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In a nutshell: The European Commission unveiled its Digital Targets for 2030. Four EU countries called for European digital sovereignty in a letter to the European Commission. The European Data Protection Supervisor issued an opinion on the Europol Regulation proposal and the NIS 2 Directive proposal. The European Court of Justice delivered a judgment about the admissibility of evidence in cases of access to electronic communications traffic and location data. The Council of the EU adopted conclusions on the EU cybersecurity strategy. The European Parliament adopted its resolution on the implementation of the GDPR. EUIPO published a discussion paper on challenges and good practices to prevent the misuse of domain names for IP infringements.

In a nutshell: Portugal is holding the presidency in the Council of the EU until the end of June 2021. Trilogue negotiations on the e-Evidence legislative package have started. The European Data Protection Board adopted the statement on the second additional protocol to the Budapest convention, outlining the problems with its domain name registration provisions. The Council of the EU adopted its position on ePrivacy. The Dutch government set out its position on the proposal of the EU Digital Services Act. The EU intends to criminalise hate speech and hate crime.

In a nutshell: The end of 2020 was full of policy and legislative proposals to fill the EU bubble’s agenda in 2021. The European Parliament’s LIBE committee approved its position on the e-Evidence package. The European Commission published the following legislative proposals, that are relevant for internet infrastructure actors: Europol’s revised mandate to increase its cooperation with private parties; the proposal for the Digital Services Act; the proposal for the NIS 2 Directive; and the proposal for a directive on the resilience of critical entities. In the coming months, the Commission is planning to come up with legislation on tackling the issue of child sexual abuse online and on digital identity.

In a nutshell: The European Commission published a New Consumer Agenda, an Intellectual Property Action Plan and a proposal for a Data Governance Act regulation. The Representative Action Directive is awaiting its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The European Data Protection Board issued its post-Schrems II recommendations for data transfers. The European Data Protection Supervisor issued an opinion on the temporary e-Privacy derogation proposal. The European Parliament’s LIBE Committee proposed amendments to the temporary e-Privacy derogation proposal.

In a nutshell: The European Commission published its 2021 work programme and announced its plans for the Digital Markets Act. The European Parliament adopted all three of its own-initiative reports on the Digital Services Act. Europol published the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment for 2020. The Council of the EU agreed on the negotiation mandate on the temporary e-Privacy derogation. The European Data Protection Supervisor issued advice for the EU institutions on complying with Schrems II and issued a decision on Europol’s “big data challenge”. The European Court of Justice held that mass retention of electronic communication metadata is against fundamental rights.

In a nutshell: Three European Parliament committees adopted their own-initiative reports on the Digital Services Act. The European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) published its Draft Report on the European strategy for data. The European Commission proposed a temporary e-Privacy Directive derogation to combat child sexual abuse, and published its first report on the status of the rule of law across the EU. The European Data Protection Board published guidelines on the concepts of “data controller” and “data processor”. The Advocate General (AG) of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) Szpunar issued a non-binding opinion in a case concerning hyperlinking.

In a nutshell: Germany took over the presidency of the Council of the EU starting from 1 July. The European Commission published the EU Security Union Strategy and the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse. It is also planning to revise the intellectual property rights protection framework in the EU and is currently consulting the public on its eIDAS Regulation revision plans. The European Parliament’s Committees have finalised a few Opinions on the numerous own-initiative reports to give more context and drive the legislative debate on the Digital Services Act. The European Court of Justice ruled that intellectual property rightholders cannot require social platforms to give out IP addresses, and invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Decision in its ground-breaking ruling concerning Facebook. The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice issued an opinion in the case about platform liability for intellectual property rights infringements committed by end-users.

In a nutshell: The European Commission has revealed more details about the planned reforms on the NIS Directive, the protection of critical infrastructure in the EU, Europol’s strengthened mandate, and the eIDAS Regulation. Additionally, the European Commission is consulting the public on the Digital Services Act and has published its evaluation report of the GDPR. Members of the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group have been selected. The Council of the EU published its conclusions on EU external action on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism. Members of the European Parliament filed amendments for the own-initiative reports on the Digital Services Act.

In a nutshell: Ten EU Member States expressed their views on the upcoming Digital Services Act. The own-initiative Draft Report on the Digital Services Act by the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) received more than 900 amendments, together with another Draft Opinion from the Legal Affairs Committee. European Parliament’s think tanks published a series of studies on the current legislative framework around intermediary liability online, including further suggestions for the Digital Services Act. The European Data Protection Board published its annual report for 2019. The European Commission has coordinated a screening of fraudulent websites related to COVID-19, in cooperation with the EU consumer protection authorities.

In a nutshell: Europol issued its report on cybercrime and the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Parliament has been busy with numerous committees advancing on their draft reports and opinions for the Digital Services Act. The European Court of Justice ruled that Amazon is not infringing trademark rights by storing infringing goods on behalf of a third-party seller. The Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice issued an opinion in the case of the enforcement of intellectual property rights against YouTube.