Links

News sources
European organisations
Initiatives
Trade associations, bodies and industry groups

News sources

Eurostat - Statistical Office of the European Communities

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities situated in Luxembourg. Its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.

Euractiv

http://www.euractiv.com
Euractiv is an online news resource which gives daily news coverage, looking at 5 to 10 selected news stories per day. It also offers in-depth reports and analysis and a database of major organisations and people involved in EU policymaking.

European Voice Online

http://www.european-voice.com
EuropeanVoice.com is the website of European Voice, the weekly newspaper on European Union affairs. Published every week by The Economist Group, European Voice publishes ground-breaking news and in-depth analysis of the most important developments in the European Union.

ICCP Free documents

http://www.oecd.org/home
A wealth of free online documents relating to information and communication policy provided by the OEDC. The groups are listed under the following headings:

Information Economy
Information Security & Privacy
Electronic Commerce
Consumer Policy
Telecommunications & Information Services

Quicklinks

http://www.qlinks.net
Links to news items about legal and regulatory aspects of Internet and the information society, particularly those relating to information content, and market and technology.

European organisations

Council of Europe

http://www.coe.int/portalT.asp
The Council of Europe is an intergovernmental organisation which aims:

to protect human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law;
to promote awareness and encourage the development of Europe’s cultural identity and diversity;
to seek solutions to problems facing European society (discrimination against minorities, xenophobia, intolerance, environmental protection, human cloning, Aids, drugs, organised crime, etc.);
to help consolidate democratic stability in Europe by backing political, legislative and constitutional reform.

Welcome to Europa

http://www.europa.eu.int
Europa is the portal site of the European Union. It provides up-to-date coverage of European Union affairs and essential information on European integration.

The European Commission

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm
The European Commission operates at the very heart of the EU. Its role as the source of policy initiatives is unique and the Commission has used its right of initiative to transform the framework provided by the treaties establishing the European Communities into today's integrated structures.

The European Council

http://ue.eu.int/en/summ.htm
The Council of Ministers is the European body comprised of representatives of the Member State Governments. For example the Agricultural Council meetings will be comprised of each Members Agriculture Ministers. Four times a year the heads of each Government meet in the form of European Council meetings.

European Court of Human Rights

http://www.echr.coe.int
The European Court of Human Rights is comprised of entirely independent judges, elected by the Parliamentary Assembly. The Court deals with individual’s petitions and inter-state cases concerning the European Convention on Human Rights.

European Court of Justice and First Instance

http://www.curia.eu.int/en/index.htm
This site contains useful information about the institutions, including a database of case law, up to date news and list of publications.

The European Parliament

http://www.europarl.eu.int
The European Parliament represents 'the peoples of the States brought together in the European Community'. Some 375 million European citizens in 27 countries are now involved in the process of European integration through their 626 representatives in the European Parliament.

European Union Member State index

http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/index_en.htm
Has information about all 27 Members States.

Initiatives

Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP)

http://www.the-acap.org
ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol) has been devised by publishers in collaboration with search engines to revolutionise the creation, dissemination, use, and protection of copyright-protected content on the worldwide web.

ACAP is set to become the universal permissions protocol on the Internet, a totally open, non-proprietary standard through which content owners can communicate permissions for access and use to online intermediaries.

The Children's Programme

http://www.childrensprogramme.org
The Children's Programme, based in the offices of the UK Advertising Association, is an informal Europe-wide research and campaigning group, consisting of associations and companies of advertisers, advertising agencies and media. Its aim is to produce and spread rational arguments to address the highly emotional issue of advertising to children.

Freedom of Information for Children Programme

http://www.fic.wfanet.org
The members of the WFA led FIC Programme believe that children are as entitled as adults to receive information about products that are of interest to them. Together with our partners from the media and agencies in all 15 Member States, the FIC represents a tripartite of advertising interests at European Level and provides industry with a comprehensive platform from which it may express its views on the subject.

Trade associations, bodies and industry groups

Association of Commercial Television (ACT)

http://www.acte.be
The ATC represents the interests of commercial television at the EU Institutions, and promotes co-operation between members and with companies active in the field of communication in Europe. Membership of the ACT is open to all private broadcasting companies in Europe that approve ACT's statutes of association.

