2. This Directive shall not affect in any way the exercise of fundamental rights as recognised in Member States and at Union level, including the right or freedom to strike or to take other action covered by the specific industrial relations systems in Member States, in accordance with national law and/or practice.

Witnesses expressed concern over the impact of the legal system on the work of journalists: problems with access to information laws, the absence of adequate whistleblower legislation, the absence of appropriate policies to protect journalists from police searches, and Section 4 of the Security of Information Act, which makes it a crime for a journalist to possess a government secret.

This Thematic Strategy should therefore make an important contribution to clarifying the applicability of producer responsibility in different circumstances, building on an assessment of existing schemes and of analytical work done at national and international level.

A multi-annual scheme would imply a variable annual budget, as the Commission would be obliged to commit the full amount the first year.

A number of organisational changes have been tried in order to improve productivity, quality and working conditions (quality circles, just-in-time systems, team work).

The package, in the form of a Communication to the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the European Monetary Institute and the Economic and Social Committee, includes: - a proposal for a Directive, which would impose an obligation on banks to respect contractual obligations as regards timing of transfers, outlaw double-charging, require lost payments to be reimbursed and sets the transparency rules applicable to transfers; - a call on the banking sector to enter, in agreement with consumer representatives, into voluntary commitments which anticipate the implementation of the provisions laid down in its proposed Directive; - a draft notice concerning the principles which the Commission intends to use when applying EC Treaty comp ...[+++]etition rules to cross-border credit transfer systems (concerning, for example, agreements between banks setting up such systems) - a work programme of accompanying measures in such areas as the preparation of payment systems for the transition to a single currency, risk reduction in cross-border payment systems, transparency of so-called face-to-face cross-border payments (such as credit card purchases in other Member States) and an analysis of the regulatory implications of new generation payment instruments such as electronic purses and wallets.