Parliament adopted its negotiating position on new measures to strengthen the right to repair and reduce the environmental impact of mass consumption. On last Tuesday, Parliament adopted its position on a stronger “right to repair” for consumers, with 590 votes in favour, 15 against, and 15 abstentions. The proposal aims to encourage more sustainable consumption, […]
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Commission sends request for information to Amazon under the Digital Services Act
The Commission calls on Amazon to provide more information on the measures it has taken to comply with obligations related to risk assessments and mitigation measures to protect consumers online. The European Commission today officially sent Amazon a request for information under the Digital Services Act.The Commission calls on Amazon to provide more information on […]
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Spain, together with Italy, was the largest wine exporter in the European Union in 2022
In 2022, sold production of wine (including sparkling wine, port and grape must) in the EU amounted to 16.1 billion (bn) litres. The top three wine producers accounted for 83% of EU production. Italy and Spain each contributed nearly 5.0 bn litres, representing together 62% of the total sold production in the EU, while France produced 3.4 […]
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Commission opens access to EU supercomputers to speed up artificial intelligence development
The Commission and the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) committed to open and widen access to the EU’s world-class supercomputing resources for European artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, SMEs and the broader AI community as part of the EU AI Start-Up Initiative. To support the further development and scalability of AI models, access to […]
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Rare earths trade increased in the European Union by 2022
In 2022, the EU witnessed a significant increase in the import of rare earth elements (REE+). A total of 18 thousand tonnes were imported, a 9% increase from 2021, and 7 thousand tonnes exported, a decrease of 8% compared with the previous year. The value of imports surged to €146 million, marking a 37% rise compared with 2021, while exports […]
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Eurostat: Business start-ups in the European Union increased in 2021
In 2021, the rate of enterprise births in the EU was 10.7% while the preliminary rate of enterprise deaths stood at 8.5%. In most EU countries more companies were created than dissolved. The exceptions to this were Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark and Germany where the number of enterprises dissolved surpassed the number of companies created. This information comes […]
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Parliament backs plans for better access to, and use of, data
The “Data Act”, already agreed between MEPs and member states, aims to stimulate innovation by eliminating barriers to data access. The new legislation establishes rules on the sharing of data generated through the use of connected products or related services (e.g. the Internet of Things, industrial machinery) and allows users to access the data they […]
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Commission sends requests for information to TikTok and YouTube under the Digital Services Act
Yesterday, the European Commission has formally sent TikTok and YouTube requests for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission is requesting the companies to provide more information on the measures they have taken to comply with their obligations related to protection of minors under the DSA, including the obligations related to risk assessments […]
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Eurostat: Plastic bag use continues to fall in the European Union
In 2021, each person living in the EU consumed on average 77 lightweight plastic carrier bags (LPCBs), which is 11 bags less per person, compared with 2020. Overall, 34.2 billion (bn) lightweight plastic carrier bags were consumed in the EU in 2021 (-4.8 bn bags compared with 2020). This information comes from data on lightweight plastic carrier bags published by Eurostat […]
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