EUROVOC descriptor: fixing of prices supply agricultural product aid to agriculture peripheral region regional aid

Question No. 195 Mr. Brian Masse: With regard to the procurement practices and policies governing the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA): (a) which set of federal laws govern procurement by CATSA; (b) have CATSA’s major screening equipment procurement processes undertaken in 2009 and 2010 been subject to a legal procedure (such as Treasury Board contracting policy); (c) which set of laws or contracting procedures will govern CATSA’s October 2011 procurement for Next-Generation Computed Tomography X-Ray equipment; (d) which government bodies provide oversight for procurement processes conducted by CATSA; (e) what is the overall annual value of procurement carried out by CATSA; (f) what portion of this procurement is tende ...[+++]red; (g) does CATSA maintain conflict of interest policies for its employees and procurements and, if yes, how does CATSA enforce these policies; (h) how do CATSA procurement actions foster competition to ensure best value to the Canadian taxpayer; (i) does CATSA or Transport Canada establish the regulatory requirements and approval processes for security technology; and (j) how many of the checkpoint x-ray systems acquired by CATSA through a sole-source procurement process in 2009 were deployed in British Columbia for the Olympics?

In this context and, more particularly, in the framework of deepening the EU’s dialogue with the major suppliers which surround it, the Commission will develop an energy market and prices observation system within its services. The objective is to ensure greater transparency and more predictability in the supply of energy to the EU in order to better identify and anticipate the dangers that may threaten the stability of these supplies, and in order to facilitate the realisation of investments and the development of appropriate infrastructures.

Given its dependence on imported energy, the EU is increasingly exposed to the risk of economic disruption of supply as a result of the volatility both of oil prices and of gas prices which are still indexed to oil prices.

(23) Should a shortage on the world market result in higher prices on the world market than in the Community, or should all or part of the Community be unable to obtain normal supplies, it must be possible to act in good time to avoid a situation where regional surpluses are exported to third countries while an abnormal rise in Community prices makes it impossible to continue to supply consumers at reasonable prices.

(2) The particular geographical situation of the French overseas departments (FOD) imposes additional transport costs in supplying essential products, for processing and as agricultural inputs. In addition, objective factors arising as a result of insularity and extreme remoteness impose further constraints on operators and producers in the FOD that severely handicap their activities. This is true particularly in the case of the supply of cereals, which are by and large not produced and cannot be produced on a large scale in the FOD, rendering them dependent on external sources of supply. These handicaps can be alleviated by lowering the price of these essential ...[+++]products. It is therefore appropriate to introduce specific supply arrangements with a view to ensuring supply to the FOD from local production and to mitigating the additional costs of the remoteness, insularity and outermost location of the FOD.