The EU Council adopted today a new law on cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements with a view to ensuring that products, such as connected home cameras, fridges, TVs, and toys, are safe before they are placed on the market (cyber resilience act).
The new FAQs take into account input received from companies and cover issues such as the scope of the rules, application dates, and exemptions. For example, they clarify when companies may use estimates rather than having to collect value chain information from suppliers or partners.
With support provided via the Western Balkans Criminal Justice Project, hosted by Eurojust, an alleged large-scale coin forger has been arrested in Kosovo*. The arrested person is an employee of the North-Macedonian Ministry of the Interior and is suspected of producing around 2 million fake EUR 2 coins, which were about to be circulated into the Kosovar economy.
In 2023, the total government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD) across the EU stood at €123,684 million, equivalent to 0.73% of GDP. This was a 5.3% increase compared with 2022 (€117,424 million) and a 54.8% increase compared with 2013 (€79,886 million).
The EU Council has adopted the two legislative acts under the design package: the revised directive on the legal protection of designs and the amended regulation on community designs. The texts adopted today update the current design legislation to improve the protection of industrial designs in the era of digital designs and 3D printing.
Hungary is emerging from a period of shocks. The pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and crisis-related stimulus widened fiscal and external imbalances and triggered double-digit inflation in 2022. Thanks to an effective monetary policy response aided by falling commodity prices and a tighter fiscal stance in 2023, inflation has declined rapidly, while the labor market and financial sector have remained resilient.
The EU Commission has approved a €35 million Hungarian measure in favour of Hyginett Magyar-Amerikai Higiéniai Cikkeket Gyártó Kft (‘Hyginett’), which is part of the Procter and Gamble (P&G) group.
Estonia’s economy is caught in a prolonged recession. Against expectations of a rebound in the second half of last year, contraction in Estonia’s economic activity has extended further, along with weak external performance. Soft demand from key trading partners and loss of competitiveness have depressed exports, forcing firms to cut back on investment.
Remarks by Gita Gopinath, IMF First Deputy Managing Director, at the NBU-NBP Annual Research Conference, discussing the impacts from one such large shock, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: its direct effects on Ukraine itself, on neighboring countries, and on the global economy.
The euro continues to be the second most important international currency behind the dollar. Nonetheless, we are all aware of challenges created by the current geopolitical and economic context. Sound economic policies in the euro area and a deeper Economic and Monetary Union are at the top of the list” – Paschal Donohoe, President of the Eurogroup.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its Q1 2024 quarterly Risk Dashboard (RDB). It discloses aggregated statistical information for the largest EU/EEA institutions together with the Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ) a bi-annual qualitative survey with banks’ expectations for future trends and developments.
The European Works Council Directive will amend the existing directive on European Works Councils (EWCs), making them easier to set up, better funded and better protected.
The EU Commission’s assessment started on the basis of a complaint, alleging that the Flemish region and its municipalities granted unlawful State aid to three land managing nature organisations, namely Natuurpunt Beheer, Limburgs Landschap and Vzw Durme,
The NEB is a policy and funding initiative that strives for creating beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive places, products and ways of living. It weaves sustainability into our daily lives, linking the European Green Deal to innovative construction, advanced materials, and circular economy practices.
The EU Council agreed its negotiating position (‘general approach’) on a proposal to amend the existing rules governing European works councils (EWCs). Ministers also held other policy debates, e.g. on the social dimension of the internal market, with the aim of exploring the role of the labour market and social policies in creating a sustainable single market for all.
The EU Commission has expanded the online Access2Markets portal with a new public procurement tool ‘Procurement for Buyers’ which will serve as a portal for public procurement entities in EU Member States, helping them to understand and apply international procurement rules in a clear and consistent manner.
Since the Agreement, which temporarily facilitates road freight transport between the European Union and Ukraine, Ukrainian road exports to the EU have grown significantly. Specifically, export volume has increased by about two-thirds, while export value has risen by one-third.
