Press room 

Ministers outlined the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

EU negotiators agree on landmark rules to effectively tackle the spread of illegal content online and protect people's fundamental rights in the digital sphere.

MEPs support a common charger for portable electronic devices, reducing e-waste and making the use of different mobile phones, tablets and digital cameras more convenient.

Public sector bodies' websites and mobile applications will have to be made accessible to everyone, under a provisional deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators on Tuesday night. Over 167 million EU citizens have a disability (either medical or due to age) which prevents them accessing data and services on the Internet, e.g. to file a tax declaration, apply for an allowance, pay fees or register a child at school.

IMCO and AIDA MEPs highlighted in the debate with Executive Vice-President Vestager that the EU rulebook on artificial intelligence has to guarantee transparency, safety and human oversight.

Trading in seal products from hunts hitherto conducted to protect fishing stocks will be banned in the EU in future but the exemption for the trade in products derived from seal hunts carried out by the Inuit community will remain, under the preliminary deal struck by internal market MEPs and the Latvian Presidency of the Council on Thursday.

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee will examine the future impact of the EU rules regulating online platforms with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Consumers buying online or in a brick and mortar store will be entitled to equal remedies if they purchase faulty products, under new rules agreed on Tuesday.

Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on the new €4.2 billion programme to strengthen the EU’s internal market.

Parliament and Council negotiators agreed Thursday on EU rules to fix the weaknesses that allowed the emissions scandal to happen and to rebuild consumer trust.

EU countries will have to introduce stronger controls on “blank-firing” guns, to prevent them being converted to fire live ammunition, under Internal Market Committee amendments, voted on Wednesday, to a draft update of the EU firearms directive. The changes approved by MEPs ensure that any firearm which has been converted to firing blanks continues to be covered by EU gun control rules. This closes a legal loophole which became evident in the aftermath of last year’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

People who buy or download music, apps, games or use cloud services will be better protected if a trader fails to supply the content or service or provides a defective one.

The Internal Market and the Industry, Research and Energy committees questioned Sylvie Goulard, French candidate for the Internal Market portfolio.

The Internal Market and Industry committees on Thursday resumed the 2 October hearing of the French candidate for the Internal Market portfolio, Sylvie Goulard.

The Single Market brings benefits to all Member States. Investing in it is investing in the future, says Internal Market Committee Chair Petra De Sutter.

The draft law blacklists certain practices of large platforms and enables the Commission to carry out market investigations and sanction non-compliant behaviours.

New powers for national authorities to check whether e-commerce websites geo-block consumers, track down rogue traders or even, subject to safeguards inserted by MEPs, order that websites hosting scams be shut down, were approved by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday.

If a firm sells a product EU-wide, but with compositions that differ between countries, it must not label and brand it in a seemingly identical way, as this may mislead consumers, say MEPs.

In a drive to prevent a recurrence of the VW emissions scandal, Internal Market Committee MEPs amended EU car “type approval” rules on Thursday, to make environmental and safety testing more independent and strengthen national and EU oversight of cars already on the road.

The EU should reap “collaborative” economy benefits while ensuring fair competition, workers’ rights and tax compliance.