Main news from Brussels this week
date: 29/03/2019
New EU rules on road safety will help save lives from 2022
On 26 March, the EU institutions reached a provisional political agreement on the revised General Safety Regulation which will introduce from 2022 new mandatory safety technologies in European vehicles to help reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads. In May 2018, the Commission proposed to make certain vehicle safety measures mandatory, including systems that reduce the dangerous blind spots on trucks and buses and technology that warns the driver in case of drowsiness or distraction. Advanced safety features will reduce the number of accidents, 90% of which are due to human error, pave the way towards increasingly connected and automated mobility and boost the global innovation and competitiveness edge of the European car industry. The new rules are now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council.
European copyright reform gets parliamentary endorsement
On 26 March, the European Parliament voted in favour of the new Copyright Directive designed to bring tangible benefits to citizens, all creative sectors, the press, researchers, educators and cultural heritage. The European Commission welcomed the endorsement of its proposal by MEPs stating the directive protects creativity in the digital age and ensures that the EU citizens benefit from wider access to content and new guarantees to fully protect their freedom of expression online. The adopted text will now need to be formally approved by the Council of the European Union in the coming weeks. Once published in the Official Journal of the EU, member states will have 24 months to transpose the new rules into their national legislation.
EU scores final victory in the WTO Boeing dispute
On 28 March, the EU welcomed the ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Appellate Body, vindicating the EU's long held position that the United States has taken no steps to comply with WTO rules on support to Boeing. The ruling concludes definitively that the US has continued to illegally subsidise the company despite previous rulings condemning this behaviour. This has caused significant harm to its European competitor Airbus. The WTO sided with the EU in its argument that several US measures, notably the Washington State tax programme and business incentives from South Carolina are in fact subsidies. The Appellate Body dismissed all of the US appeal points. The decision marks the final step in the compliance proceedings in this long running debate launched in 2012. The EU expects the United States to promptly comply with this final ruling.
New rules on single–use plastics to reduce marine litter
On 27 March, the European Parliament agreed on the ambitious measures proposed by the Commission to tackle marine litter coming from the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on European beaches, as well as abandoned fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics. The Single-Use Plastics Directive will now need the approval of the EU government minister, then national governments will have two years to transpose the legislation into national law.
European Parliament confirms that the 2017 EU budget was well-managed
On 26 March, the European Parliament gave its final approval to the way in which the European Commission, in cooperation with member states, managed and implemented the EU budget in 2017. The positive vote follows the European Court of Auditors' decision to give the EU annual accounts a clean bill of health for the 11th year in a row, finding them true and fair. Before taking its decision, the Parliament examines the accounts, the balance sheet and the report on the management of the budget prepared by the Commission, as well as the European Court of Auditors' annual report and any relevant special reports.
European Commission fines Nike £10.7 million for restricting cross-border sales
On 25 March, the European Commission fined Nike €12.5 million (£10.7 million) for banning traders from selling licensed merchandise to other countries within the EEA. This restriction concerned merchandising products of some of Europe's best-known football clubs and federations for which Nike held the licence.
All this week's key European Commission announcements can be found here