"associated facilities" means those facilities associated with an electronic communications network and/or an electronic communications service which enable and/or support the provision of services via that network and/or service or have the potential to do so, and include number or address translation systems, conditional access systems and electronic programme guides, as well as physical infrastructure such as entries to buildings, building wiring, towers and other supporting constructions, ducts, conduits, masts, antennae, manholes and cabinets and all other network elements which are not active ;

The European Commission has approved under the Merger Regulation a proposed joint venture between subsidiaries of German steel companies ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter for the worldwide marketing of hot rolled piles and sheet piling and construction equipment.

Commission clears JV between ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter in the sheet piling construction equipment sector

(1) Directive 2000/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the noise emission in the environment by equipment for use outdoors has been the subject of a review by a group of experts set up by the Commission services, the Working Group on Outdoor Equipment.

(6) Since the objectives of those amendments, namely, to ensure the ongoing functioning of the internal market by requiring equipment used outdoors to comply with harmonised environmental noise provisions, cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States acting alone and can therefore, by reason of their scale and effects, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.

(2) In its report dated 8 July 2004, the Working Group on Outdoor Equipment concluded that a number of the stage II limits due to be mandatorily applied as from 3 January 2006 were not technically feasible.