Raising the retirement age of EU staff, cutting the costs of their salaries and pension adjustment method and reducing their paid travelling time are among proposals, approved by the Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday, to make substantial savings on EU administration costs. The committee also agreed on a series of provisions to improve efficiency and prevent conflicts of interest.

A photo, a film or a poem still covered by copyright, but whose right holder is not identifiable, would be made publicly available across the EU, under draft legislation voted by the Legal Affairs Committee on Thursday. This legislation would allow everyone to access so-called "orphan works" and push forward the project of making Europe's cultural heritage available online.

An Italian woman who marries a German and settles in Belgium would have the option of choosing whether her heirs inherit under Italian or Belgian law, under new rules backed unanimously by Legal Affairs Committee MEPs on Thursday.

The EU came a step closer to getting a single patent system on Tuesday, when a deal struck by European Parliament representatives and the Polish Presidency of the Council was backed by the Legal Affairs Committee. The new EU patent would be substantially cheaper and thus more competitive than current ones. Parliament succeeded in adapting the proposed regime to small firms' needs.

Plans for an EU unitary patent to cut costs for firms and boost the EU's competitiveness were agreed by Legal Affairs Committee and Council Presidency negotiators on Thursday. MEPs succeeded in adapting the proposed regime to small firms' needs, but the deal still needs to approved by Parliament as a whole and the 25 EU Member States involved.

The EU patent "package" moved a step closer to final approval on Tuesday, when the Legal Affairs Committee approved a mandate to open formal negotiations with national governments to agree to create unitary patent, so as to cut costs for firms and boost the EU's competitiveness. Parliament will strive to adapt the proposed regime to small firms' needs.

An Italian woman who marries a German and settles in Belgium would have the option of choosing whether her heirs inherit under Italian or Belgian law, under new rules backed unanimously by Legal Affairs Committee MEPs on Tuesday.

Plans to draw up EU model contracts for cross-border trade, which firms could use to make deals with firms and consumers in other EU Member States, were approved by the Legal Affairs Committee on Tuesday. The models would be backed by an EU contract law system, offered as an alternative to coping with disparate national laws. MEPs say that this system could boost single market trade by improving consumer protection and certainty as to the law. Its use would be entirely voluntary.

Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee wants the EU to take steps to improve debt recovery across EU borders and thereby encourage trade. To this end, it is asking the European Commission to bring forward new legislation laying down measures for the freezing and disclosure of debtors' assets in cross-border cases.

Plans to use the enhanced co-operation procedure to create a unitary patent system in the EU, as requested by 12 Member States last year, were approved by the Legal Affairs Committee on 27 January. If Parliament as a whole and Council authorise this use of enhanced cooperation, the Commission will have to table two legislative proposals - one on the language regime and the other establishing the single patent.