The View from Brussels #195

Highlights from the Past Week

CW 3 / Monday, 17 to Thursday, 20 January: Plenary Sessions Week (Strasbourg);

DIGITAL SERVICES ACT – REPORT ADOPTED IN PLENARY: With a clear majority, MEPs adopted the DSA report (PDF) in the European Parliament last Thursday (voting outcome, PDF). Beforehand, numerous amendments were tabled, ten of which were also endorsed. These include rules on targeted advertising, T&Cs, KYBC and anonymous use (EP press release).

Based on this adoption, the trilogue negotiations can now begin. The French Council Presidency has already proposed the first dates (see Luca Bertuzzi, Twitter): 31 January, 22 February, 15 March, 24/25 March, and 6-8 April. The aim is to obtain an outcome before the French presidential elections on 10 April. However, the parliamentary rapporteur, C. Schaldemose, has already made it clear that she does not want to be placed under pressure by this schedule.

According to reports from Contexte (paywall, FR), the launch dates of 31 January and 15 March have been agreed so far.

DATA ACT – COMMISSION’S AMENDMENTS IN SECOND ATTEMPT: According to reports from Contexte (paywall, FR), the EU Commission has submitted a new impact assessment to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board in an attempt to address the board’s reservations on the previous version. In principle, the future legislation is intended to give public authorities access to private-sector data which is not otherwise available (B2G).

According to Contexte, the new text has revised the definition of public interest, the notion by which public institutions might request access to privately-held data, and removed reference to specific sectors. The study also tries to clarify how private companies would be compensated for sharing such data.

It has also been reported that the new impact assessment received confirmation on Friday (see Contexte, paywall, FR). This should allow the Commission to present its proposal on 23 February. A second round of negative opinions is uncommon, and would lead to the public disclosure of the reasoning of the control body.

DIGITAL MARKETS ACT – WEB BROWSERS AND DIGITAL ASSISTANTS CONFIRMED: On Tuesday, A. Schwab will report to the Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament (IMCO) on the state of progress of the DMA trilogue negotiations. According to first media reports (see Politico Pro, paywall), he will be able to present a first small achievement in the negotiations. In the technical talks, the Council is said to have agreed to an extension of the central platform services to include web browsers and digital assistants. However, an agreement to include “connected TV” could not be reached. Nevertheless, the result still has to be confirmed at the political level.

However, the threshold values – turnover and market capitalisation – were directly excluded from the technical discussions. Due to their geopolitical sensitivity, these are to be discussed at the political level.

In the meantime, the first 4-column document of 19 January has been made public. (PDF)

PRODUCT SAFETY – PARLIAMENT STRENGTHENS RULES: If MEPs in the EP have their way, the General Product Safety Regulation should be given strict obligations for online marketplaces. This is evident from the published amendments (PAs). (168-476 and 477-786, PDF)

Outgoing MEP E. Gebhardt proposed having online marketplaces as economic operators and significantly increasing their legal responsibility (see PA 211). Online marketplaces “could also be considered as economic operators if they are the manufacturer, importer, distributor or a fulfilment service provider of the respective product”, is also stated in PA 214 by M. Walsmann et al.

The S&D, Greens and EPP each proposed to include stand-alone software in the law with some nuances (see, among others, PAs 200, 305 and 306). K. Van Sparrentak (the Greens) wants to exempt free and open-source software (see PAs 185 and 302).

1. Walsmann proposed “specific monitoring obligations” for online marketplaces to prevent unsafe products from reappearing on their platforms (see PA 227). Gebhardt proposed a similar measure, but added that it should not lead to a general monitoring obligation and should be subject to human review (see PAs 225 and 586).

Both the S&D and the EPP proposed a time limit of 24 hours within which online marketplaces must take dangerous products off the Internet (see PA 558, among others). However, if it goes according to M. Walsmann’s plan, this deadline should only apply if the order is issued by a market surveillance authority with “enough details” (see PA 577). The Commission had originally mentioned a maximum deadline of two working days. (see Politico Pro, Paywall)

CYBERSECURITY – NIS2 TRILOGUE: Politico reports an upbeat tone from the results of the first trilogue talks, stating that negotiators have already negotiated four specific hurdles in the legislation; however, while one official said there was middle ground on pretty much everything, that doesn’t mean that every hurdle will be easy.

