Otherwise we could not prevent the application of penalties, Rena."

However, the Commission should clarify the procedure in relation to the application of penalties within that averaging system.

Under the German federal system, individual States are most responsible for the administration of justice and the application of penalties.

In other words, application of penalties is not demanded if the same end can be achieved by means of other legal instruments.

They call for a common definition and application of penalties relating to pornography in an age where the Internet has enabled sexual exploitation to transcend all frontiers.

But in return the rebels are insisting on concessions that President Duarte and the army in particular are likely to find difficult to accept, including the "judgment and the application of penalties to those responsible for massacres and political crimes."

It will also be necessary to have common rules on jurisdiction and competence in order, above all, to prevent duplicated proceedings, just as there must be common rules for the application of penalties for re-offending or for the accumulation of penalties.