Newsletters

CLECAT has been accepted to the EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG), under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The EU DAG will be advising the European Commission on the implementation of the whole trade agreement and will work in close cooperation with its counterpart on the UK side. Participation in the EU DAG will allow CLECAT and its members to take part in discussions on the progress made in implementing the agreement and provide views or recommendations to DG TRADE regarding issues related to, among others, transport, customs cooperation and trade facilitation.

On 12 October, the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committee endorsed its report on the proposal for a Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities (CER Directive), introducing new rules to better protect essential services including transport, energy and drinking water.

On 14 October, the EU telecommunications ministers held their first in-depth policy debate on the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AI-Act), to provide political guidance for further work on this proposal. The discussion, which can be followed here, focused on the Act’s regulatory design and the challenges involved in its effective implementation.

On 18 October, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission signed an agreement that will make it possible to combine EU grants and long-term EIB financing for alternative fuels infrastructure projects. The agreement comes under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) and is part of the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) transport programme.

Last week, the European Commission proposed new practical arrangements for the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, that aim to facilitate the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The measures came in response to the difficulties that people in Northern Ireland have been experiencing because of Brexit.

On 8 November, from 15:00 to 17:00 CET, the UK Border and Protocol Delivery Group (BPDG) and French Customs will hold a technical webinar covering the steps economic operators need to take to move goods from the EU to Great Britain after 1 January 2022. The event is organised especially for hauliers, transport and logistics associations, customs brokers and freight forwarders.

On 11 October, the European Commission launched a public consultation for ‘A Drone Strategy 2.0 for a smart and sustainable unmanned aircraft eco-system in Europe’. The initiative will be presented in 2022.

On 13 October, the cross-stakeholder air cargo organisation Cargo iQ announced Mr Lothar Moehle as its new Executive Director. Mr Moehle, who is currently Director AVSEC and Governance at DB Schenker, brings over four decades of experience in the air cargo and logistics sectors. He is currently also the Chair of the CLECAT Air Logistics Institute and a member of the CLECAT Board.

On 20 October, the European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a €15 million Slovenian aid scheme to support rail freight transport in Slovenia. The measure will support single wagon transport and combined transport.