This regular alert covers key regulatory developments related to EU emergency responses, including in particular to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, COVID-19, and cyber threats. It does not purport to provide an exhaustive overview of developments.
This regular update expands from the previous COVID-19 Key EU Developments – Policy & Regulatory Updates (last issue No. 99).
LATEST KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Competition & State Aid
- European Commission adopts revised Market Definition Notice for competition cases
- European Commission publishes Update on Competition Enforcement in Pharmaceutical Sector (2018-2022)
- European Commission approves further schemes under Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework to support economy in context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accelerating green transition and reducing fuel dependencies
Trade / Export Controls
- Second year of Russia's war against Ukraine – Remarks from G7
- Council of the European Union adopts a Decision and a Regulation on immobilized Russian assets
- Council of the European Union expands sanctions against Russia
- European Commission proposes new initiatives to strengthen economic security
Medicines and Medical Devices
- European Commission proposes Council Recommendation on Vaccine-Preventable Cancers
- European Parliament and Council reach provisional political agreement on proposed revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
- European Commission publishes Update on Competition Enforcement in Pharmaceutical Sector (2018-2022)
Cybersecurity, Privacy & Data Protection
- European Commission adopts first European cybersecurity certification scheme
- European Commission adopts Communication on Artificial Intelligence in the European Commission (AI@EC)
- EDPB publishes latest One-Stop-Shop case digest of decisions from EDPB's public register
COMPETITION & STATE AID | |
Competition | |
European Commission adopts revised Market Definition Notice for competition cases (see here) |
On 8 February 2024, the Commission adopted the revised Market Definition Notice (Communication from the Commission – Commission Notice on the definition of the relevant market for the purposes of Union competition law). This is the first revision of the 1997 Market Definition Notice, which provides guidance on the principles and best practices on how the Commission applies the concept of relevant product and geographic market in enforcing EU competition law. The revised Notice is also published, in part, in response to some stakeholders' views that mergers between European companies in certain sectors have been challenged as leading to allegedly too-high concentration levels within Europe, whereas the merging parties have argued that scale and size are necessary to compete globally. The revision sought to take into account, in particular,:
The revised Notice seeks to boost guidance, transparency and legal certainty for businesses to facilitate compliance, including key features such as:
The revised Notice states that the Commission will continue to develop the concept of relevant product and geographic market in light of its case practice, market developments and competition dynamics, evolutions in best practices in market definition, and case law of the EU courts. The Commission's Q&A on the revised Notice provides further details (see here). |
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