News

In a nutshell: The European Commission has published its strategy on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds, complemented by an own-initiative Draft Report from the European Parliament’s IMCO Committee. Trilogues on the agricultural geographical indication proposal continue after the summer break. The Commission published Key Performance Indicators under its Live Piracy Recommendation. A Proposal on Financial Data Access implicates domains. The European Commission adopted an adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which the EDPB confirmed in a note. The ENISA mandate and EU cybersecurity certification framework are up for evaluation. The path toward trilogues on the Cyber Resilience Act is cleared by the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee and the Council of the European Union. The Spanish Presidency issued a compromise text on the Proposal to combat child sexual abuse online. For some very large actors, the Digital Services Act has started taking effect. The European Parliament and Council have approved a trilogue compromise on the Energy Efficiency Directive.

In a nutshell: The GI proposal for agricultural products is expected to be finalised during the Spanish Presidency. JURI approved new competences for EUIPO to manage the registration of crafts/industrial GIs. The Council of the EU adopted the e-Evidence Regulation, as well as establishing a High-Level Expert Group on access to data for effective law enforcement. The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have reached a provisional political agreement on the European Digital Identity Framework. The European Commission launched four projects to test the European Digital Identity Wallet, published a proposal to review the GDPR, and plans to publish a Recommendation on integrated child protection systems in the EU. ENISA issued recommendations on Digital Identity Standards. IMCO adopted its opinion on the Cyber Resilience Act and approved its draft opinion on the Proposal to combat child sexual abuse online. LIBE published a draft report on the proposal to extend the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime.

In a nutshell: The incoming Spanish Council Presidency has published its work programme for the second half of 2023. The EU institutions are close to finalising the legislation on the GI protection for crafts/industrial products, while trilogues have begun for the proposal for the GI protection for agricultural products. The Commission has opened a call for tender for a study on IP rights enforcement and counterfeiting. The European Parliament’s ITRE Committee has published over 500 amendments to the Cyber Resilience Act. ENISA has published its report on DNS identity and the verification of domain name holders. The Council has shared its conclusions on the EU Policy on Cyber Defence. The European Parliament has approved the e-Evidence Regulation in Plenary. The EDPS has issued Opinions on the Commission Recommendation to open negotiations on International Agreements on the exchange of personal data with five South American states. The CJEU has clarified when a GDPR infringement may give rise to a right to compensation. The Swedish Council Presidency has shared a compromise text on proposed legislation to combat child sexual abuse online. The European Parliament voted on its compromise text and negotiating mandate to enter into interinstitutional trilogues on the AI Act.

In a nutshell: The European institutions have concluded their trilogue negotiations on the GI protection of crafts and industrial products, while the Swedish Council presidency has put forward amendments to the sister proposal on the GI protection for agricultural products. The European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on standard essential patents, and released its recommendation on combatting online piracy. Commissioner Reynders outlined upcoming plans for the revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation. Commissioner Breton introduced the European Cyber Shield. The Commission proposed a new Cyber Solidarity Act and a targeted amendment to the Cyber Security Act. In data protection, the EDPS has submitted input on the Commission’s GDPR review, and the EDPB adopted guidelines on data subjects’ right to access. The draft Insolvency Directive attracted submissions from the European Economic and Social Committee and the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The European Parliament’s LIBE Committee has published its draft report on proposed legislation to combat child sexual abuse online.

In a nutshell: The European Council adopted its conclusions, committing to strengthening work on digital solutions, such as eIDs. The EU institutions started trilogue negotiations on the GI protection for crafts/industrial products proposal. The Swedish presidency published its suggested amendments to the proposal for a regulation on GI protection for agricultural products, while the European Committee of the Regions issued its Opinion. The European Commission shared the Consumer Scoreboard. The EDPB circulated guidelines on certification as a tool for transfers and initiated a coordinated enforcement action. The European Parliament assigned the leadership of negotiations on the Cyber Resilience Act to ITRE. ENISA published a report on AI cybersecurity.

In a nutshell: The European Parliamentary committees have finalised their work on the GI protection of crafts/industrial products proposal and the EUID regulation, and expressed criticism over the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The European Commission published the European Digital Identity Wallet Architecture and Reference Framework, and a proposal for Gigabit Infrastructure Act, while seeking public views for the upcoming GDPR enforcement review and the future of the connectivity sector. The EU is also revising its insolvency law and has included domain registries in its scope. The Swedish presidency proposed a list of critical products under the CRA. The EDPS is piloting the use of Free and Open Source Software. ENISA published its multiannual single-programming report for 2023-2025. The Leipzig Regional Court ruled in favour of Sony against Quad9.

In a nutshell: EU ambassadors and LIBE endorsed a political agreement on e-Evidence. Europol and Eurojust published a situation report on access to electronic evidence by law enforcement and judicial authorities in 2022. IMCO adopted its opinion on the proposal for a regulation on GI protection for craft and industrial products, while JURI adopted its opinion on the proposal for a regulation on GI protection for agricultural products. MEPs in AGRI expressed concerns over EUIPO’s increased competence within the GI reform. The EDPB adopted reports on cookie banners and the use of cloud services by the public sector. A 2022 consumer protection “sweep” identified an increase of dark patterns within web shops.

In a nutshell: Sweden is holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of the year. The geographical indications reform is moving through the clogs of the EU legislative machine, with the Council being slightly more ahead with the discussions on the crafts and industrial products. The NIS 2 Directive entered into force, paving the way towards its upcoming implementation phase in the Member States. Member States are divided over the provisional agreement on the e-Evidence package, while the European Parliament endorsed the ratification of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention. The European Commission is expected to reform the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation.

In a nutshell: November was a fruitful month for negotiations in the EU bubble, with both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament adopting the NIS 2 Directive, and the European Parliament adopting the CER Directive. Co-legislators also reached a political agreement on the e-Evidence proposal. The Council adopted its General Approach on the EUID proposal, whilst the IMCO Committee issued its Opinion on the file. As for geographical indications, the AGRI Committee issued its Draft Report on the proposal for agricultural products and received numerous amendments, which was also the case for IMCO and JURI regarding amendments on the craft and industrial products proposal. The EDPS released its Opinion on the Cyber Resilience Act.

In a nutshell: The European Commission revealed its Work Programme for 2023 and issued its proposal for a Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure, whilst the Council released its conclusions on ICT supply chain security. The Digital Services Act was published in the Official Journal of the EU. Parliamentary committees released documents on the reform of the geographical indications’ framework in the EU for craft and industrial products. Commissioner Johansson confirmed that blocking orders under the CSAM Regulation would not apply to DNS4EU. The European Court of Justice’s Advocate General stated that national authorities should be able to access data linked to IP addresses where no other means to identify holders of addresses suspected of copyright infringement is available.