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very complicated…. February 10, 2010

Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closed

consulting the “general public” February 8, 2010

Posted by Bradley in : consultation , comments closed

The EU’s consultation on information sharing between the EU and the US, which purports to invite responses from stakeholders, including the “general public” doesn’t really seemed geared to generating responses from the public at large. It’s full of jargon and probably only makes sense to people who know quite a lot about the subject matter already (although the consultation page does provide links to relevant documents):

Should the agreement provide for modalities and consequences of “accountability”, e.g. internal and external review procedures? Should the agreement notably provide for a joint review mechanism?.. If there is no possibility to directly access one’s own personal data for justified reasons, should the agreement provide for the possibility of indirect verification through an independent authority responsible for the oversight of the processing in the sending or recipient country?.. Should the modalities for transparency and assistance to data subjects by US and EU data protection supervisory authorities be spelled out in the agreement?

oft study February 4, 2010

Posted by Bradley in : consumers , comments closed

The OFT has announced a new market study:

The OFT would welcome views and evidence on when and how contracts cause problems for consumers or firms. It will be contacting key parties directly, including Government departments and consumer bodies. Others who wish to make a submission should visit www.oft.gov.uk/consumer-contracts or email consumercontracts@oft.gsi.gov.uk.

group of experts in banking issues February 2, 2010

Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closed

The EU Commission is looking for candidates for this new group (which, according to the mandate, is meant to ensure direct communication between the banking industry, consumers and the European Commission). Here are the criteria:

proven knowledge, competence and experience, including at European or international level, in the field of banking regulation.. commitment to European issues and the internal market in financial services, ability to talk to relevant industry and public entities, willingness to commit time, neutrality and fair judgement.. interest in formulating policies in banking regulation to respond to the challenges created by the financial crisis .. good knowledge of written and spoken English

Neutrality, within the constraints of a commitment to “European issues”, whatever they are.

moment of incomprehension February 2, 2010

Posted by Bradley in : life , comments closed

As I’m doing the morning school run this morning I’m listening to a woman on the radio explaining her belief that people (the government) should not be able to take money away from some people to spend on other people, and I drive into a large hole that seems to have opened up in the road since yesterday (well, it’s not entirely new but suddenly much deeper – we have had a lot of rain the last few days). And I think about what it would be like to live in a world where you only got access to the roads you could pay for, or the health care, or the clean water, or the police protection you could pay for ………