EU member states’ representatives (Coreper) approved the provisional deal that was reached between the Council presidency and the European Parliament on 20 December 2023, constituting a pact of five key laws which will reform the EU’s asylum and migration system. Pact on asylum and migration The five EU laws of the pact touch upon all […]
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Fight against child sexual abuse gets new impetus thanks to updated criminal law rules
The Commission is adopting a proposal to update the criminal law rules on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime which has evolved significantly over the past years. These revised rules expand the definitions of offences and introduce higher penalties and more specific requirements for prevention and assistance to […]
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Council and Parliament strike provisional deal on the right to repair directive
The Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on the directive that promotes the repair of broken or defective goods, also known as the right-to-repair (or R2R) directive. The legislation agreed today will make it easier for consumers to seek repair instead of replacement by making the access to repair services easier, faster, […]
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European Commission proposes structured dialogue with Spain on the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary
In its 2022 and 2023 Rule of Law Report for Spain, the Commission had made the following recommendation: “Proceed with the renewal of the Council for the Judiciary as a matter of priority and initiate, immediately after the renewal, a process in view of adapting the appointment of its judges-members, taking into account European standards […]
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Fight against trafficking in human beings: Council and European Parliament reach agreement to strengthen rules
The Belgian presidency of the Council and representatives of the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement to add forced marriage, illegal adoption and surrogacy as types of exploitation covered by the EU’s anti-trafficking law. The update of the directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings will also require EU countries to make sure […]
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Violence against women: the Court clarifies the conditions for qualifying for international protection
Women, as a whole, may be regarded as belonging to a social group, within the meaning of Directive 2011/95, and qualify for refugee status if the conditions laid down by that directive are satisfied. This will be the case where, in their country of origin, they are exposed, on account of their gender, to physical […]
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New rules to fight cross-border payment fraud in the EU enter into force
New transparency rules come into force this 1 January that will help EU Member States to crack down on Value-Added Tax (VAT) fraud. The new rules will provide tax administration of the EU Member States with payment information allowing them to detect VAT fraud more easily, with a particular focus on e-commerce which is particularly […]
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A new era of corporate taxation in the EU begins
On 1 January, ground-breaking new EU rules came into force introducing a minimum effective tax rate of 15% for multinational companies with activities in EU Member States. Ground-breaking new EU rules come into effect today introducing a minimum rate of effective taxation of 15% for multinational companies active in EU Member States. The framework will […]
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European Commission designates second set of very large online platforms under Digital Services Act
The Commission adopted a second set of designation decisions under the Digital Services Act, designating 3 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). These are: Pornhub Stripchat XVideos The designation is the result of Commission investigations concluding that the three services fulfil the threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the EU. Today’s designations follow a first set of designation decisions of 19 […]
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