The discussion on which organisations should be covered by which (type of) regulation under the law is regarded as still being a difficult matter. In comparison to the EU Commission’s December 2020 proposal, countries in the EU Council have radically rewritten this part of the draft law, which will make it difficult to technically merge the positions of the Council and Parliament. It is also expected that there will be a deeper disagreement on which state agencies should be covered by the law.

The next round of negotiations is scheduled for 17 February, 15 March and 25 April. An additional meeting is scheduled for the first half of May, meaning that negotiations should be concluded by mid-May at the latest. (4-column document of 11 January, PDF)

COOKIES – EDPB RESPONDS TO CALL FOR HARMONISATION: French publishers and online advertisers have now received a response to their correspondence to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), in which they had asked for harmonised rules for trackers. In her reply (PDF), EDPB Chair A. Jelinek expressed an assurance that the EDPB’s aim is indeed a harmonised application of the data protection framework. She refers to both the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive when it comes to cookies. Specifically, she mentions the taskforce on cookie banners announced in September and the update of the guidelines on consent after the entry into force of the GDPR.

IOT – EU COMMISSION PUBLISHES SECTOR REPORT: The European Commission has published its final report on an inquiry into the IoT sector. Voice assistants feature particularly in the report. The report is based on over 200 responses to the questionnaire from companies and standardisation organisations, as well as 26 comments on the preliminary report (PDF) from last year.

The 12-page report (PDF) and 118-page accompanying document (PDF) confirm some of the EU Commission’s concerns – as expressed in a preliminary report published last June – that the Internet of Things is dominated by a handful of platforms whose behaviour could lead to antitrust inquiries. (see Politico, paywall)

GLOBAL TAX AGREEMENT IN DISARRAY: Three EU countries have thrown the bloc’s efforts to introduce a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent within 12 months into disarray. At Tuesday’s meeting of EU finance ministers, Estonia, Hungary and Poland cast a challenge to the planned timetable agreed by G20 countries in October as part of a wider overhaul of corporate tax rules. (see Politico)

Meanwhile, the positions of the individual Member States were compiled by Johan Barros.

VAT IN THE DIGITAL AGE – NEW CONSULTATION: The European Commission plans to present a legislative package to address challenges it sees in the collection of VAT due to the digitalisation of the economy. To this end, it is inviting businesses, academics, Member States and other stakeholders to give their views on the issue through a public consultation (until 15 April).

ONLINE CONTENT – DENMARK PLANS TO INTRODUCE A NETWORK ENFORCEMENT ACT: The Danish government plans to introduce its own legislation, which is similar to the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG). In particular, the proposal contains time limits for taking down content: 24 hours for clearly illegal content, and seven days for other infringing content. The law would be enforced within a very tight timeframe: After a vote in parliament in February, the act could already come into force in the summer. (see Daniel Holznagel, Twitter; IT-Pol Denmark)

ENCRYPTION – GREAT BRITAIN VS MESSENGER: The British government is set to wage a war on end-to-end encryption (E2EE), Rolling Stone reported last week, and has already hired a high-end ad agency to do so. An aim is to reduce support for encryption in Facebook’s Messenger app. Planned measures include public stunts, alliances with charities and law enforcement agencies, and a media campaign. The government is focusing on E2EE, arguing that it hinders efforts to combat child exploitation on the Internet.

In contrast, the top official of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), S. Bonner, had the following to say: “End-to-end encryption serves an important role both in safeguarding our privacy and online safety. It strengthens children’s online safety by not allowing criminals and abusers to send them harmful content or access their pictures or location.” Bonner went on to note that the discussion on encryption focuses too much on the costs “without also weighing up the significant benefits”. (see ICO, BBC and The Guardian)

Relevant Publications, including from the EP Think Tank:

• Results of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 18 January 2022
• EP Plenary round-up – January 2022 (At a Glance)
• ‘Fit for 55’ package: Carbon border adjustment mechanism (Briefing)
• Revision of the Energy Taxation Directive: Fit for 55 package (Briefing)

Outlook for the Coming Week

You can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament here. The provisional meeting calendar for 2022 can be found here (PDF).

