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Background and Aims The World Health Organization recommends increasing alcohol taxes as a 'best‐buy' approach to reducing alcohol consumption and improving population health. Alcohol may be taxed based on sales value, product volume or alcohol content; however, duty structures and rates vary, both among countries and between beverage types. From a public health perspective, the best duty structure links taxation level to alcohol content, keeps pace with inflation and avoids substantial disparities between different beverage types. This data note compares current alcohol duty structures and levels throughout the 28 European Union (EU) Member States and how these vary by alcohol content, and also considers implications for public health. Design and Setting Descriptive analysis using administrative data, European Union, July 2018. Measurements Beverage‐specific alcohol duty rates per UK alcohol unit (8 g ethanol) in pounds sterling at a range of different alcoholic strengths. Findings Only 50% of Member States levy any duty on wine and several levy duty on spirits and beer at or close to the EU minimum level. There is at least a 10‐fold difference in the effective duty rate per unit between the highest‐ and lowest‐duty countries for each beverage type. Duty rates for beer and spirits stay constant with strength in the majority of countries, while rates for wine and cider generally fall as strength increases. Duty rates are generally higher for spirits than other beverage types and are generally lowest in eastern Europe and highest in Finland, Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Conclusions Different European Union countries enact very different alcohol taxation policies, despite a partially restrictive legal framework. There is only limited evidence that alcohol duties are designed to minimize public health harms by ensuring that drinks containing more alcohol are taxed at higher rates. Instead, tax rates appear to reflect national alcohol production and consumption patterns.

Defence date: 19 January 1998 ; Supervisor: C. Joerges ; Jury member: Giuliano Amato, Koen Lenaerts and Børge Dahl ; First made available online 25 August 2017

This article examines the status of women in labor market conditions within the European Union member countries. Since the women's status in the labor market and their participation in the labor process belong to one of the most discussed topics, we decided to analyze selected indicators and to compare them using cluster analysis method. The main objective of this article is to present an analysis of the situation and position of women in the labor markets of 28 member states of the EU using selected Quality of Life Indicators. The method of cluster analysis is applied in order to group countries with similar gender and labor market characteristics together.

Focusing on posting of workers, where workers employed in one country are send to work in another country, this edited volume is at the nexus of industrial relations and European Union studies. The central aim is to understand how the regulatory regime of worker "posting" is driving institutional changes to national industrial relations systems. In the introduction, the editors develop a framework for understanding the relationship of supra-national EU regulation, transnational actors and national industrial relations systems, which we then apply in the empirical chapters. This unique volume brings together scholars from diverse academic fields, all of whom are experts on the topic of "worker posting." The book examines different aspects of the posting debate, including the interactions of actors such as labour inspectorates, trade unions, European legal/political regulators, manpower firms, transnational subcontractors and posted workers. The main objective of this book is to explore the dynamics of institutional change, by showing how trans- and supra-national dynamics affect European industrial relations systems. This volume will represent the "state of the art" in research on worker posting. It will also contribute to debates on European integration, social dumping, labour market dualization and precariousness and will be of value to those with an interest employment relations, law and regulation.

During the seminar Dr Åsa Hansson (Department of Economics, Lund University, Sweden) discussed recent attempts made by international organizations such as OECD, G20 and EU and individual countries to make capital taxation possible. For instance, the number of countries that have agreed to exchange information about capital investments has increased drastically and means to shifts profits to low-tax countries have become harder. The attempts are welcome and improve the possibilities to tax capital but come at costs. Research shows that international coordination works best if all countries agree and gain from the coordination. This is unlikely to happen and small countries located far from the centre are likely to lose the most from coordination. ; N/A

An Austrian Court, seized with a dispute between two Austrian companies, Silhouette and Hartlauer, sought the assistance of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, through a preliminary reference. Silhouette, a manufacturer of top of the range branded spectacles sold its product to a company established in Bulgaria on condition that they would not be resold elsewhere, including the European Economic Area. Hartlauer, a discount outlet in Austria, sought to obtain Silhouette spectacles from the brand owner, but was turned down because of the down-market image of the outlet. On being refused supply, Hartlauer succeeded in sourcing genuine Silhouette spectacles from Bulgaria on the grey market and imported them into Austria for resale from his discount outlet. In an effort to protect the image of the spectacles, Silhouette sought an injunction before the Austrian courts to stop Hartlauer from offering the spectacles for sale in Austria. Since the matter turned on the interpretation of a provision of the European TradeMark Directive, the Austrian Court referred a question to the European Court of Justice, in virtue of the preliminary reference procedure under Article 177 of the EC Treaty. ; peer-reviewed

The Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC - CPD) should have facilitated putting construction products on any national market within the European Economic Area. Two decades later, its practical impact is still relatively weak. By going beyond the scope of most studies on the implementation of EU legislation at the level of the practical end-users (architects, civil engineers, construction companies), this study highlights the fact that the acceptance of this professional group not only plays a major role in the practical implementation of this directive, but could also change, strengthen or neutralise the intentions of policy makers and administrators at the EU and national level.

This study is an attempt to analyze EU policies towards the SouthernCaucasus that deals basically with the changes in EU policies from1999 to date. The EU policy towards the region can be analyzed in twophases. First, the study will discuss the EU support during the 1990-1999 phase in relation to the economic and technical aid offered to theregion. Second, the study attempts to analyze the EU's active policiessince 1999 in terms of changes in EU policies as well as the causes ofthis change and the importance of the region for the EU. The studywill conclude by asserting that political and economic stability cannotbe reached without solving the problems in the region. In this context,the importance of the EU in the establishment of peace and stabilityin this framework are also discussed.