Europe Daily News, 08 June 2023

COMPETITION

• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11129 - Bain Capital / Apfarge / WHI)
• Commission carries out unannounced inspections in the synthetic turf sector - IP/23/3133
• Commission clears acquisition of Radius by EFMS and PSPIB (M.11110) - Midday Express
• Romania - Competition Council examines the acquisition of Melecs EWS GMBH by Melecs Holding, Invest Unternehmensbeteiligungs A AG and Raiffeisen OÖ Invest GMBH & CO OG
• Romania - Competition Council has autorised the acquisition of MEC Diesel S.P.A., Italy, and its subsidiaries by C.E.I. – Construzione Emiliana Ingranaggi S.P.A., ITALY
• Switzerland - Oridis, Ecomedia face Swiss probe over office supplies resale prices (DE, IT & FR version)
• UK - Merger could mean Network Rail and TfL lose out on digital signalling options

STATE AID

• Tax rulings: Advocate General Kokott is of the view that the Commission erred in deciding that Luxembourg had granted unauthorised state aid to Amazon in the form of tax advantages (See CPR No 97/2023 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the Case C-457/21, Commission Vs. Amazon.com and Others - State aid)

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Judgment of the Court of 08 June 2023 in Joined Cases C-747/21 P and C-748/21 P, PAO Severstal, Novolipetsk Steel PJSC (NLMK),Vs. European Commission, Eurofer, European Steel Association, ASBL
  Re: Appeal - Dumping - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1328 - Imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in the P.R. of China and the Russian Federation - Definitive anti-dumping duty - Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 - Article 18(1) - Necessary information - Absence - Article 9(4) - ‘Lesser duty rule’ - Target price - Profit margin of the Union industry - Establishment - Selection of the most recent representative year - Article 2(9) - Construction of the export price - Injury to the Union industry - Application by analogy - Calculation of the undersellingmargin - Statement of reasons
• Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand, see Addendum-1 & Addendum-2
• Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of the European Union (CN: 3004 & CN: 3402, 3808)
• A review and evaluation of the application of Articles 7(2a), 8(1) and 9(4) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 and of the third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 12(1), the third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 13(1), and of the third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 - see the Communication
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1122 of 7 June 2023 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in People’s Republic of China following an expiry review pursuant to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1123 of 7 June 2023 imposing a definitive countervailing duty on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in People’s Republic of China following an expiry review pursuant to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 of the European Parliament and of the Council
• Decision No 1/2023 of the Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development under the Agreement between the European Union and Japan for an Economic Partnership of 1 March 2023 concerning the establishment of the list of individuals who are willing and able to serve as experts, and the adoption of rules of procedure for the panel of experts
• EU among first to accept WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies - IP/23/3108, see Council Decision (EU) 2023/1116 & Protocol 
• Answer given by EVP Dombrovskis to a MEP written question - Situation on the poultry meat market following the suspension of customs duties and quotas on products from Ukraine
• WTO - Committee on Safeguards - Imposition of a safeguard measure by the European Union on imports of certain steel products - Request for consultations by Switzerland under Article 12.3 of the Agreement on Safeguards
• WTO - North Macedonia set to become new party to government procurement pact
• Australia talks tough on EU trade while extending ‘olive branch’ to China - Trade minister says relations between Canberra and Beijing are thawing and EU is just one of its ‘dance partners’ – Financial Times

INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY & RESEARCH

• Agenda for: Working Party on Competitiveness & Growth (Internal Market) - 16 June 2023
• Single Market Emergency Instrument: Council adopts its negotiating position
• Defence: New JRC report presents concrete actions to address the impact of climate change on EU security and defence* - Midday Express
• EU pharma and banking laws get stuck in translation - System for transcribing legislation into 24 languages overwhelmed by deluge of initiatives - Financial Times

FREEDOM OF ESTABLISHMENT

• Limiting the number of private hire vehicle service licences in the Barcelona metropolitan area is contrary to European Union law (See CPR No 93/2023 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-50/21, Prestige and Limousine)
• According to Advocate General Szpunar, platforms like Google, Meta Platforms and Tik Tok may not have additional obligations imposed on them in a Member State other than the one in which they have their registered office, except by measures taken on a case-by-case basis (See CPR No 98/2023 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the Case C-376/22, Google Ireland and Others)

FINANCIAL SERVICES

• ESMA - Money market funds stress tests – overall resilience whilst LVNAVs exceed threshold in liquidity and credit risk scenarios
• EU eyes conflicts of interest crackdown in ESG ratings rules - Agencies could face fines of up to 10% of turnover under proposals to regulate funds’ ethical scores - Financial Times

TAXATION

• Conclusions on the progress achieved by the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) Group during the Swedish Presidency - Approval
• Draft Ecofin report to the European Council on tax issues - Approval

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES

• Agenda for: Working Party on Genetic Resources and Innovation in Agriculture (Genetic Resources) - 20 June 2023
• Latest agri-food trade report shows rebound of EU exports in February 2023 - Midday Express

EMPLOYMENT & SOCIAL POLICY

• Advocate General Ćapeta: Member States may restrict the monetisation of unused paid annual leave at the end of the employment relationship (See CPR No 96/2023 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the Case C-218/22, Comune di Copertino)