The first debate on the AI legislative proposal by IMCO and the LIBE Committee is scheduled for this week. In addition, after the (vice) presidential elections last week, the election of the new committee chairpersons is now on the agenda.

An overview of the most important dates of the Council week can be found here, the meeting calendar is accessible here, and the list of the main topics for the coming 14 days is available here, while an indicative calendar of meetings of the French Presidency Council can be found here (PDF).

Included among these dates are:

Summit and Ministry Meetings:

• Foreign Affairs Council, Monday, 24 January – Agenda, A Items
• General Affairs Council, Tuesday, 25 January – Agenda, A Items, Background Brief
• Informal Meeting of Ministers for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Monday, 24 and Tuesday, 25 January;
• Informal Meeting of Ministers for Education and Youth, Wednesday, 26 and Thursday, 27 January;

Preparatory Bodies:

• Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth (Internal Market), Tuesday, 25 January;
• Working Party on Cooperation in Criminal Matters (COPEN), Wednesday, 26 January;
• Working Party on Tax Questions (Direct Taxation), Thursday, 27 January;
• Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth (Industry), Thursday, 27 January;
• Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society, Thursday, 27 January;
• Working Party on Competition, Thursday, 27 January;
• Working Party on Consumer Protection and Information, Thursday, 27 January;
• Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, Wednesday, 26 January;
• COREPER I, Wednesday, 26 January;
• COREPER II, Wednesday, 26 and Friday, 28 January;

Information about the weekly Commission meeting can be found in the preview (PDF) or (at short notice) in the current agenda. Topics of particular relevance include the Data Act (23 February), the legislative proposal against child abuse (2 March) or the Media Freedom Act (29 June). Internal Market Commissioner Breton recently underlined the hope of being able to present the Chips Act as early as the beginning of 2022.

The following topic is on the agenda for the coming week

• Proposal for the Digital Decade Principles

You can find the judicial calendar of the ECJ here.

On Monday, the oral hearing in a case on the “right to be forgotten” on behalf of the German Federal High Court of Justice (BGH) will take place (C-460/20).

European Parliament Committees

CW 4 / Monday, 24 to Thursday, 27 January: Mini Plenary Sessions (Brussels);

LIBE Committee (EP)

 

Current Meetings

• Tuesday, 25 January 2022, 13.45-16.15 (with IMCO, Brussels)
• Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

25 January 2022, 13.45 – 16.15

…

3. Harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts

CJ40/9/07994

***I 2021/0106(COD) COM(2021)0206 – C9-0146/2021

 

Rapporteur:
	Brando Benifei (S&D) Dragoș Tudorache (Renew)
Responsible:
	IMCO, LIBE*

 

Exchange of views with the Commission

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Monday, 31 January 2022, 15.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Tuesday, 1 February 2022, 9.00-12.00 and 13.45-15.45 (Brussels)

JURI Committee (EP)

Current Meetings

• Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 9.00-12.00, 13.45-15.45 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 27 January 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

26 January 2022, 16.45 – 17.45

…

14. Harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts

JURI/9/05999

***I 2021/0106(COD) COM(2021)0206 – C9-0146/2021

 

Rapporteur for the opinion:
	Axel Voss (PPE)
Responsible:
	IMCO, LIBE*	Brando Benifei (S&D) Dragoş Tudorache (Renew)

• Exchange of views

…

Further Meetings

• Thursday, 10 February 2022, 9.00-12.00 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Monday, 28 February 2022, 13.45-15.45 (Brussels)

Dossiers Timetable (21 December 2021)

 

ITRE Committee (EP)

 

Current Meetings

• Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 9.00-12.00, 13.45-15.45 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 27 January 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

26 January 2022, 11.45 – 12.00

…

9. Measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148

ITRE/9/04961

 

Rapporteur:
	Bart Groothuis (Renew)

• Reporting back to committee on the negotiations (Rule 74(3))

10. Roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast)

ITRE/9/05477

 

Rapporteur:
	Angelika Winzig (PPE)

• Reporting back to committee on the negotiations (Rule 74(3))

…

12. Roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast)

ITRE/9/05477

 

Rapporteur:
	Angelika Winzig (PPE)

