Europe Daily News, 06 February 2025

COMPETITION

• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11859 - Arrow Global / Iqera)
• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11845 - Infravia / Iliad / OP Core)
• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11890 - Polaris Managtment / CSFI)
• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11841 - Tikehau Capital / Armira Group / FTAPI)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11804 - Koncar / SEHBV / JV)
• Withdrawal of notification of a concentration (Case M.11842 - Eichler Consulting / Maximilian Aicher Evelyne Maria Aicher / Wolfgang Reitzle / Telchar Investments / RMH Production)
• Explanatory note - Best Practice Guidelines: The Commission's Model Texts for Divestiture Commitments and the Trustee Mandate under the EU Merger Regulation
• Belgium - The Competition Authority grants, under conditions, its approval for the acquisition of Goed pharmacies by Multipharma
• Cyprus - Notification of a concentration in relation to the acquisition of control of Grant Thornton UK Advisory & Tax LLP by Cinven Limited, via Pacioli Topco (Jersey) Limited
• Cyprus - Henkel loses appeal against dominance abuse fine in Cyprus
• France - Sustainability: the Autorité de la concurrence publishes informal guidance on the creation of a system for the collective financing of the additional costs and risks associated with the agro-ecological transition
• Germany - Bundeskartellamt - Sonic Healthcare can acquire the medical laboratory group LADR Dr. Kramer & Kollegen
• The CMA should be nudged on antitrust, not bullied - The flaws of the UK’s competition regulator can be corrected without government interference - Financial Times

STATE AID

• Auhorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the TFEU - Cases where the Commission raises no objections – SA.116469; SA.116765; SA.113011; SA.116382 & SA.116481

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Agenda for: Working Party on the United Kingdom - 07 February 2025
• Agenda for: 663rd meeting of the Export Credits Group - 19 February 2025
• Agenda for: Meeting of the Customs Business Group - EU CSW-CERTEX, integration of transit formalities - 13 February 2025
• Meeting minutes of the 106th Customs Policy Group (CPG) - 03 July 2024
• Transitional rules to the Automated Export System (AES) will be extended until 14 December 2025
• Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar of 6 February 2025 in Case C‑499/23, European Commission Vs. Hungary
  Re: Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Free movement of goods - Common commercial policy - Procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations - Export restrictions - Construction products and raw materials for construction - Public security
• Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the World Trade Organization on adding the Agreement on Electronic Commerce into the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY 

CHEMICAL

• Opinion of Advocate General Capeta of 06 February 20205 Joined cases C-71/23 P, C-82/23 P, French Republic Vs. European Commission, CWS Powder Coatings GmbH, Billions Europe Ltd, Cinkarna Metalurško-kemična Industrija Celje d.d. (Cinkarna Celje d.d.), Evonik Operations GmbH, Kronos Titan GmbH, Precheza a.s., Tayca Corp., Tronox Pigments (Holland) BV, Venator Germany GmbH, Brillux GmbH & Co. KG, Daw SE (C-71/23 P) and European Commission Vs. CWS Powder Coatings GmbH, Billions Europe Ltd, Cinkarna Metalurško-kemična Industrija Celje d.d. (Cinkarna Celje d.d.), Evonik Operations GmbH, Kronos Titan GmbH, Precheza a.s., Tayca Corp., Tronox Pigments (Holland) BV, Venator Germany GmbH
  Re: Appeal - Protection of human health - Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 - Classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures - Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/217 - Classification of titanium dioxide as carcinogen category 2 by inhalation - Criteria for classifying a substance as carcinogenic - Intensity of judicial review in scientific matters - Concept of ‘intrinsic properties’

FINANCE

• Minutes of the 43rd Meeting of the Expert Group on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (43rd EGMLTF) - 14 October 2024
• EBA reflects on the short/medium term objectives of its interest rate risk in the banking book Heatmap
• EBA publishes its draft final technical standards on reporting of data on charges for credit transfers and payments accounts, and shares of rejected transactions
• EBA issues an Opinion in response to the European Commission’s proposed amendments to the EBA draft technical standards on conflicts of interests for issuers of asset-referenced tokens

