"General-interest services" are services considered to be in the general interest by the public authorities and accordingly subjected to specific public-service obligations. They include non-market services (e.g. compulsory education, social protection), obligations of the State (e.g. security and justice) and services of general economic interest (e.g. energy and communications).

GMOs are organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been altered not by reproduction and/or natural recombination but by the introduction of a modified gene or a gene from another variety or species.

Globalisation refers to the phenomenon of the opening up of economies the main drive of which is liberalisation of international trade and capital movements, development of technological advance and formation of information society and deregulation.