Newsletters

On 1 February, the European Parliament and the Council Presidency reached a political agreement on the reinforced mandate for Europol, the European Union's law enforcement cooperation agency.

On 3 February, the European Commission launched a call for evidence on the EU Toolbox against Counterfeiting, which will remain open for comments until 3 March. The establishment of the Toolbox was announced in the European Commission’s Intellectual Property Action Plan.

On 2 February, the UN published the 2021 Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation Global Report, which reviews the progress of trade facilitation reforms across 144 countries. The analysis concludes that countries across the globe have made progress on digitalizing international trade formalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, but stronger efforts are needed to facilitate trade for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other groups and sectors with special needs.

Eurostat published this week a report which shows that the EU has met the 10% target level for 2020 for the share of renewable energy (including liquid biofuels, biomethane and ‘green’ electricity) used in transport. This target was included in Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (the so-called Renewable Energy Directive).

On 31 January, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether certain German support measures in favour of DB Cargo are in line with EU State aid rules. DB Cargo is a 100% subsidiary of the State-owned, vertically-integrated German rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG (‘DB AG').

The U.S. Senate has introduced on the 3rd February its amendments to the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA), aimed at promoting U.S. exports while curbing carriers’ power over both container service and equipment fees charged to shippers. The bill is a result of a bipartisan effort, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, Minnesota) and Sen. John Thune (Republican, South Dakota), and cosponsored by 12 additional senators.

On 4 February, CLECAT attended the second meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) under the EU-UK Trade and Facilitation Agreement (TCA), which advises the EU Commission on the TCA implementation. EU DAG members reflected on experiences with EU-UK trade one year after the post Brexit deal entered into force and outlined remaining challenges and priorities.

On 2 February, ENVI rapporteur Mohammed Chahim presented his draft report on the European Commission’s proposal for EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), stressing the importance of the mechanism for achieving EU’s ambitious climate objectives. While welcoming the overall design of the mechanism, as proposed by the Commission, as a solid starting point for the legislative process, Mr Chahim proposes substantial and important changes to the initial text, aiming to further strengthen CBAM’s climate ambition, its long-term effectiveness and governance.