Europe Daily News, 11 January 2024

STATE AID

• The Court dismisses Wizz Air’s appeal concerning the rescue aid granted by Romania to TAROM (See CPR No.2/2024 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-440/22 P; Wizz Air Hungary Vs. Commission)
• Authorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the TFEU - Cases where the Commission raises no objections – SA.109639 & SA.107201
• Commission approves €126 million Romanian State aid scheme to support ports facing increased trade flows due to Russia's war against Ukraine (SA.109965) - IP/24/104
• Answer given by Executive Vice-President Vestager to a MEP written question - De minimis regulation review

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C‑517/22 P, Eurobolt BV, Fabory Nederland BV, ASF Fischer BV, Vs. Stafa Group BV, European Commission
  Re: Appeal - Dumping - Extension of the anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in China to imports consigned from Malaysia - Compliance with the judgment of 3 July 2019, Eurobolt (C‑644/17, EU:C:2019:555) - Re-imposition of a definitive anti-dumping duty - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/611 - Validity
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/209 of 10 January 2024 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and definitively collecting the provisional duty imposed on imports of steel bulb flats originating in the People’s Republic of China and Türkiye
• Draft EU-US TTC Digital Identity Mapping Exercise Report - 22 December 2023
• Answer given by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis to a MEP written question - Track record on free trade agreements
• WTO - High demand for energy-related critical minerals creates supply chain pressures
• Three German NGOs lodge a constitutional appeal against ratification of CETA

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform: Council agrees its partial negotiating mandate

CHEMICAL

• Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures - Letter to the Chair of the ENVI Committee of the European Parliament
• New scientific study indicates PFAS can increase risk of disease in unborn children - see the HEAL Statement and the scientific study published by the Lancet Planetary Health

FINANCE

• ESMA explores risk exposures to real estate in EU securities markets and investment funds

TAXATION

• Agenda for: Working Party on Tax Questions (Direct Taxation) - 24 January 2024
• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C-537/22; Global Ink Trade Kft. Vs. Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Fellebbviteli Igazgatósága,
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common system of VAT - Directive 2006/112/EC - Refusal of the right to deduct - Obligations of the taxable person - Duty of care - Burden of proof - Principles of fiscal neutrality and legal certainty - Primacy of Union law - Contradiction between the case-law of a national court and Union law
• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C-433/22; Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira v HPA - Construções SA,
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common system of VAT - Directive 2006/112/EC - Annex IV - Point 2 - Temporary provisions for certain labour-intensive services - Reduced rate of VAT applicable to renovation and repair services for private dwellings - Meaning of 'private dwellings

ENERGY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Energy - 15 January 2024
• Energy labelling of vacuum cleaners: the Court of Justice definitively dismisses the action for compensation brought by Dyson (See CPR No.1/2024 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-122/22 P; Dyson and Others Vs. Commission)
• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C-371/22; G sp. z o.o. v W S.A.
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Internal market in electricity - Directive 2009/72/EC - Article 3(5) and (7) - Consumer protection - Right to change supplier - Non-residential customer - Fixed-term fixed-price electricity supply contract concluded with a small undertaking - Contractual penalty for early termination - National legislation limiting the amount of that penalty to 'costs and compensation resulting from the content of the contract'
• Massive expansion of renewable power opens door to achieving global tripling goal set at COP28 - see the IEA Statement & Report

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C-252/22, Societatea Civilă Profesională de Avocaţi AB & CD Vs. Consiliul Judeţean Suceava, Preşedintele Consiliului Judeţean Suceava, Agenţia pentru Protecţia Mediului Bacău, Consiliul Local al Comunei Pojorâta, in the presence of : QP
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Aarhus Convention - Article 9(3) to (5) - Access to justice - Professional partnership of lawyers - Action challenging administrative acts - Admissibility - Conditions laid down by national law - No infringement of legitimate rights and interests - Cost of court proceedings not prohibitive - Apportionment of costs - Criteria

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices - 18 & 19 January 2024
• EFSA - Update of the list of qualified presumption of safety (QPS) recommended microbiological agents intentionally added to food or feed as notified to EFSA 19: Suitability of taxonomic units notified to EFSA until September 2023
• EFSA - Safety assessment of the process Novatex, based on the EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post‐consumer PET into food contact materials
• EFSA - Safety evaluation of the food enzyme phosphoinositide phospholipase C from the genetically modified Pseudomonas fluorescens strain PIC
• EFSA - Safety evaluation of the food enzyme leucyl aminopeptidase from the non‐genetically modified Aspergillus sp. strain AE‐MB
• EFSA - Report Data collection on antibiotics for control of plant pathogenic bacteria
• EFSA - Guidance for the assessment of detoxification processes in feed
  

DIGITAL & INFORMATION SOCIETY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Telecommunications & Information Society - 16 January 2024
• Agenda for: Working Party on Telecommunications & Information Society - 18 January 2024
• Advocate General Szpunar: a Member State cannot impose general and abstract obligations on an online service provider operating on its territory but established in another Member State (See CPR No.5/2024 - Opinions of the Advocate General in joined Cases C-662/22, C-663/22, C-664/22, C-665/22, C-666/22, C-667/22 - Airbnb Ireland)
• Question of the compatibility of the Communications Platforms Act with Union law - Ro 2021/03/0032-0034 (EU 2022/0003-0005) of 24 May 2022, C-376/22

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Judgment of the Court of11 January 2024 in Case C-231/22, État belge Vs. Autorité de protection des données, other party: LM
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Approximation of laws - Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - Point 7 of Article 4 - Concept of ‘controller’ - Official journal of a Member State - Obligation to publish as they stand company documents prepared by companies or their legal representatives - Article 5(2) - Successive processing of the personal data contained in such documents by several separate persons or entities - Determination of responsibilities
• Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Coucil laying down measures to strengthen solidarity and capacities in the Union to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents - 4-column table
• European Data Act enters into force, putting in place new rules for a fair and innovative data economy
• Austrian activist Schrems broadens Meta privacy complaint -see Noyb Statement

AREA OF FREDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Advocate General Richard de la Tour: by refusing to grant the right to become members of a political party to Union citizens who are not nationals of Poland or of the Czech Republic but who reside there, those Member States infringed EU electoral law (See CPR No.3/2024 - Opinion of the Advocate General in Cases C-808/21, C-814/21 - Commission Vs. Czech Republic)
• Advocate General Emiliou: Palestinian applicants for refugee status can claim that UNRWA’s protection has ‘ceased’ in the light of the general living conditions prevailing in the Gaza Strip (See CPR No.6/2024 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the Case C-563/22; Zamestnik-predsedatel na Darzhavna agentsia za bezhantsite)

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Ukraine Facility: Council agrees on elements of new support mechanism for Ukraine
• ECB - Economic Bulletin Issue 8, 2023
• ECB - Households and non-financial corporations in the euro area: third quarter of 2023
• ECB - Euro area quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: third quarter of 2023

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Judgment of the Court of 11 January 2024 in Case C‑524/22 P, Amer Foz, Vs. Council of the European Union
  Re: Appeal - CFSP - Restrictive measures adopted against Syria - Measures directed against persons associated with persons and entities subject to restrictive measures - Lists of persons subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources - Proof that inclusion of the appellant’s name on those lists is well founded