Brussels, 3rd April 2013 - The long road to finalize a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty aimed at regulating legal international trade in conventional arms and combating illegal trade came to a successful end on 2nd April. After a two week long final negotiation in New York, under the very skilful leadership of the Chair of the negotiation, Ambassador Woolcott from Australia, the conference agreed on a treaty text which was put forward to and subsequently voted through, with an overwhelming majority, in the UN General Assembly.

The study introduces sector-specific corporate responsibility initiatives with government involvement as forms of self- and co-regulation and complements to traditional governance. It highlights sector-specific initiatives as an appropriate response to the governance challenges to sustainable development and presents five success factors for good performance for setting-up and managing of such initiatives.The study provides an overview of over 60 different sector-specific initiatives at the national level in five industry sectors across eight European countries.

The industry of the construction products manufacturers organised a workshop in the European parliament on the 27th March. The purpose of this event was to discuss and debate the rules that provide relevant information of construction products on websites.

The first Inter-parliamentary Dialogue on Eurasian road transport was held today in Moscow, where Members of Parliament from eight Eurasian countries gathered to exchange views, experience and best practices in road transport policy to support the development of a harmonised, integrated legal framework that would help promote and facilitate trade and international road transport across the Eurasian continent.

Green Paper

The European Commission today opened the debate on EU energy and climate policy after 2020 - offering the energy industry the prospect of the long-term clarity and stability needed for large, long-term investments.

The European Commission's Green Paper on a "2030 framework for climate and energy policies" published today in Brussels presents 2030 targets as a key policy option.