As of today, Booking Holdings Inc. (BHI), designated as gatekeeper on 13 May 2024, must ensure that its online intermediation service, Booking.com, complies with all relevant obligations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Concretely, this means hotels, car rental companies, and other providers of travel services that depend on Booking.com to reach their customers can begin to […]
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Commission and national authorities call on Apple to stop geo-blocking practices on Apple Media Services
Today, following a coordinated investigation at European level, the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network of national consumer authorities and the European Commission notified Apple of several potentially prohibited geo-blocking practices that the CPC Network has identified on certain Apple Media Services, namely App Store, Apple Arcade, Music, iTunes Store, Books and Podcasts. The network requested Apple […]
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Commission and national authorities urge Temu to respect EU consumer protection laws
Following a coordinated investigation at European level, the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network of national consumer authorities and the European Commission notified the online marketplace Temu of a number of practices on its platform that infringe EU consumer law. The CPC Network directed Temu to bring those practices in line with consumer laws of the European […]
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Council reaches agreement on VAT package for the digital age
The Council reached agreement today on new measures to make EU VAT rules compatible with the digital age. This legislative package, with new rules on e-invoices and real-time data reporting and on business activities carried out through digital platforms, will combat tax fraud, support businesses and promote digitisation. Mihály Varga, Hungarian Minister of Finance, said: […]
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EU invests €4.8 billion of emissions trading revenues in innovative net-zero projects
The Commission has today selected 85 innovative net zero emission projects to receive €4.8 billion in grants from the Innovation Fund to help deploy cutting-edge clean technologies across Europe. The 2023 call for proposals awards for the first time projects of various sizes (large, medium and small, as well as pilot projects) focusing on clean […]
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Commission joins forces with venture capital to support deep tech innovation in Europe
The Commission has launched a Trusted Investors Network bringing together a group of investors ready to co-invest in innovative deep-tech companies in Europe together with the EU. The Union’s investment comes from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, which is part of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe. The first group comprises 71 investors […]
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Which EU regions are receiving the most foreign tourists?
In 2023, the number of people travelling abroad for tourism had fully recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, with restrictions lifted for all destinations. The 3 EU regions at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2) with the highest number of nights spent by foreign tourists were the Spanish island regions of […]
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The Commission does not designate X as a core platform service.
The Commission has today found that X’s online social networking service should not be designated as a core platform service under the Digital Markets Regulation. Today’s decision follows an in-depth market investigation initiated on 13 May 2024 following notification by X of its potential gatekeeper status. Along with the notification, X also submitted counter-arguments, explaining […]
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Commission stands firm in the fight against trade defence abuse
The EU takes any unfair use of trade defence instruments against any sector of our economy with the utmost seriousness. The abuse of trade defence for inappropriate reasons constitutes a clear violation of WTO rules. The Commission will therefore vigorously challenge at WTO level the announced imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures by China on imports […]
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