The Department of Economic and Energy deals with competitiveness, trade policy, cohesion and competition issues, telecommunications and media, policies and business:

COMPETITIVENESS:

• Industrial policy
• Horizontal Internal Market
• Better regulation
• SME policy
• Europe 2020 Strategy
• European Semester
• Harmonization of laws / mutual recognition in the areas of free movement of goods, service
• European standardization policy
• Information procedure technical regulations
• Technical Harmonisation
• Services, trade, liberal professions
• Professional Qualifications
• Free movement of EU citizens
• Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD)
• Tourism issues
• Transfer of arms
• Economic statistics
• Task Force Greece
• European Space Policy

TRADE POLICY:

• Joint EU trade policy (incl. Investment protection, trade in services)
• Bilateral trade agreements of the EU, in particular TTIP, CETA, EU-Japan
• Specific questions of foreign economic / commercial policy, esp.
• Generalized System of preferences, tariff quotas and suspensions
• Trade protection (u. a. anti-dumping / anti-subsidy)
• Market access and origin matters
• Textile trade, commodities
• World Trade Organization (WTO), including multilateral and plurilateral agreements
• Economic and commercial aspects of the EU's relations with third countries (USA, Latin America and others..)
• Foreign Trade Political Affairs at the OECD, G7 / G8
• Trade and Investment Promotion
• Dual-use items (Dual Use Regulation)

COHESION AND COMPETITION:

• Structural, regional and cohesion policy
• State aid control policy
• Competition policy
• Public contracts / procurement law
• Legal Adviser for infringement proceedings
• Europe Legal issues of gambling
• General interest

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA POLICIES:

• The Digital Single Market strategy
• Review of the Electronic Communications Framework/ European Electronic Communications Code
• e-privacy directive
• Free flow of data
• Digital Infrastructure
• IT-security
• Roaming
• e-accessibility / e-inclusion / e-government
• Internet Governance (ICANN / IANA)
• CWP Telecommunications and Information Society
• Communications Committee (COCOM), Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) and Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC)
• CWP Audiovisual
• Revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive
• Liberalization of postal services
• CWP Postal Services

BUSINESS LAW:

• Intellectual and industrial property rights (copyright, patent, utility model and design patents, trademarks, WIPO)
• Corporate, Accounting Law
• Law against Unfair Competition
• Insurance Law including automobile liability insurance

ENERGY POLICY:

• Horizontal issues of energy policy
• Climate and energy policy 2030
• Energy security
• Internal energy market, in particular electricity and gas
• Energy grids and infrastructures
• Renewable energies
• Energy efficiency
• Energy labelling and ecodesign
• External energy policies (incl. Energy Charta, Energy Community)
• Energy technologies
• Nuclear policy (nuclear safety and security, radiation protection, disposal)

Head of department: Norbert Schultes

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy