CODE OF CONDUCT TO BOOST COMPETITION IN DEFENCE INDUSTRY NEARS LIGHT OF DAY.

European Union governments took a step towards injecting more competition into the European market for defence equipment by agreeing that a voluntary, non-binding 'code of conduct' on procurement would be the fastest way to make progress, the European Defence Agency (EDA) said on September 23. National armaments directors, coming together for a meeting of the Agency's Steering Board, looked at a set of principles drawn up by the Agency and instructed it to turn the ideas into a draft code for possible approval by EU Defence Ministers in November. At the same time, the Steering Board stressed that any code of conduct would have to contain...