5. Welcomes the efforts made by European and national business organisations to raise awareness among their members, and calls on them to intensify their efforts in collaboration with grass-roots organisations so that fewer people become victims of misleading business-directory practices in the first place; expresses concern that some of these organisations have consequently been pursued through the courts by the misleading business-directory companies specified in their awareness-raising activities on the basis of alleged defamation or similar accusations;

17. Notes that the Austrian experience shows that the right of victims to have collective legal action taken against directory companies by trade associations or similar bodies appears to be an effective remedy which could be replicated in the initiatives currently being contemplated by the Commission's DG COMP in relation to actions for damages for breach of the EC competition rules and DG SANCO on European-level collective redress for consumers;

5. Welcomes the efforts made by European and national business organisations to raise awareness among their members, and calls on them to intensify their efforts in collaboration with grass-roots organisations so that fewer people become victims of misleading business-directory practices in the first place; expresses concern that some of these organisations have consequently been pursued through the courts by the misleading business-directory companies specified in their awareness-raising activities on the basis of alleged defamation or similar accusations;

Also present were representatives of European newpaper and periodical publishers, the EEC Community of Associations of Newspaper Publishers and the Federation of Associations of Periodical Publishers in the EEC.

The European Community and the European Association of Newspaper Publishers will be launching a prize for communication on environment and sustainable development in honor of "Earth Day", on April 22, in Brussels.

This was the message from Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, in an address today at the general assembly of the European Newspapers Publishers' Association (ENPA) in Nicosia, Cyprus.