EPSCO Council on 12 June 2023

• Proposal for a Council Directive on standards for equality bodies in the field of equal treatment between persons irrespective of their racial or ethnic origin, equal treatment in the field of employment and occupation between persons irrespective of their religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, equal treatment between women and men in matters of social security and in the access to and supply of goods and services, and deleting Article 13 of Directive 2000/43/EC and Article 12 of Directive 2004/113/EC - General approach
• Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on standards for equality bodies in the field of equal treatment and equal opportunities between women and men in matters of employment and occupation, and deleting Article 20 of Directive 2006/54/EC and Article 11 of Directive 2010/41/EU - General approach
• Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving working conditions in platform work - General approach 

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on International Environment Issues (Biodiversity) - 14 June 2023)
• European Green Deal: Council agrees for industrial installations to provide better data on their environmental emissions
  
• Commission recommends actions to boost recycling in 18 Member States at risk of missing waste targets - IP/23/3105 & Report
• European Green Deal: EU Modernisation Fund invests €2.4 billion to accelerate the green transition in seven EU countries - IP/23/3126
• Wildfires: Almost 300 European firefighters mobilised to support Canada - Midday Express
• Commission celebrates 25th anniversary of Copernicus and role in supporting EU policies - Midday Express
• Answer given by Mr Sinkevicius to a MEP written question - Request for an opinion on the safety of textile products for operating theatres

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Commissioner Kyriakides in Madrid to promote mental health initiatives - Midday Express
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Efficacy of a feed additive consisting of Bacillus velezensis NITE BP‐01844 (BA‐KING®) for chickens for fattening, chickens reared for laying, turkeys for fattening, turkeys reared for breeding and all avian species for fattening, or rearing to slaughter or point of lay including non‐food producing species (Toa Biopharma Co., Ltd.)
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Efficacy of a feed additive consisting of Companilactobacillus farciminis CNCM I‐3740 (Biacton®) for chickens and turkeys for fattening (ChemVet dk A/S)
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Safety of 3‐fucosyllactose (3‐FL) produced by a derivative strain of Escherichia coli K‐12 DH1 as a novel food pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283
• EFSA - Conclusion on Pesticides - Peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance flutolanil
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Scientific opinion on the presence of DNA in the feed additives consisting of concentrated liquid l‐lysine, l‐lysine monohydrochloride and concentrated liquid l‐lysine monohydrochloride produced by Escherichia coli NITE BP‐02917 for all animal species (METEX NOOVISTAGO)
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Safety and efficacy of the feed additive 4‐methyl‐5‐vinylthiazole [15.018] belonging to chemical group 29 for all animal species (FEFANA asbl)

DIGITAL & INFORMATION SOCIETY

• Minutes of Twelfth meeting of the Web Accessibility Directive Expert Group (WADEX) - 21 March 2023

DATA PRIVACY CYBERSECURITY

• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues - 09 June 2023
• EDPB adopts final version of Guidelines on the calculation of administrative fines following public consultation
• ENISA releases 4 reports on the most far-reaching challenges in artificial intelligence (AI) on the occasion of the conference on the supervision of secure and trustworthy AI

TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Land Transport - 13 June 2023
• COVID19 pandemic: a repatriation flight organised in the context of consular assistance does not constitute a re-routed flight that the operating air carrier must offer to passengers whose flight has been cancelled (See CPR No 95/2023, Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-49/22, Austrian Airlines (Vol de rapatriement))
• Package travel and the COVID-19 pandemic: national legislation which temporarily releases organisers from their obligation to provide a full refund in the event of termination of a package travel contract is incompatible with EU law (See CPR No 94/2023 - Judgments of the Court of Justice in Cases C-407/21, C-540/21, UFC - Que choisir and CLCV )
• Answer given by Ms Valean to a MEP written question - Ryanair petition – protecting flights and the EU single market during air traffic control strikes
• Answer given by Ms Valean to a MEP written question - Freedom of movement and driving licences

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Legal migration: Council settles on negotiating position for review of Single Permit Directive
• Migration management: Update on progress made on the Pilot Projects for asylum and return procedures and new financial support for Bulgaria and Romania - IP/23/3132
• Rule of Law: Commission launches infringement procedure against Poland for violating EU law with the new law establishing a special committee - IP/23/3134
• EU Ethics Body: Commission proposes the creation of common ethics standards for all EU institutions - IP/23/3106, QaA, FactSheet & Proposal

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Frank Elderson: The economy and banks need nature to survive - ECB’s Blog
• ‘No flower power exercise’: ECB flags stark risks from biodiversity loss - Board member Frank Elderson warns that destroying nature will ‘destroy the economy’ - Financial Times
• Debt servicing costs for EU budget set to double in 2024 - MEP anger as high rates add to pressure on bloc’s finances and leave little room for coping with any fresh crises - Financial Times 

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Commission supports Halloumi/Hellim production by the Turkish Cypriot community to build capacity for future trade through the Green Line - Midday Express
• Opening remarks by EVP Dombrovskis, HR/VP  Borrell and Commissioner Urpilainen at the press conference on "A New Agenda" for Relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean
• Brussels seeks fresh start for Balkan Six in their bid to join the EU - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has finally convinced officials to offer membership applicants more than honeyed words - Financial Times