Resistance in the Council has defeated proposals aiming to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market for satellite data. The Commission announced, on 1 July, that it will withdraw its proposed directive - COM(2014)344. The aim of the directive was to promote common rules for the commercial distribution of Earth observation data, and to provide a framework for the distribution of high-resolution data (which are mostly used for institutional and military purposes, but are also sold on the image…