Association of European Radios (AER)

http://www.aereurope.org
The Association of European Radios (AER) is a Europe-wide trade body representing the interests of approximately 4,500 private/commercial radios stations in ten EU Member States and Switzerland.

British Internet Publishers Alliance (BIPA)

http://www.bipa.co.uk
The British Internet Publishers’ Alliance (BIPA) promotes the growth and development of new Internet services in a way which permits a wide diversity of entrants to the market, on a free and fair competitive basis. BIPA comprises a number of substantial publishers and commercial broadcasters.

Business Marketing Association (BMA)

http://www.marketing.org
Not-for-profit international organisation which serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers and their partner suppliers.

CommerceNet

http://www.commerce.net
US-based industry consortium with European partners dedicated to accelerating the growth of e-commerce by jointly developing and implementing new technologies and business practices.

The Direct Marketing Association (UK)

http://www.the-dma.org
The DMA is dedicated solely to the evolution of direct, database, and interactive global marketing, and is the oldest and largest organisation of its kind. It includes 4,700 member companies from the US and 53 foreign nations on six continents.

European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA)

http://www.easa-alliance.org
The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is a non-profit organisation which brings together national advertising self-regulatory organisations (‘SROs’) and organisations representing the advertising industry in Europe. The Alliance is, on behalf of the advertising industry, the single authoritative voice on advertising self-regulation issues.

European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA)

http://www.eaca.be
The European Association of Communications Agencies is the sole central representative for the European agency industries. The association has complete coverage of all the leading International Agencies active in Europe, with all EU member states represented by National Agency Associations and with a vast majority of Media Specialist agencies as (relatively new) members.

European Association of Directory and Database Publishers (EADP)

http://www.eadp.org
Founded in 1966, the European Association of Directory Publishers (EADP) owes its existence to the aspirations of European publishers who anticipated the importance of intra-European contact and co-operation. Meanwhile, it has become the nerve centre for year-round contact and the key representative for the industry. It is the only international association in Europe to speak for the sector as a whole.

European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP)

http://www.faep.org
FAEP (Fédération des Associations d'Éditeurs de Périodiques de la CE) represents the interests of the national associations of magazine and periodical publishers, as well as corporate members in Europe, to promote and protect the interests of magazine publishers within the European Union. FAEP's mission is to ensure the long-term survival and prosperity of a diverse and economically successful magazine publishing industry within the EU.

European Group of Television Advertising (EGTA)

http://www.egta.com
The EGTA (European Group of Television Advertising) is a trade association based in Brussels. It gathers 39 sales houses and/or commercial departments which, on behalf of over 85 television channels spread across 26 European countries (+ Korea), collect well over 15 billion Euro, thus representing more than 60% of all TV advertising investment in Europe. Through the years (we will celebrate our 30th anniversary in 2004), the EGTA has clearly become the reference centre for advertising in Europe.

European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA)

http://www.enpa.be
The ENPA represents the national publishing associations at European Level. ENPA works towards ensuring a sympathetic European legislative and economic environment, as these are indispensable conditions for the development of an independent newspaper industry.

Federation of European Direct Marketing Associations (FEDMA)

http://www.fedma.org
FEDMA is the single voice of the European direct marketing industry. Its national members are direct marketing associations (DMAs) representing users, service providers and media/carriers of direct marketing. FEDMA also has more than 350 direct company members.

Federation of European Publishers (FEP)

http://www.fep-fee.be
The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) is an independent, non commercial umbrella association of book publishers associations in states of the European Union. It first saw the light of day - under a different name - on 19th January 1967.

Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB)

http://www.iabeurope.ws
The pan-European body that represents Europe’s interactive media industry. Established in 1997 with extensive operation and teams in 12 European countries, the IAB’s activities are structured around five key programmes of research, marketing standards, public affair and training.

World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

http://www.wfanet.org
The mission of the World Federation of Advertisers is to create an environment of free and legitimate commercial communication guided by responsible self-regulation and which stimulates maximum effectiveness of ad spend and favours commercial transparency with communication agencies and consultancies.