The Commission considers that equivalence of inputs (EoI) is in principle the surest way to achieve effective protection from discrimination as access seekers will be able to compete with the downstream business of the vertically integrated SMP operator using exactly the same set of regulated wholesale products, at the same prices and using the same transactional processes. In addition, and contrary to an Equivalence of Output (EoO) concept, EoI is better equipped to deliver transparency and address the problem of information asymmetries.

14. Emphasises the importance of including in the Natura 2000 network areas in the overseas countries and territories which are under the sovereignty of EU Member States;

(1) By Decision 89/687/EEC(2), the Council adopted a programme of options specific to the remote and insular nature of the French overseas departments (Poseidom) in accordance with the Community's policy of assistance for the outermost regions. The purpose of the programme is to facilitate the economic and social development of those regions and enable them to benefit from the advantages of the single market of which they are an integral part despite the objective factors leaving them geographically and economically isolated. The programme calls for the CAP to be applied in those regions and provides for special measures to be adopted. I ...[+++]n particular, it provides for measures to improve the conditions in which agricultural products are produced and marketed in those departments and to mitigate the effects of their exceptional geographical situation and constraints as since recognised in Article 299(2) of the Treaty.

(1) By Decision 89/687/EEC(2), the Council adopted a programme of options specific to the remote and insular nature of the French overseas departments (Poseidom) in accordance with the Community's policy of assistance for the outermost regions. The purpose of the programme is to facilitate the economic and social development of those regions and enable them to benefit from the advantages of the single market of which they are an integral part despite the objective factors leaving them geographically and economically isolated. The programme calls for the CAP to be applied in those regions and provides for special measures to be adopted. I ...[+++]n particular, it provides for measures to improve the conditions in which agricultural products are produced and marketed in those departments and to mitigate the effects of their exceptional geographical situation and constraints as since recognised in Article 299(2) of the Treaty.

13. Calls on the Commission, furthermore, to consider, formulate and then submit to negotiation the conditions under which the overseas countries and territories (OCAT) and the most remote regions of the EU might best achieve better integration with the economies of the regions to which they belong; such integration could be facilitated by, inter alia, granting the OCAT permanent observer status at the ACP-EU Joint Assembly;

7. Declaration by France concerning the situation of the overseas departments in the light of the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European Union