Fittex

The European Commission proposed a revision of Directive 2008/99/EC on the protection of the environment through criminal law in December 2021. The proposal intends to clarify some of the terms contained in the directive and includes an updated list of environmental crime offences, harmonised sanction types and levels, measures to strengthen international investigation and prosecution, improvements to the collection of statistical data and measures to improve national enforcement chains. Ultimately ...

On 11 March, Europe honours all those who have lost their lives or loved ones to terror. The European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism was inaugurated after the 2004 Madrid bombings. Protection of victims of terrorism is an essential part of the EU's efforts to address all dimensions of the terrorist threat. In response to the wave of attacks that has hit Europe in recent years, rules and sanctions related to terrorist activities have been strengthened. Ongoing action at EU level, meanwhile ...

On 8 March 2023, the European Commission is set to adopt an update of its first EU maritime security strategy from 2014. The EU is a one-of-a-kind maritime actor, a fact that brings both opportunities and responsibilities. It has been argued that, if the EU-27 were to combine the capacities and capabilities of their navies, they would form one of the world's largest maritime powers. There is therefore space for better integration of capabilities and greater coherence among the EU's tools to promote ...

With its war of aggression against Ukraine, launched in early 2022, Russia has violated the country's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence within internationally recognised borders. This war has inflicted heavy casualties, destruction and displacement within Ukraine and beyond. While intense ongoing hostilities make it difficult to collect comprehensive information about certain areas in Ukraine, this is arguably the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. There are ...

Value added tax (VAT) is one of the key revenue raisers in national budgets, representing on average almost one-fifth of all tax revenue collected in the European Union (EU). To help strengthen the fight against VAT fraud and reduce the administrative burden for businesses, the European Commission tabled a three-part initiative – VAT in the Digital Age – on 8 December 2022. As a first objective, the Commission proposes to introduce an EU-wide reporting system on intra-EU business-to-business (B2B ...

The impact assessment (IA) defines in sufficient detail the problem, its drivers and the need to protect media pluralism and independence in the EU. While it duly explains that the problems identified affect the 'entire information ecosystem', their geographical scale is not very clear. The IA examines three options, with different packages of measures with a gradually increasing level of approximation of certain aspects of national frameworks relating to media pluralism and independence. Costs and ...

As products have become more complex in the digital age, on 28 September 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a new directive on liability of defective products. This would revise the existing Product Liability Directive, adopted nearly 40 years ago in 1985. The proposal aims to bring the European Union's product liability regime up to speed with the digital age, circular economy business models and global value chains. Addressing the need to ease the burden of proof for consumers ...

On 14 September 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation to prohibit products made using forced labour, including child labour, on the internal market of European Union (EU). The proposed legislation fits into the context of EU efforts to promote decent work worldwide. The proposal covers all products made available within the EU market, meaning both products made in the EU for domestic consumption and for export, and imported goods. The provisions of the proposal would ...

On 8 January 2023, far-right supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and the Congress in Brasilia. The events, widely acknowledged as echoing the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, took place only a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as President of Brazil for the third time; Bolsonaro, who did not concede defeat in the October 2022 election, was notably absent from the inauguration. Brazil is one of the biggest ...

Din is-sena, il-Jum Internazzjonali tan-Nisa qed jiġi ċċelebrat fil-kuntest tal-gwerra tar-Russja fl-Ukrajna. Il-kunflitt ħoloq theddida ta' skarsezzi ta' enerġija, u aggrava l-effetti inflazzjonarji tal-irkupru ta' wara l-pandemija, li wassal għal kriżi tal-għoli tal-ħajja fl-Ewropa. Il-Kumitat għad-Drittijiet tan-Nisa u l-Ugwaljanza bejn is-Sessi (FEMM) tal-Parlament qed ifakkar il-ġurnata b'laqgħa mal-parlamenti nazzjonali fl-1 ta' Marzu 2023. Fuq l-aġenda: l-impatt taż-żieda fil-prezzijiet tal-enerġija ...