Fittex

The crypto-asset sector, while still relatively new, has already changed the world of payments and investment forever. The fast-changing, mobile nature of the sector and its growing market prominence poses challenges, however, for tax authorities, which are not always able to track the capital gains made from trading crypto-assets. On 8 December 2022, the European Commission proposed to set up a reporting framework which would require crypto-asset service providers to report transactions made by ...

On 23 February 2022, the European Commission unveiled a proposal for an EU regulation – the data act – laying down harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data. The aim is to remove barriers to consumers and businesses' access to data, in a context in which the volume of data generated by humans and machines is increasing exponentially and becoming a critical factor for innovation by businesses (e.g. algorithm training) and by public authorities (e.g. shaping of smart cities). The proposed ...

The 2014 Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation or eIDAS) was the first digital identity legislation to provide the basis for cross-border electronic identification, authentication and website certification throughout the EU. Application of eIDAS has been mixed. However, the pandemic increased the need for such solutions to be put in place to access public and private services. On 3 June 2021, the Commission ...

The EU currently has 24 official languages, but the European linguistic landscape is much broader, including a number of regional and minority languages and those introduced by migrant populations. Respecting linguistic diversity is one of the EU's core principles, and supporting language learning has been a constant EU priority. Promoting language learning is also key to achieving a European education area by 2025, with quality education for all. To support this vision, the EU advocates that young ...

As digital technologies have been increasingly permeating our lives, artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually made it onto the scene too, but without much fanfare. This once daunting prospect has become a part of our lives even in domains that do not seem to belong to a futurist world, such as cultural heritage and museums. The results are both promising and surprising: reconstructing a piece of art, completing an unfinished composition of a great musician, identifying the author of an ancient ...

In December 2019, Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (hereafter 'the directive') entered into force. Member States had 2 years to transpose the directive into their domestic legal systems. Prior to the entry into force of the directive, the legal framework was fragmented at national level and limited in scope to specific sectors at EU level (i.e. financial services and transport safety). Transposition did not prove easy, and the European Commission ...

'This is Europe' – an initiative proposed by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola – consists of a series of debates with EU leaders to discuss their visions for the future of the European Union. In his address to the European Parliament on 19 April 2023, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, emphasised three topics: i) democracy and the rule of law, ii) strategic autonomy, and iii) migration. He called for greater protection of minorities and respect for the rule of ...

The second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) are the principal texts regulating investment services and financial markets activities in the EU. Following an extensive consultation and in light of the recent developments in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission proposed the establishment of an EU-wide consolidated tape for financial markets instruments, as well as making targeted changes to market ...

Young people in the EU's outermost regions face challenges that are directly linked to the local geographical and socio-economic conditions. In May 2022, the European Commission launched a new strategy aimed at improving the living conditions of their inhabitants and, within that context, recently relaunched a €1 million grant scheme with the purpose of empowering young people to shape and implement projects at local level.

Two European Union (EU) directives regulate the EU collective investment funds industry, the Directive relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and the Alternative Investment Funds Manager Directive (AIFMD). The UCITS, which covers mutual funds, lays down uniform rules, allowing them to be offered cross-border, while the AIFMD, which covers hedge funds and private equity, lays down the rules for authorising, supervising and overseeing the managers of such ...