear how member states can increase minimum capital requirements to cope with their own specific situations. This is not an option either: those who are faced with higher risks must act to mitigate them. The only thing a national regulator cannot do is to increase capital requirements across the board for all its banks without informing its peers …

“£1bn ‘wasted’ on protecting plants and animals” (Daily Express, 18 October 2001, page 35)
The European Union is wasting more than £1billion a year on “ineffective” schemes to protect plants and animals, leading scientists claimed last night. The projects, which cost £119million a year in Britain alone, are designed to help wildlife and landscapes flourish.

“EU schemes to preserve wildlife ‘failing’” (Financial Times, 17 October 2001, page 13)
European Union projects to make farming more sensitive to wildlife and the environment…have largely failed.
This study, whose conclusions the newspapers cite, evaluated only two specific Dutch projects, out of hundreds of schemes throughout Europe covering a broad range of environment objectives. Calling the whole project a waste of money on such evidence is hardly balanced reporting. In fact, many successful schemes have been identified by other research. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, for instance, has recently reported on programmes introduced in Britain …

Ferries will no longer be able to take doctors to two Scottish islands to deal with emergencies in the middle of the night because of European Union working time laws.
(Financial Times, 16 February 1999, p7)
Absolutely untrue. The Working Time Directive and the UK implementing legislation exclude several sectors of activity, among them sea transport. Therefore, they have no impact whatsoever on ferry doctors. Future work time arrangements for seafarers are being negotiated with ship owners and seamen, including ferry company representatives. Whatever reasons certain ferry operators might have had for altering their services, it is wrong to blame the EU Working Time Directive.

European Commission proposals to impose anti-dumping measures for five years on unbleached cotton from five emerging markets … could cost thousands of jobs within and outside Europe. The EU … called for a mixture of dumping duties, averaging 12 per cent, and minimum price undertakings on imported ‘grey’ cotton – raw material for clothing and bed linen – from China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Financial Times, 30 July 1998, p4

The Daily Telegraph, 30 July 1998, p4
 

In the past cotton importers absorbed part of the anti-dumping duty which therefore meant it was not totally passed-on to their finishers. Finishers were able to transfer the increase in their costs to the industry further down the chain. Thus the increase in the cost of the raw material was shared out by the different steps in the chain. The amount of increase to the end-user was consequently far less than the percentage figure used …

Charity Shops are banned from selling second-hand toys as a result of the EC Toy Safety Directive.
(Financial Times, 12 March 1993)
All toys placed on the Community market for the first time must bear the CE mark. This also applies to new toys sold for charitable reasons. Second hand toys sold for charitable reasons are beyond the scope of the Directive. The responsibility for deciding whether unmarked second-hand toys may be sold in a particular national market is left to the national authorities concerned. In the UK the Sale of Goods Act 1979 requires goods sold by traders to be of satisfactory quality. Traders selling new or second hand goods must also comply with general consumer protection legislation, such as the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.