The 21st EU-China Summit took place on 9 April in Brussels, providing a forum for engagement at the highest level and for advancing the relationship as regards the bilateral and multilateral agendas. A realistic, assertive and multi-faceted EU approach While China’s economic and political influence makes it a vital partner for the European Union, as […]
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Exchanging criminal records: EU agrees a reformed ECRIS system
The EU is introducing new rules to improve the way member states exchange information on convictions of third country nationals. The reformed European criminal records information system (ECRIS) will now include a centralised database with information on convictions of third country nationals and stateless persons (so-called ECRIS-TCN). The Council formally has adopted recently the ECRIS […]
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Gig economy: EU law to improve workers’ rights
Find out how new EU rules will improve the rights of the most vulnerable workers and ensure better working conditions. MEPs are set to vote on a provisional agreement reached with EU ministers on new minimum rights for all employees. This legislation grants new rights for the most vulnerable employees on atypical contracts and in […]
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Protecting whistleblowers: EU safeguards for people acting in public interest
EU rules seek to protect people reporting breaches of EU law and provide incentives for those aware of wrongdoing to act in the public interest MEPs will vote on 16 April to ensure minimum common standards of protection for people reporting breaches of EU law across the EU. Currently, legislation for whistleblower protection is different […]
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Cyclone Idai: €12 million EU assistance in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi
The European Union has announced today an additional €12 million in humanitarian support in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. This funding will assist people in need following cyclone Idai and the subsequent floods. Total EU humanitarian assistance in response to this natural disaster now amounts to over €15 million. From today’s announcement, €7 million will benefit […]
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Facebook changes its terms and clarify its use of data for consumers
The European Commission and consumer protection authorities have welcomed Facebook’s updated terms and services. They now clearly explain how the company uses its users’ data to develop profiling activities and target advertising to finance their company. The new terms detail what services, Facebook sells to third parties that are based on the use of their […]
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Secure ID cards and residence documents: Commission welcomes Parliament’s vote
The European Parliament voted on a new Regulation, which will strengthen the security of identity cards and residence documents throughout the European Union. The weak security features of ID cards in some Member States, still issuing paper ID cards, represent a serious security risk, as they can easily be falsified and could be used by […]
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Protecting European consumers: toys and cars on top of the list of dangerous products
Recently, the European Commission released its 2018 report on the Safety Gate for dangerous products, the former Rapid Alert System. The report shows that authorities exchanged 2,257 alerts on dangerous products. Toys‘ belonged to the most notified product category (31%), followed by ‘motor vehicles’ (19%), and ‘clothing, textiles and fashion items’ (10%), while the main […]
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Brexit preparedness in the area of Health and Food Safety
“In the health area, Brexit will have an impact on two crucial sectors: medicines and medical devices. For medicines: we have been working very hard over the last two years together with the European Medicines Agency and national authorities to ensure that everyone is prepared, especially the industry, as they had to adapt the marketing […]
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