News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 40 (30.09.2024 – 06.10.2024)
Hearings: The hearings of the designated EU commissioners will be held from 4 to 12 November 2024. The European Parliament decided against an earlier start in October to allow more time for reviewing the candidates. The hearings will be limited to three hours each, with the new European Commission potentially starting in early December. (politico.eu)
Court rules: The European Court of Justice has ruled that police in the EU can access mobile phone data even for less serious offenses. The case from Austria involved a person whose phone was confiscated after receiving a parcel containing 85 grams of cannabis. However, access to the data must typically be approved by a court in advance, unless it is an urgent situation. (politico.eu)
Dark patterns: The EU Commission is calling for urgent reforms to protect consumers from manipulative design elements, known as dark patterns, and targeted advertising. These practices lead to unethical manipulation of consumers, such as creating artificial urgency or exploiting vulnerabilities. The EU is reviewing existing laws and planning improvements to address the new digital challenges. (Euractiv.com)
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- EU cybersecurity certification scheme – amendment to the list of state-of-the-art documents (until 18.10.2024)
- EU Cybersecurity Act – rules for notifications of conformity assessment bodies (until 18.10.2024)
Selections of the CW 41 (07.10.2024 – 13.10.2024)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work for the upcoming days until 20.10.2024 can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
This week, there are no Council meetings of relevance to the Internet industry.
Preparatory Bodies:
- ANTICI GROUP, 8 October 2024
- WP on Hybrid Threats, 8 October 2024
- JHA COUNSELLORS, 8 October 2024
- COREPER I, 9 October 2024
- COREPER II, 9 October 2024
- Working Party on Intellectual Property, 9 October 2024
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 9 October 2024
- COREPER I, 11 October 2024
- WP on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), 11 October 2024
- JHA COUNSELLORS, 11 October 2024
An overview of the various Council dates can be found here.
Commission:
The agenda of the current Commission meeting was not available at our time of writing. You can potentially find it on the Commission’s website in the near future.
Parliament:
Plenary Sittings (Strasbourg)
The agenda for the current plenary sittings week can be found here. From the perspective of the Internet industry, the following agenda item is of relevance:
- The crisis facing the EU’s automotive industry, potential plant closures and the need to enhance competitiveness and maintain jobs in Europe – Commission statement
Here you can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament. The calendar of the plenary sittings for 2024 is available here (PDF).
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
No meeting of the LIBE Committee is scheduled for this week.
JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)
The agenda for the current meeting of the JURI Committee taking place on 07.10.2024 can be found here.
No meeting of the ITRE Committee is scheduled for this week.
IMCO Committee (Internal Market)
No meeting of the IMCO Committee is scheduled for this week.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
No meeting of the CULT Committee is scheduled for this week.
Outlook:
An overview of the following session weeks can be found here.
European Court of Justice
You can find the judicial calendar of the ECJ here.
