Europe Daily News, 09 January 2025

COMPETITION

• Competition law and distribution deals: The exclusive distributor must be protected against active sales in its territory by all the supplier’s other buyers (See CPR Nº 3/2025 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the Case C-581/23, Beevers Kaas)
• Commission clears acquisition of Smartsheet by Vista and Blackstone (M.11774) - Midday Express
• Commission clears acquisition of Deep Well Services by ADRILL and ADH (M.11810) - Midday Express
• France - Consumer product and services rating systems: the Autorité de la concurrence provides guidance in the light of competition rules
• Greece - Acquisition of joint control by "United Media S.à.rl." and 'Paxana Holdings Limited' in the company 'Audiomax Holdings S.A.' and its subsidiaries
• Portugal - The AdC has adopted a non-opposition decision in merger 87/2024 - PNI/Kozowood
• Portugal - Brose Sitech and Inversiones Carcarosa notify the acquisition of joint control over Covercar
• Romania - The Competition Council sanctioned Holcim Romania S.A., Romcim S.A. and Heidelberg Materials Romania S.A. with fines totaling 217,966,541.82 lei (approximately €43.7 million) for coordinating pricing policies
• Spain - The CNMC approves the resolutions of the main and dominant operators in the energy sector
• Spain - The CNMC proposes changes in the driving school sector to reduce costs and improve training
• Spain - The CNMC investigates possible anti-competitive practices in the management of visual artists' rights
• Sweden - The Competition Authority has decided to initiate a special investigation to scrutinise a planned acquisition in the postal services market
• UK - CMA is investigating the anticipated acquisition by Bidvest Group (UK) Plc (phs Group) of Citron Hygiene LP - See the Commencement notice
• UK - CMA response to Northern Ireland Department for the Economy support for low carbon heating in the residential sector consultation

STATE AID

• EFTA Surveillance Authority - State aid – Decision to raise no objections

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Agenda for: Working Party on Customs Union - 15 January 2025
• Agenda for: Working Party on Customs Union - 14 January 2025
• Agenda for: Meeting of the Working Party on Dual Use Goods -15 January 2025
• Agenda for: Trade Policy Committee (Experts - Services and Investment) - 15 January 2025
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/4 of 17 December 2024 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of titanium dioxide originating in the People’s Republic of China
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/45 of 8 January 2025 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitely collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of mobile access equipment originating in the People's Republic of China
• Decision No 1/2024 of the Joint Committee of the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin of 12 December 2024 amending Decision No 1/2023 of the Joint Committee with respect to the use of movement certificates issued electronically in the framework of that Convention applicable as of 1 January 2025
• Decision No 2/2024 of the Joint Committee of the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin of 12 December 2024 amending Decision No 1/2023 of the Joint Committee in order to include transitional provisions in the amendments of the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin applicable as of 1 January 2025

FINANCE

• ESMA publishes 2024 ESEF XBRL files and ESEF conformance suite
• The EBA publishes its final Guidelines on the management of ESG risks
• The EBA consults on draft technical standards on the prudential treatment of crypto assets exposures under the Capital Requirements Regulation

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES

• Eurobarometer survey shows strong support for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• Agenda for: Meeting of the Expert Group for Agricultural Markets, in particular concerning aspects falling under the CMO Regulation - 24 January 2025
• Agenda for: Meeting of the Expert Group for Agricultural Markets, in particular concerning aspects falling under the CMO Regulation - Animal Products - 23 January 2025
• Presentations - Expert Group for Agricultural Markets, in particular concerning aspects falling under the CMO Regulation - 18 December 2024

ENERGY

• ACER recommends updates to the EU market rules for gas capacity allocation

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on the Environment - 13 January 2025
• Answer given by Ms Roswall to a MEP written question - Ecocide
• Answer given by Ms Roswall to a MEP written question - Water treatment
• Answer given by Ms Roswall to a MEP written question - Planned gypsum mining in Saxony-Anhalt and possible breach of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)
• Answer given by Ms Roswall to a MEP written question - Waste management, clean-up and redevelopment of the Crotone-Cassano-Cerchiara site of national interest (SNI)
• Answer given by Mr Hoekstra to a MEP written question - UN Emissions Gap Report 2024
• Right to plug - How to guarantee seamless EV charging in shared buildings - T&E Briefing - January 2025
• Aviation fuels and emissions trading - T&E consultation response

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Public consultation: Post-mortem inspection, food chain information and health marking – update - Implementing regulation - Feedback period/ 08 January 2025 - 05 February 2025
• Public consultation: European Food Safety Authority – evaluation of performance 2017-2024 - Report - Feedback period/ 07 January 2025 - 01 April 2025
• Answer given by Mr Hansen to a MEP written question - Supervision of third countries recognised as equivalent for organic farming production
• Answer given by Mr Hansen to a MEP written question - Food stocks in the EU

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Judgment of the Court of 09 January 2025 in Case C-416/23, Vs. F R, other parties: Bundesministerin für Justiz
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - Article 57(1)(f) and Article 57(4) - Tasks of the supervisory authority - Concepts of a ‘request’ and ‘excessive requests’ - Charging of a reasonable fee or refusal to act on requests in the event of manifestly unfounded or excessive requests - Criteria which may guide the supervisory authority in making its choice - Article 77(1) - Concept of a ‘complaint’
• GDPR and rail transport: a customer’s gender identity is not necessary data for the purchase of a transport ticket (See CPR Nº 2/2025 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-394/23, Mousse)

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• Agenda for: Meeting of the Coreper (Part.1) - 10 January 2025
• Commissioner Brunner travels to Warsaw to discuss upcoming internal affairs priorities and visits the Frontex headquarters - Midday Express

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• EU in BiH on the marking of Republika Srpska Day
• Joint Press Release - 11th India-EU Human Rights Dialogue
• EU-IFC Trust Fund - Enhancing private sector growth in Yemen

EU-UKRAINE 

• Ukraine: High Representative to participate in the Ukraine Defence Contact Group
• EBRD and EU offer €50,000 Grants for Ukrainian companies to support Climate Innovation Development: Applications now open