Europe Daily News,15 April 2024

COMPETITION

• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11459 - Cinven / Barentz)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11426 - Platinum Equity/ Kohler Energy)
• Commission clears acquisition of Gimv by WorxInvest (M.11450) - Midday Express
• Lufthansa offers concessions to gain EU nod on ITA takeover (see Case M.11071) - Reuters
• Germany - The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of SportScheck GmbH, Munich, by Cisalfa Sport S.p.A., Rome, Italy

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Agenda for: Trade Policy Committee (Experts - Services & Investment) - 19 April 2024
• 255th meeting of the Customs Code Committee - Tariff & Statistical Nomenclature - 24 to 26 April 2024
  Draft - Explanatory notes to the Combined Nomenclature of the European Union
  - Classification of Track idler wheel (draft CNEN) - (Heading 8483) 
  - Classification of surgical gowns with reinforcements - (Heading “5603 & CN: 6210 10 92)
  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) …/... of XXX concerning the classification of certain goods in the Combined Nomenclature
  - draft regulation concerning the tariff classification of an unfilled beanbag (CN: 6307 90 98)
  - draft regulation concerning the tariff classification of “Pipette tips” (CN: 3926 90 97)
• Public consultation - Interim Evaluation of the CUSTOMS 2021-2027 programme - Report - Feedback period: 15 April 2024 - 13 May 2024
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1072 of 25 January 2024 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 as regards decisions relating to binding information in the field of customs valuation and decisions relating to binding origin information
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1071 of 12 April 2024 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 as regards decisions relating to binding information in the field of customs valuation and introducing an electronic system for binding origin and valuation information
• Does the EU have what it takes to fight China on green tech? - If you aren’t sure what the difference is between an anti-subsidy probe and an investigation into foreign subsidies, we’ve got you covered - Politico.eu

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Company Law - 25 April 2024
• Agenda for: Working Party on Competitiveness & Growth
  - Tourism - 23 April 2024
  - Internal Market - 22 April 2024
• Commissioner Breton visits Finland to pursue discussions on the European defence industrial strategy - Midday Express
• Answer given by EVP Dombrovskis to a MEP written question - Hungarian aid to Chinese carmaker threatens European competitiveness
• Answer given by Mr Breton to a MEP written question - Use of environmental protection devices in vehicles
• EU faces decline without market reform, report warns - Former Italian premier Enrico Letta was asked by European leaders to report on state of single market - Financial Times

FINANCE

• Commissioner McGuinness visits the US for discussions on digital and sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, and banking - Midday Express

TAXATION

• Public consultation - Interim Evaluation of the FISCALIS 2021-2027 programme - Report - Feedback period: 15 April 2024 - 13 May 2024

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES 

• Agenda for: CEG for Agricultural Markets, in particular concerning aspects falling under the CMO Regulation - Horizontal Questions - 24 April 2024
• Minutes of the Meeting of the Standing Forestry Committee - 07 March 2024
• Report of the 26th Meeting of the CEG /MSP on Protecting and Restoring the World’s Forests, including the EU Timber Regulation and the FLEGT Regulation - 11 April 2024
  - Due Diligence Obligations of a Subsidiary Company - Case Study
  - EU-Ghana Flegt VPA - Ready for licensing
  - Slovak Republic case of town RS

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on the Environment - 15, 16 and 19 April 2024
• Fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-4, 23-29 April 2024, Ottawa, Canada) - First EU coordination
• European circular economy 2024 conference kicks off in Brussels
• Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius to a MEP written question - Deforestation and paper packaging

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Agenda for: Meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee)
  - Section: "Novel Food and Toxicological safety of the food chain" - 24 April 2024
  - Section: "Phytopharmaceuticals - Pesticide residues" - 22 & 23 April 2024 
  - Section: "Plant Health" - 22 & 23 April 2024
• MDCG 2024-4 - Safety reporting in performance studies of in vitro diagnostic medical devices under Regulation (EU) 2017/746 - April 2024
• Update - MDCG 2022-9 rev.1 - Summary of safety and performance template - April 2024
• A Study and dashboard on reprocessing and reuse of single-use-devices in the EU
• Answer given by Ms Kyriakides to a MEP written question - Call for an investigation into the health risks associated with glyphosate, including possible links with the rise in certain diseases
• Answer given by Ms Kyriakides to a MEP written question - Commission evaluation of smoke flavourings in the food
• Answer given by Ms Kyriakides to a MEP written question - Regulation of use of certain insecticides (Movento)
• EFSA - Reasoned Opinion - Evaluation of confirmatory data following the Article 12 MRL review for myclobutanil
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Safety evaluation of the food enzyme glutaminase from the genetically modified Bacillus licheniformis strain NZYM‐JQ
• EFSA - Scientific Opinion - Safety evaluation of the food enzyme phosphodiesterase I from the non‐genetically modified Leptographium procerum strain FDA
• EFSA - Technical Report - 2023 Annual Report of the Advisory Group on Data

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Main results: Economic & Financial Affairs - 12 April 2024, see the Remarks by EVP Dombrovskis
  - Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) - Midterm Evaluation 2024 - Council Conclusions (12 April 2024)
  - European Court of Auditors' special report No 26/2023: "The Recovery and Resilience Facility’s performance monitoring framework - measuring implementation progress but not sufficient to capture performance" Council conclusions (12 April 2024)
  - Union's facility providing medium-term financial assistance for Member States' balances of payments pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 - Council conclusions (12 April 2024)
• Council Decision (EU) 2024/1144 of 12 April 2024 providing short-term macro-financial assistance to the Arab Republic of Egypt
• Commission disburses the fourth payment of €162.5 million to Croatia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility - Midday Express
• Commission disburses the first payment of €6.3 billion to Poland under the Recovery and Resilience Facility - Midday Express
• Central bank digital currency and monetary policy implementation - Occasional Paper Series No.345
• The ECB Survey of Monetary Analysts (SMA), April 2024, Aggregate Results

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Statement by President von der Leyen on Iran's attack on Israel
• Iran: Statement by the High Representative Borrell on behalf of the EU
• Joint Statement on the progress of the EU-UK Agreement in respect of Gibraltar
• EU sanctions: A key foreign and security policy instrument - See EPRS Briefing - April 2024

RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

• FAQs on sanctions against Russia and Belarus, with focus on the following provision: Article 5r of Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 - Reporting on outgoing transfers
• Consolidated version of the FAQs on sanctions against Russia and Belarus