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Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 transformed Frontex into the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and considerably increased its tasks, powers, responsibilities and budget. The regulation extended the agency's tasks and competences while also balancing them with stronger fundamental rights safeguards and increased liability and accountability, including by giving the European Parliament oversight of the agency's activities. As part of this oversight, Parliament endorses the agency's budget, can ask the ...

The EU and its Member States have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and use its definition of disability as a common reference at EU level. There is no other harmonised definition of disability in the EU. Although a wide variety of statistical surveys are available in terms of questions asked and population surveyed, a complete statistical assessment of disability in the EU does not yet exist. However, the annual Eurostat statistics on income and living conditions ...

On 14 September 2022, the Commission proposed a regulation to ban products made using forced labour, including child labour, on the European Union (EU) internal market. The proposal covers all products made available on the EU market, whether made in the EU for domestic consumption and for export, or imported. It covers products of any type, including their components, from all sectors and industries. EU Member States would be in charge of enforcing its provisions, and their national authorities ...

States must treat asylum-seekers and refugees according to the appropriate standards laid down in human rights and refugee law. The 2015 migration crisis revealed wide divergences in the level of reception conditions provided by Member States, which have persisted until today. While some are facing problems in ensuring adequate and dignified treatment of applicants, in others the standards of reception provided are more generous. This has led to secondary movements of asylum-seekers and refugees, ...

Child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are among the worst forms of violence against children, and are crimes that know no borders. The constant rise of these crimes, exacerbated by the pandemic, underscores the importance of harmonised national legislation and international cooperation to improve prevention, protect the victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The European Day helps to raise awareness to this end.

Value added tax (VAT) is one of the key revenue raisers in national budgets, accounting on average for almost a fifth of all tax revenue collected in the EU. Yet, sizeable amounts of VAT revenue are lost to fraud. Moreover, VAT rules place a considerable administrative burden on businesses. Therefore, to help strengthen the fight against VAT fraud and reduce this burden, the European Commission tabled a three-part proposal for a directive on VAT in the digital age, on 8 December 2022. The proposal ...

The rise of e-commerce has required the system of value-added tax (VAT) to adapt and ensure that the rules allow for a smooth and fraud-proof transaction between customer and seller. The major overhaul of the VAT rules for e-commerce in 2021 introduced a series of important simplifications for businesses, such as the creation of an import one-stop shop (IOSS). The IOSS allows businesses to declare and remit VAT on all their business-to-consumer (B2C) distance sales of imported goods across the EU ...

In September 2020, the European Commission submitted a proposal on asylum and migration management, to replace the 2013 Dublin Regulation that determines the EU Member State responsible for examining asylum applications. While the proposal 'essentially preserves' the current criteria for determining this responsibility, it would also make changes and additions to the regulation, especially on solidarity and responsibility-sharing for asylum-seekers among Member States. The proposal comes after a ...

On 7 November 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services. The proposal contributes to the Commission's priorities to make the EU fit for the digital age. To build a future-ready economy that works for people and builds on the recent Digital Services Act, the proposal regulates online platforms that connect hosts and guests for short-term accommodation rentals. The regulation should facilitate ...

Companies can play a key role in building a sustainable economy and society. At the same time, their global value chains can pose risks to human rights and the environment. A growing number of EU companies have taken initiatives to deploy due diligence processes, often using existing voluntary international standards on responsible business conduct. Some Member States have meanwhile started developing their own legal frameworks on corporate due diligence. In a legislative-initiative resolution adopted ...