Well, I think that depends on whether the crown corporation is a fully commercial crown corporation, first, because I think there are differences between commercial crown corporations and non-commercial ones.

The Commission is also proposing a regional trade action plan, the Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative (TREATI), which seeks closer co-operation between both regions on a wide range of trade, investments and regulatory issues. TREATI will thus enable the establishment of a closer economic relationship between two important trading regions, and thereby permit serious consideration to be given to a potential Free Trade Agreement following the successful outcome of the current WTO round of trade talks.

the link between programme budgets and performance evaluation should be strengthened.

(18) Information society services span a wide range of economic activities which take place on-line; these activities can, in particular, consist of selling goods on-line; activities such as the delivery of goods as such or the provision of services off-line are not covered; information society services are not solely restricted to services giving rise to on-line contracting but also, in so far as they represent an economic activity, extend to services which are not remunerated by those who receive them, such as those offering on-line information or commercial communications, or those providing tools allowing for search, access and re ...[+++]trieval of data; information society services also include services consisting of the transmission of information via a communication network, in providing access to a communication network or in hosting information provided by a recipient of the service; television broadcasting within the meaning of Directive EEC/89/552 and radio broadcasting are not information society services because they are not provided at individual request; by contrast, services which are transmitted point to point, such as video-on-demand or the provision of commercial communications by electronic mail are information society services; the use of electronic mail or equivalent individual communications for instance by natural persons acting outside their trade, business or profession including their use for the conclusion of contracts between such persons is not an information society service; the contractual relationship between an employee and his employer is not an information society service; activities which by their very nature cannot be carried out at a distance and by electronic means, such as the statutory auditing of company accounts or medical advice requiring the physical examination of a patient are not information society services.

There are exceptions, one of which is someone who is a director in a Crown corporation and wants to become a director in a financial or commercial corporation.

The parent company should ensure that the ESCO has the necessary engineering, financial and marketing skills and provide an effective guarantee to enable the ESCO to borrow the necessary finance from financial institutions.