The new rules will further reduce the amount of dangerous chemicals in waste and production processes by introducing stricter limits, removing pollutants from the recycling chain and banning certain chemicals. As the EU moves towards a circular economy, which promotes the re-use and recycling of products, it is taking action to ensure toxic chemicals do not […]
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Commission publishes market study on hotels’ distribution practices
The European Commission has published the results of an external market study on the distribution practices of hotels in the EU. The market study was conducted in 2021 and covers the period between 2017 and 2021. It focused on a representative sample of six Member States (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Poland, Spain and Sweden). The study […]
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Europe signs multimillion-dollar contract with Spanish industry to heat ITER plasma
Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU organisation responsible for the European contribution to ITER, the international fusion experiment, has announced the signing of a major contract with IDOM and Alsymex. The consortium of the two companies has been commissioned to design and produce very powerful heating systems that will help raise the temperature of the […]
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State Aid: Commission approves up to €5.4 billion of public support by fifteen Member States to boost hydrogen technology
The Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an Important Project of Common European Interest (‘IPCEI’) to support research and innovation and first industrial deployment in the hydrogen technology value chain. The project, called “IPCEI Hy2Tech” was jointly prepared and notified by fifteen Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, […]
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The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and its reform in brief
The EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) aims to reduce the industry’s carbon emissions. Discover how it works and why a reform is needed. What is the EU’s emissions trading system all about? Although the EU is the world’s third largest CO2 emitter, it also pursues the most ambitious climate target: to cut emissions substantially by […]
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Antitrust: Commission carries out unannounced inspections in the fashion sector
On 17 May the European Commission has started unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the fashion industry in several Member States. In parallel, the Commission has sent out formal requests for information to several companies active in the fashion sector. The Commission has concerns that the companies concerned may have violated Article 101 of […]
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New discoveries for the brewing industry
In the first six months of 2021, beer sales decreased by 2.7%, or 113.4 million litres, compared with the same period a year earlier. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the breweries and beer warehouses in Germany sold roughly 4.2 billion litres of beer in the 1st half of 2021. These figures do not include non-alcoholic beers, […]
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New rules to increase toy safety
MEPs propose updating EU rules to ensure that toys sold on the European market do not put children at risk. The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee will vote on a report on toy safety. The report contains proposals to strengthen current legislation and ensure that toys on the European market, including those imported from […]
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How digitalised are EU’s enterprises?
The uptake of digital technologies by businesses has the potential to improve services and products as well as to increase competitiveness. The crisis caused by COVID-19 has also shown that digitalization is a crucial tool to improving the economic resilience of businesses. In 2020, only 1% of EU enterprises with at least 10 persons employed reached a […]
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