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The IA argues that existing GMO legislation is not fit for purpose for plants and their food and feed products developed using certain new genomic techniques (NGTs) and that their resulting limited uptake in the EU might lead to missed opportunities to reach the EU's sustainability objectives. It suggests four policy options (POs) in addition to the baseline and assesses their economic, environmental and social/health impacts. The assessment is predominantly qualitative and is based on the stakeholders ...

The problem definition appears to be well supported by evidence. The impact assessment provides a sufficient range and description of the options. However, the five options are cumulative; it is questionable whether they fully qualify as alternative options under the Better Regulation Guidelines. The assessment of the options' impacts (economic, social, environmental, fundamental rights) is qualitative and quantitative. It appears to be based on sound research and analysis, with clear acknowledgement ...

World leaders gathered for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, at a time of rising geopolitical tensions, including an ongoing war of aggression, military conflicts, coup d'états in western Africa, accelerating climate change crisis, food insecurity, widening inequality and sustainable development concerns. Against the backdrop in the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the theme chosen for this year's general debate, marking ...

As political relations between the EU and China have encountered increasing challenges, including in the context of China's ambiguous position on Russia's war on Ukraine, the trade deficit of the EU with China has risen substantially. The EU has reacted by taking measures to improve its own economic security and to ensure a level playing-field; the most recent measure, announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 13 September, is the anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles ...

On 20 June 2023, the Commission made a proposal for a revision of the EU's long-term budget, to urgently address shortcomings and provide further financial support to Ukraine. Overall, the Committee on Budgets (BUDG) supports the revision in its interim report, pending the formal request from the Council, which has yet to agree its position, for consent to the revision. But BUDG says that an additional €10 billion, on top of the €65.8 billion proposed by the Commission, is needed to address the challenges ...

This study has been prepared for the Committee on Budgetary Control. It assesses recent developments in the transparency and accountability of EU NGO funding. The Commission has transitioned all programmes to a single, centralised grant management system that can potentially enhance the public transparency of grant funding significantly. Nevertheless, overall public transparency remains limited. The study recommends a more comprehensive, systematic approach to public transparency involving the Parliament ...

Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis and Commissioner Gentiloni are invited to the 12th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue (RRD) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Regulation. The previous RRD took place on 10 July. This briefing first focusses on the Commission’s Annual Report on the implementation of the RRF published on 19 September (i.e. 18 months after the previous report), summarising the information presented therein and commenting it when considered necessary. The second part ...

In April 2023, the European Commission adopted regulatory proposals introducing a Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) and a centralised assessment procedure for SPCs for medicinal products. This study analyses the potential impacts of these proposals on access to medicines, the administrative burden to applicants and the cost to national health systems. This document was prepared by Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee ...

This study evaluates the implementation and enforcement of the Package Travel Directive (PTD) in the EU with a focus on ten EU Member States. It identifies areas for improvement, such as adapting the definition of package travel to accommodate evolving industry trends, addressing pre-contractual information gaps, improving payment practices, tackling challenges in the digital environment, enhancing enforcement mechanisms, promoting alternative dispute resolution, and increasing consumer awareness ...

The proposed reform of the electricity market design maintains crucial elements of the existing system to ensure continued efficient operation. The impact that changing the rules on longer-term contracts will have on consumer prices and investment will depend on the concrete language of proposed legislation as well as its ultimate implementation. Overall, neither the expected mode of impact of individual reform elements, let alone their interaction, is clearly spelled out by the legislators. This ...