The EU Council has adopted the two legislative acts under the design package: the revised directive on the legal protection of designs and the amended regulation on community designs. The texts adopted today update the current design legislation to improve the protection of industrial designs in the era of digital designs and 3D printing.
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general today sued Amazon.com, Inc. alleging that the online retail and technology company is a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power. The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.
Under the DSA, all providers of hosting services are required to provide users with clear and specific information, so-called statements of reasons, whenever they remove or restrict access to certain content. The new database will collect these statements of reasons in accordance with Article 24(5) of the DSA. This makes this database a first-of-its-kind regulatory repository, where data on content moderation decisions taken by providers of online platforms active in the EU are accessible to the general public at an unprecedented scale and granularity, enabling more online accountability.
The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units (‘CPUs’). Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules.
The questions to ask are not changing, but the answers are. Nowhere more so than digital markets, which have taken us into very different territory than the brick-and-mortar business models that characterised industry in the past. There’s been much discussion in recent years about what makes these markets so challenging from a competition perspective. Massive fixed costs and near zero distribution costs; unprecedented network effects, at a global scale thanks to the universality of the customer need and proposition; leading to extremely high scalability and platform dependencies, and the resulting winner-take-most dynamics.
MEPs: STEP should also support EU cohesion +++ 5 reasons to celebrate transnational cooperation with Interreg Baltic Sea Region +++ Seminar on Tackling Border Obstacles through and beyond Interreg on 26 September +++ Digital Alps Conference 2023 +++ Driving Urban Transition: Update on the DUT Call 2023 +++ Upcoming DUT events: Workshop at EU Regions week +++ Get ready for the next URBACT call for Innovation Transfer Networks.
The European Chips Act puts in place a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the EU’s security of supply, resilience and technological leadership in semiconductor technologies and applications. Semiconductors are the essential building blocks of digital and digitised products. From smartphones and cars, through critical applications and infrastructures for healthcare, energy, defence, communications and industrial automation, semiconductors are central to the modern digital economy. They are also at the centre of strong geostrategic interests and the global technological race.
Today, the Commission held its second High-level Digital Dialogue with China. Co-chaired by Vera Jourova, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, and Vice-Premier of China, Zhang Guoqing, this dialogue hosted in Beijing covered key issues such as platforms and data regulation, Artificial Intelligence, research and innovation, cross-border flow of industrial data, or the safety of products sold online. The Commissioner for Justice and consumer rights, Didier Reynders, also participated in the discussions by video message.
EESC: Conference on #ReskillEU – new jobs for energy and transport in Europe +++ CAP: EU Common Agricultural Policy as a driver for rural digital transformation +++ CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION: Opening Speech by EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira at the EU Parliament debate on Amending the proposed mechanism to resolve legal and administrative obstacles in a cross-border context +++ ITU: Digital Transformation and Cities Digest +++ Seventh meeting of United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Balady: Giving residents a voice in city services +++ URBACT: Unlocking the potential of testing actions +++ SMART ADMINISTRATION: Mit Datenkompetenz zur smarten Kommune – Fraunhofer IAO
At its meeting on 15 September 2023, the Federal Council approved additional support for digitalisation in Ukraine. This will enable citizens, refugees and businesses to access public services and have a political say despite the ongoing war. The ‘E-governance for Accountability and Participation’ (EGAP) project will receive a contribution of CHF 15 million this year.
Finland has worked long-term on its information policy, which has influenced the development of the European data economy and the technologies used in it. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government Programme aims for growth and competitiveness from the data economy and digitalisation.
EU Ministers of home affairs met in Luxembourg to discuss how to improve the EU’s return system. Also on the agenda was the entry/exit system and a draft law to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.
