All European Commission articles
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Article
CEC welcomes EU comprise on ecodesign
The European Footwear Confederation (CEC) welcomed a compromise reached on Dec. 4 between the European Parliament and the European Council regarding proposed legislation on ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation launched by the European Commission on March 30, 2022. It also believes that the forthcoming legislation could relaunch leather as a ...
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ArticleEU to ban the destruction of unsold clothing and footwear
During the night of Dec. 4, the European Parliament and the European Council reached a provisional agreement, at a technical level, on revising the European Union’s ecodesign framework for sustainable products, the parliament said. The parties plan to introduce “ecodesign” rules for products, ban the destruction of unsold clothing and ...
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News briefs
Indonesia and EU aim to reach a free trade deal in 2023
The European Union and Indonesia aim to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of 2023 despite numerous trade disputes, said Vincent Piket, the EU’s ambassador in Jakarta. Piket told journalists that European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen and the Indonesian President Joko Widodo had decided in the ...
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ArticleAmazon, EU reach deal to end antitrust investigation
The European Commission said it has made commitments offered by Amazon legally binding under European Union antitrust rules, allowing to resolve competition concerns over the U.S. online retailer’s use of non-public marketplace seller data and possible bias in granting sellers access to its Buy Box and Prime program. In July ...
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ArticleEU institutions reach preliminary deal to combat deforestation
The European Parliament and the European Council have reached a provisional agreement to introduce regulation to establish deforestation-free supply chains in the European Union. The products affected by the proposed legislation include leather, timber and paper. “Once adopted and applied, the new law will ensure that a set of key ...
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ArticleEU expects to strike a trade deal with Indonesia in 2024
The European Union expects to be able to reach a free trade agreement with Indonesia within two years, despite a trade dispute regarding palm oil and nickel, according the European Commission’s Executive Vice President and Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis. Dombrovskis believes it is possible to reach a comprehensive economic ...
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News briefs
EU court hold ups decision to fine Google
The European Union’s General Court has upheld a decision made by the European Commission to fine the U.S. research engine Google and its parent company Alphabet for abuse of dominant position but cut the compensation to €4.125 billion from €4.340 billion. Alphabet is jointly and severally liable in the amount ...
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News briefs
EU plans to ban products made with forced labour
The European Commission has proposed to prohibit products made with forced labour on the European Union market. The proposal covers all products, including those made in the EU for domestic consumption and exports, and imported goods, without targeting specific companies or industries. “This comprehensive approach is important because an estimated ...
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News briefs
EU starts membership talks with Albania, North Macedonia
On July 19, 2022, the European Union started membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. “What a historic moment. Today, Albania and North Macedonia are opening the accession negotiations to the European Union,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. “You and your citizens, you and ...
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ArticleEU to use trade agreements to promote sustainability
The European Commission said that it took ”a major step in making EU trade greener, fairer and more sustainable” thanks to a new plan to enhance the contribution of trade agreements in protecting the climate, environment and labor rights worldwide. In a communication on “The power of trade partnerships: together ...
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ArticleEU proposes new consumer rights on sustainability and a ban on greenwashing
The European Commission is proposing to amend the European Union Consumer Rights Directive to oblige traders to provide consumers with information on products’ durability and reparability with the aim of empowering consumers for the green transition. The measure is one of many included in a wider package called the European ...
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News briefs
EU bans exports of luxury goods to Russia
The European Union has toughened trade sanctions against Russia with the adoption of a fourth package of measures, which includes an export ban on luxury goods “to directly hit Russian elites”. The EU is sanctioning the country for ”its brutal aggression against Ukraine and its people.” The sanctions ”will further ...
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News briefs
EU probes Pierre Cardin, Ahlers for alleged breach of competition rules
The European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Pierre Cardin and Ahlers have breached European Union competition rules by restricting cross-border and online sales of Pierre Cardin-licensed products. The French fashion house licenses its trademark for the manufacture and distribution of products. The German clothing manufacturer ...
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ArticleEU proposes new rules to fight deforestation, promote circular economy
The European Commission has adopted three new initiatives proposing rules to curb deforestation, to facilitate intra-EU waste shipments to promote circular economy and tackle the export of waste to third countries. From 1990 to 2020 the world has lost 420 million hectares of forest, an area larger than the European ...
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News briefs
EU asks for comments on 'vertical' supply chain agreements
The European Commission has launched a final public consultation on the anti-trust implications of so-called “vertical agreements” between companies operating at different levels of the supply chain in order to update and improve its Vertical Block Exemption Regulation ( VBER ) and the related Vertical Guidelines . The EU ...
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News briefs
EU postpones introduction of digital tax
The European Commission has postponed until October a European Union proposal to introduce a tax on digital companies to help fund a recovery plan aiming at stimulating the continent’s economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. A spokesperson for the commission said it is focusing attention on resolving ...
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News briefs
EU updates VAT rules for international online trade
New EU tax rules for orders placed with non-European online retailers will come into force at the beginning of July. The most important change is the elimination of the previous exemption limit of €22 for direct (B2C) imports. This means that import VAT will be due on all packages, ...
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Article
EU Commission calls to ‘strongly discourage’ intra-EU travel
The European Commission has proposed the European Council to discourage non-essential travel between European Union member states amid high Covid-19 infection rates and concerns about new virus variants, while avoiding border closures or blanket prohibitions that would impede the functioning of the internal market and supply chains. ...
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News briefs
EU updates supplier/wholesaler/retailer regulations
The European Commission is sounding out companies involved in the sale and distribution of consumer goods and their trade associations to provide input for the reform of a set of guidelines governing dealings between suppliers, wholesalers and retailers. First issued in 2010 and called the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation – ...
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ArticleEU to cut greenhouse emission by 55% by 2030
The 27 members of the European Union agreed on Dec. 11, after a night of negotiations, to reduce by at least 55 percent their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, increasing the target from a previous objective of 40 percent. “Europe will reduce emissions by at ...