• Vote on the provisional agreement resulting from interinstitutional negotiations

…

27 January 2022, 9.00 – 12.00

Presentation of the Council Presidency’s programme

19. Exchange of views with Ms Barbara Pompili, Minister for the Ecological Transition (energy) and Ms Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry (industry, SMEs, space) 
20. Exchange of views with  Ms Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (research, innovation) and Mr Cédric O, Minister of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communication (telecommunications, ICT)

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Wednesday, 2 February 2022, 9.00-12.00, 13.45-15.45 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 3 February 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

Dossiers Timetable (19 January 2022)

 

IMCO Committee (EP)

 

Current Meetings

• Tuesday, 25 January 2022, 9.30-12.30, 13.45-16.15 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

25 January 2022, 9.30 – 12.30

…

10. Presentation of the Council Presidency’s programme with Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry and Cédric O, Minister of State for the Digital Transition and Electronic Communication

Report on ongoing interinstitutional negotiations

11. Contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Act)

IMCO/9/04998

***I 2020/0374(COD) COM(2020)0842 – C9-0419/2020

 

Rapporteur:
	Andreas Schwab (PPE)
Responsible:
	IMCO*

• Reporting back to committee on the negotiations (Rule 74(3))

…

25 January 2022, 13.45 – 16.15 

Joint IMCO-LIBE committee meeting (see separate draft agenda)

15. Harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts

CJ40/9/07994

***I 2021/0106(COD) COM(2021)0206 – C9-0146/2021

 

Rapporteurs:
	Brando Benifei (S&D) Dragoş Tudorache (Renew)
Responsible:
	IMCO, LIBE*

Exchange of views with the Commission

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Open

Dossiers Timetable (January 2022)

 

CULT Committee (EP)

 

Current Meetings

• Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 9.00-12.00, 13.45-15.45 and 16.45-18.45 (Brussels)
• Thursday, 27 January 2022, 9.00-11.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

26 January 2022, 13.45 – 15.45

…

10. Presentation of the priorities of the French Presidency by Ms Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Culture

…

27 January 2022, 9.00 – 11.00

12. Chair’s announcements

Announcement of the results of the votes on the amendments
Opening of the remote voting procedure on the final votes

13. Presentation of the priorities of the French Presidency by Ms Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Monday, 7 February 2022 (Brussels)

AIDA Committee (EP) – Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age

Current Meetings

• None

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Thursday, 10 February 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

 

INGE (EP) – Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation

Current Meetings

• Tuesday, 25 January 2022, 9.00-12.00 (Brussels)

Excerpt from the Draft Agenda

*** Electronic vote ***

4. Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation

INGE/9/04888

2020/2268(INI)

 

Rapporteur:
	Sandra Kalniete (PPE)	PR – PE695.147v02-00 AM – PE700.407v01-00 AM – PE700.531v02-00 AM – PE700.532v01-00 AM – PE700.544v01-00 DT – PE662.140v01-00 DT – PE689.654v02-00 DT – PE693.600v01-00 DT – PE691.420v03-00

 

Responsible:
	INGE

• Adoption of amendments
• Adoption of draft report
• Deadline for tabling amendments: 18 November 2021, 18.00

*** End of electronic vote ***

In association with the Subcommittee on Security and Defence

5. Exchange of views with NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence on “Russia’s Strategy in Cyberspace” with Sanda Svetoka, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
6. Exchange of views with NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence on “China as a Narrative Challenge for NATO Member States” with Richard Turcsányi, Palacky University Olomouc
7. Exchange of views with NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence on “Emerging issues in the digital domain: what threats we should look out for and how malicious actors modify their strategy” with:Jānis Sārts, Director of NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
   Nika Aleksejeva, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
   Gundars Bergmanis-Korats, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
   Sanda Svetoka, NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence

…

Further Meetings (Calendar)

• Open

Further Scheduled Parliamentary Calendar Dates

• CW 5 / Monday, 31 January to Thursday, 3 February: Committee Meetings Week (Brussels);
• CW 6 / Monday, 7 to Thursday, 10 February: Political Group and Committee Meetings Week (Brussels);
• CW 7 / Monday, 14 to Thursday, 17 February: Plenary Sessions Week (Strasbourg);