MEPs urge the Council to add sexual and reproductive healthcare and the right to a safe and legal abortion to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Notice provides an overview of typologies associated with U.S. passport card fraud, highlights select red flags to assist financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious activity, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
The step paves the way for regular and predictable support to Ukraine under the EU’s up to €50 billion Ukraine Facility. Financing under the Facility will help Ukraine to keep its administration running, pay salaries and pensions, provide basic public services, and support recovery and reconstruction while it continues to defend itself against Russia’s aggression.
The European Commission’s funding will be channelled via humanitarian organisations to the most vulnerable in need suffering from consequences of the conflict in Sudan itself, but also those who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
he country urgently needs a Haitian-led solution to end the current political vacuum, and to address the long-running political, security and humanitarian crisis. We call on all Haitian political forces to cooperate earnestly towards this objective.
The Commissioner will meet representatives of the digital finance, payments, and banking communities, and participate in several high-level meetings.
In March, the Commission presented a European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS), together with a European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP). This ambitious set of new actions aims to support the competitiveness and readiness of its defence industry.
The UN, EU, USA, Germany and many other nations condemn in the strongest terms the Iranian drone and missile attacks against Israel: “This is an unprecedented escalation and a threat to regional security”.
Julien Barnes-Dacey, Director, Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) comments on Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel on Sunday morning.
The directive will better equip member states in their fight against organised crime and the associated illegal profits. It will also oblige EU countries to ensure that authorities have the resources they need for their activities. The rules will also apply to violation of sanctions.
The meeting will be opened by Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Area, Iryna Vereshchuk.
“We all carry the bruises from Putin’s decisions. Europeans have struggled with the resulting pressures on the cost of living. And as gas storage levels ebbed and flowed, they became a barometer of our vulnerability, of our energy insecurity. But that barometer is now stable, trending in the right direction” – Ursula von der Leyen (EU) and Fatih Birol (IEA).
The EU’s product liability regime was established in 1985. Its purpose was to compensate injured persons for physical injury or damages of property that they have suffered due to a defective product, simply by proving that a product was defective and that the defect caused the injury or damage.
Encouraging other countries to transform the world’s energy matrix in order to make it ever cleaner is an important challenge for Brasil at a time when the country presides over the G20 and will be at the forefront of COP 30, to be held in 2025.
“We want to foster stronger ties and exchange innovative ideas between European and Japanese business leaders; we also want to deliver on our mutual goal to rapidly develop and rollout hydrogen technologies and related sustainable energy solutions” – EU Commissioner Kadri Simson.
The countries of the Continental Europe Synchronous Area are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
The new mechanism was created under the recently-adopted decarbonised gases and hydrogen package, and aims to accelerate investments by providing a clearer picture of the market situation of both off-takers and suppliers and facilitating contacts between them.
The task ahead is to put the climate action machinery to work fully, but also safely and fairly, so its benefits are equitably shared through a just transition. The role of civil society is essential – to ensure all voices have a chance to be heard, and to hold all of us to the promises that we make” – UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.
The collaboration will provide critical support for countries’ climate strategies—through an integrated, country-led approach to policy reforms and climate investments.
Die belgische Energieministerin Tinne Van der Straeten und der deutsche Energie-Staatssekretär Dr. Philipp Nimmermann haben sich darauf verständigt, die Entwicklung einer hybriden Offshore-Verbindung zu prüfen, um die großen regionalen Potenziale für Offshore-Windenergie zu heben und grenzüberschreitend miteinander zu verbinden.
“Tobacco consumption is the largest avoidable health risk in the European Union, responsible for 700 000 deaths each year. It also massively increases the risk of developing cancer, and smokers are also more likely to suffer a range of illnesses because of their tobacco use, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases” – EU Commissioner Kyriakides
The Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) aims to support the development and manufacturing of critical technologies relevant to the EU green and digital transitions, as well as the EU’s strategic sovereignty.
The 60 new COST Actions cover topics as wide and varied as managing Artificial Intelligence in archaeology to advancing understand of vascular liver disease, promoting indoor air cleaning, encouraging non-chemical weed management in medicinal plants, and building a peace research community in Europe.
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