The supply of and demand for EC business information in the United Kingdom

My intention this morning is to start the day's proceedings with a general overview of supply and demand as it relates to the business use of European Communities (EC) information in the United Kingdom. I will divide my paper into three main parts. I will look first at the nature of business demand for EC information, then at the sources from which demand is satisfied, and finally conclude with some observations on the match between supply and demand. In the time available I can do little more than sketch the principal characteristics of information provision, but by so doing I hope to provide something of a background and context against which to consider the more specialist papers which follow during the remainder of the day. I should also say that I use the phrase ‘EC information’ rather loosely as a convenient short‐hand expression to describe any kind of information by or about the EC which members of the business community might reasonably require in the conduct of their business activities.