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In July 2023, the European Commission tabled a package of three proposals for the greening of freight transport. Among them is a proposal for a single methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport services, referred to as CountEmissionsEU. The initiative covers both freight and passenger transport. It seeks to ensure that GHG emissions data provided regarding transport services are reliable and accurate, to allow fair comparison between transport services. It establishes ...

On 19 November 2025, the Commission published a proposal for a Digital Omnibus on AI: amendments to the Artificial Intelligence Act (in force since 1 August 2024) and to Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 on common rules for civil aviation (in force since 11 September 2018). These amendments seek to address implementation issues and reduce the regulatory burden arising from the AI Act. However, its timely application has faced delays, particularly regarding the designation of national competent authorities ...

This study was prepared at the request of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). It analyses the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus package proposals published on 19 November 2025, distinguishing administrative simplification from more substantive recalibration of safeguards across data, privacy, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence areas. The study highlights key areas of controversy (legal certainty, enforcement capacity, and impacts on ...

This study was prepared at the request of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). It analyses the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus package proposals published on 19 November 2025, distinguishing administrative simplification from more substantive recalibration of safeguards across data, privacy, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence areas. The study highlights key areas of controversy (legal certainty, enforcement capacity, and impacts on ...

The 'datafication' of everyday life and various data scandals have made the protection of personal data an increasingly important social, legal and political topic for the European Union (EU). Privacy and data protection are recognised as fundamental rights in EU law and were strengthened when the Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009, giving the EU a stronger legal basis for updating its data protection and privacy system. In 2012, the European Commission began reforming the outdated framework. ...

Online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and grooming practices (manipulation aimed at exploiting and abusing people), now increasingly targeting younger children, have been proliferating at an alarming rate. In 2024, more than 20.5 million reports of suspected online child sexual abuse materials were detected. Reports related to AI-generated CSAM saw a 1 325 % increase, rising from 4 700 in 2023 to 67 000 in 2024. Most activities detected were hosted in Europe. In response to this situation, on ...

This is the tenth edition of an annual EPRS paper aimed at identifying and framing many of the key issues and policy areas that will feature prominently in public debate and on the political agenda of the European Union over the coming year. The topics analysed encompass, the next long term EU budget, Ukraine's integration into the EU, defence, EU-China relations, the impact of artificial intelligence on the web, the potential of startup companies, irregular migration, climate policy, action for ...

The rise of generative AI has presented a global challenge to copyright law regarding authorship and human creativity. This has implications for the ability of creators to control and monetise their work, in addition to incentives to use innovative technologies. Currently, the EU lacks specific rules on the copyrightability of AI-generated works, but existing case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and developments at Member State level demonstrate a strong need for human creativity ...

The global digital information sphere has become a contested geostrategic and ideological battleground. In this online 'marketplace of ideas', democracy is increasingly under pressure not only from traditional authoritarian governments, but also corporate actors who seek to further their interests. In democratic open information spaces, citizens would ideally be free to express and inform themselves. Authoritarian actors, on the other hand, continue to fine-tune techniques to manipulate public opinion ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we look for information online. Search engines increasingly offer AI-generated answers that keep users on their platforms instead of redirecting them to external websites, and many are now using generative AI tools as search engines. This convergence has intensified competition between traditional search engines and generative AI platforms. At the same time, experts warn that such reliance may lead to informational dependency and a decline in users ...