ENERGY

• Opinion of Advocate General Rantos of 06 February 2025 in Case C‑423/23, Secab Soc. coop. Vs. Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente (ARERA), Gestore dei servizi energetici (GSE) SpA, intervening parties: Presidenza dei Consiglio dei Ministri, Ministero della Transizione Ecologica, Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Associazione Italia Solare ETS, Assoidroelettrica, Elettricità Futura – Unione delle imprese elettriche italiane
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Internal market for electricity - Directive (EU) 2019/944 - Common rules for the internal market for electricity - Article 5 - Market-based supply prices - Directive (EU) 2018/2001 - Promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources - Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 - Emergency intervention to address high energy prices - Article 6 - Mandatory cap on market revenues - Article 8 - National crisis measures - Mandatory cap on market revenues of electricity producers using certain renewable energy sources - National rule not guaranteeing producers the right to retain 10% of surplus revenues above the cap - Preservation of investments in the renewable energy sector

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on International Environment Issues: (Global) - 12 February 2025; (Biodiversity) - 13 February 2025 & (Int. Chemicals/Synergies) - 10 February 2025
• Opinion of Advocate General Rantos of 06 February 2025 in Case C‑514/23, Tiberis Holding Srl Vs. Gestore dei servizi energetici (GSE) SpA, Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Ministero dell’ambiente e della sicurezza energetica other party: Conza Energia Srl
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources - Directive 2009/28/EC - Article 3 - Directive (EU) 2018/2001 - Article 4 - National incentives for the production of energy from renewable sources - Sale of energy on the free market - Support scheme - Different aid arrangements depending on the size of the production installation - Access to the incentive mechanism through a registration system - Reimbursement of sums exceeding the amount of the incentive in the event of an increase in the energy market price (the ‘negative incentive’ mechanism) - Commission decision not to raise objections - Compatibility with those directives - Admissibility
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) …/... supplementing Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council by laying down detailed rules for the yearly calculation of price differences between eligible aviation fuels and fossil kerosene and for the EU ETS allocation of allowances for the use of eligible aviation fuels
• EU mobilises €422 million to support the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in road, maritime and air transport 
• Waterborne Days 2025: Scaling up sustainable and competitive solutions for waterborne transport
• LIFE Waste2Protein: How substantial was the support you've been receiving from the LIFE programme?

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Communication from the Commission - Review of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan
• Commission requests information from Shein on illegal products and its recommender system - Midday Express

DIGITAL, DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues - 10 February 2025
• Agenda for: Working Party on Telecommunication & Information Society -11 February 2025
• Electronic commerce and the GDPR: Advocate General Szpunar clarifies the responsibilities of the operator of an online marketplace (See CPR No.14/2025 - Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-492/23, Russmedia Digital and Inform Media Press)
• Opinion of Advocate General of Spielmann of 06 February 2025 in Case C‑413/23 P, European Data Protection Supervisor Vs. Single Resolution Board
  Re: Appeal - Processing of personal data - Procedure for granting compensation to creditors and shareholders following the resolution of a bank - Obligation to provide information - Article 15(1)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 - Failure to inform those creditors and shareholders as regards the recipient of the personal data - Decision of the European Data Protection Supervisor finding an infringement of Regulation 2018/1725 in relation to the processing of pseudonymised personal data

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• European Union calls for end of Female Genital Mutilation

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• President von der Leyen and the College in Poland for the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU - Midday Express

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Solomon Islands: First Partnership Dialogue between the EU and Solomon Islands
• New European Digital Innovation Hubs set up across the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Türkiye
• European Union’s Global Gateway supports local innovative solutions to combat plastic pollution in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka's Coconut Industry Unites to reach $2 Bn Export Target under European Union Backed 10-Year Strategic Plan

EU/RUSSIA/UKRAINE

• MinDigital, the EU, and UNDP open two modular administrative service centres in Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava oblasts
• The Commission and High Representative Kaja Kallas welcome a major step towards holding Russia accountable for its war of aggression against Ukraine*
• Prosecutors probe Russian role in buying software for EU border system - Investigation examines how French IT group Atos used Moscow office for sensitive European computer project -Financial Times
• Russian billionaires Fridman and Aven sell Alfa-Bank stakes in bid to overturn sanctions - Longtime partner Andrei Kosogov completes a $2.5bn deal to buy the bank and its insurance arm - Financial Times