Europe Daily News, 18 April 2023

COMPETITION

• Italy - PS12524 - Investigation launched against Bat Italia and Amazon for alleged misleading advertising of the Glo Hyper X2 heated tobacco device
• UK - The CMA is investigating the anticipated acquisition by Amazon.com, Inc of iRobot Corporation.
• UK - The CMA is investigating the completed acquisition by Bestway Panacea Holdings Limited of Lexon UK Holdings Limited and Asurex Limited - See the Initial enforcement order
• UK - The CMA consults on proposed undertakings in lieu of a reference offered by Asda Stores Ltd for its completed acquisition of Arthur Foodstores Ltd from Co-operative Group Ltd
• Competition authorities need to move fast and break up AI - Unless regulators act, Big Tech’s dominance over the digital economy will be cemented - Financial Times

STATE AID

• Answer given by Ms Vestager to a MEP written question - Revision of Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 (de minimis Regulation) to raise thresholds and reduce the administrative burden

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Revised Agenda for: Working Party on Customs Union - 19 April 2023
• Summary record of the Trade Defence Instruments Committee - 1 February 2023 and 11 January 2023
• Draft Opinion by MEP Salima Yenbou on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market
• Ukraine: Commission extends customs duty and VAT waiver on imports of life-saving goods for ten Member States - See the Draft Decision
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/825 of 17 April 2023 extending the anti-dumping duty imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1408 on imports of certain hot rolled stainless steel sheets and coils originating in Indonesia to imports of certain hot rolled stainless steel sheets and coils consigned from Türkiye, whether declared as originating in Türkiye or not
• Commission Notice - Guidance Document on the export, re-export and intra-EU trade of captive-born and bred live tigers and their parts and derivatives
• EU wins WTO case on India's tariffs on information and communication technology products - IP/23/1952

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Agenda for: Working Party Meeting on Technical Harmonisation (Fertilisers) - 03 May 2023

CHEMICAL

• Agenda for: REACH Committee meeting - 26 & 27 April 2023
• Minutes of: REACH Committee meeting - 01 March 2023
• Summary of European Commission Decisions on authorisations for the placing on the market for the use and/or for use of substances listed in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the REACH (C(2023) 2259 - Chromium trioxide & C(2023) 2321 - Chromium trioxide)

FINANCIAL SERVICES

• Minutes of: 1st official meeting of the Innovation Friendly Regulations Advisory Group (IFRAG) - 14 March 2023
• Answer given by Ms McGuinness to a MEP written question - Resources for EFRAG to develop ESRS
• EBA consults on approach to the resubmission of historical data under the EBA reporting framework
• MiFIR Review outcome could risk holding back EU equity markets - See Afme Statement
• EU faces last-ditch challenge from exchanges over trading reforms - Bourses warn consolidated tape plan could harm smaller European markets - Financial Times
• EU bonds have not lived up to high expectations - Investors have gradually realised that the debt’s triple A ratings do not reflect underlying credit characteristics - Financial Times

TAXATION

• Agenda for: Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) - 26 April 2023
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/823 of 13 April 2023 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Council Directive 2011/16/EU as regards the assessment and determination of equivalence of information in an agreement between the competent authorities of a Member State and a non-Union jurisdiction

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES

• Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 25 April 2023
  - State of play of the CAP Strategic Plans
• The farmers challenging the EU's green agenda - Brussels needs a greener agricultural sector to help meet its climate goals - Financial Times

ENERGY

• Agenda for: Third meeting of the ad hoc Steering Board of the EU Energy Platform - 24 April 2023

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Meeting relating to the implementation of Ambient Air Quality Directives - 21 April 2023
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/826 of 17 April 2023 laying down ecodesign requirements for off mode, standby mode, and networked standby energy consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulations (EC) No 1275/2008 and (EC) No 107/2009
• Green groups take EU Commission to court over sustainable investment list - The campaigners argue that Brussels failed to follow scientific advice in drawing up its assessment criteria - Politico.eu
• Carbon removals: more efforts needed to achieve carbon neutrality, say MEPs
• Fit for 55: Parliament adopts key laws to reach 2030 climate target

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Monitoring of chronic wasting disease (CWD) (IV)
• EFSA - External Scientific Report - Extensive literature review on plasticisers
• EFSA - Statement - Risk assessment of additional information on maize MIR162
• EFSA - Evaluation of confirmatory data following Article 12 MRL review and modification of the existing MRLs in pome fruits for pyridaben
• EFSA - Safety of water lentil protein concentrate from a mixture of Lemna gibba and Lemna minor as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283
• EFSA - Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of an essential oil obtained from the oleoresin of Pinus pinaster Aiton (pine white oil) for use in all animal species (FEFANA asbl)
• EFSA - Scientific opinion on the presence of DNA in the feed additive consisting of l‐isoleucine produced by Corynebacterium glutamicum KCCM 80185 for all animal species (CJ Europe GmbH)
• EFSA - Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of a tincture derived from the fruit of Pimpinella anisum L. (anise tincture) for use in all animal species (FEFANA asbl)

DIGITAL & INFORMATION SOCIETY

• A call to action on very powerful AI from the European Parliament
• The Netherlands - ACM is readying itself for enforcing the new EU rules regarding the digital economy
• EU Council clarifies liability rules for software updates, machine learning - Euractiv.com

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on Cyber issues - 20 April 2023
• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on Cyber issues - 19 April 2023
• EDPB adopts final version of Guidelines on data subject rights - right of access
• EDPB adopts final versions of the targeted updates of Guidelines for identifying a controller or processor’s lead supervisory authority and the Guidelines on data breach notification.
• Answer given by Mr Breton to a MEP written question - Measures to protect users’ privacy and personal data following decisions to ban TikTok from official devices

TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

• Agenda for: European ITS Committee - (EIC) - 20 April 2023
• Agenda for: Working Party on Land Transport - 19 April 2023
• Agenda for: Working Party on Transport - Intermodal Questions & Networks - 21 April 2023
• Agenda for: Meeting of the EP TRAN Committee - 24 & 25 April 2023

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Family reunification: European Union law precludes national legislation which requires, without exception, that an application for family reunification be submitted in person at a competent diplomatic post (See CPR Nº 60/2023 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-1/23, PPU Afrin)
• European arrest warrant: a manifest risk that the health of the requested person will be jeopardised justifies temporarily suspending his or her surrender and obliges the executing authority to ask the issuing authority for information concerning the conditions in which it intends to prosecute or detain that person (See CPR Nº 59/2023 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-699/21, E. D. L. (Motif de refus fondé sur la maladie))
• MEPs approve visa liberalisation with Kosovo

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the Council on Foreign Relations’ C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics - Central banks in a fragmenting world

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• Revised Agenda for: Meeting of the Coreper (Part.2) - 19 April 2023
• Possible items for College agendas from 26 April to 28 June 2023

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Speech by President von der Leyen at the EP Plenary on the need for a coherent strategy for EU-China relations
• MEPs call for clarity and unity in policy on China - See also the S&D Group,  EPP Group Statement
• Draft Report by MEP Lukas Mandl on EU-Switzerland relations - Deadline for tabling amendments : 11 May 2023
• Working Document by MEP Tomas Tobé (DEVE Committee) on the conclusion of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union, of the one part, and the members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific (OACPS) States, of the other part
• G7 Japan 2023 - Foreign Ministers’ Communiqué - April 18, 2023

RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

• Germany pushes for nuclear energy in EU’s next Russia sanctions package

BREXIT

• Council Decision on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Specialised Committee on Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation established by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, as regards the establishment of a standard form for requests for mutual assistance referred to in Article 635(1) of that Agreement