The landmark European AI Act is making its way through the EU’s ordinary legislative procedure. Once adopted and in force, the Act will impact organisations from a range of sectors that develop, deploy or use AI technologies. Based on the “Brussels Effect”, the AI Act will also affect organisations outside the EU – by covering AI systems placed on the EU market from third countries. Due to the major societal and business relevance of the draft law and the extensive technical and political debates, the legislative procedure is particularly lengthy and complex. This Acquis EU Law & Po ..read more

Yesterday, 21 February, Putin decided to recognise the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) as independent territories. Immediately after, he ordered Russian troops to “maintain peace” in the two breakaway regions. In response, the US, the EU and the rest of the allies issued statements condemning the move as a blatant violation of international law, as well as of the Minsk agreements. They also announced the introduction of sanctions. Below, more details on the prospective measures:   EU sanctions In a joint statement, Commission President von d ..read more

From 1 January until 30 June 2022, France is holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). During its six-months term, France seeks to push for joint EU responses to the major societal challenges, in particular the public health crisis, climate change, the digital transition and global geopolitics. All this with a focus on a current EU buzzword: Making the EU more assertive on the world stage and achieving greater “strategic autonomy”. The 76-pages programme of the Presidency details three priority ambitions that may appear rather vague and cryptical: “Recover ..read more

In a coordinated move, both the EU and US have issued further sanctions against Belarus today, 2 December, 2021. The EU's fifth round of sanctions designations "over continued human rights abuses and the instrumentalization of migrants" targets 17 individuals and 11 entities. Somewhat unexpectedly, the list includes two major Belarusian chemical & oil companies, Grodno Azot and Belorusneft, as previously it was announced that the designations will only target perpetrators of the migrant crisis at the EU external border.  The EU designations mean that the assets of the targets in Europ ..read more

Today – 15 November 2021 – the EU Foreign Affairs Council expanded the listing criteria for the Belarus sanctions regime in order to be able to target persons and entities involved in human trafficking and orchestrating the illegal border crossing of migrants. In particular, the additional designation criteria will allow the EU to specifically targeting individuals and entities participating in - or contributing to - the state-sponsored human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated that the new sa ..read more

On 19 October 2021, the European Commission has adopted its 2022 Work Programme in close cooperation with the European Parliament and the Member States. A yearly exercise, the Work Programme provides a roadmap on the measures to come and is expected to have an impact in a broad range of economic sectors. The Work Programme contains 42 new legislative and non-legislative initiatives, revolving around the six Commission priorities for 2019-2024. Below some highlights that ACQUIS have gathered for you: Global role of the EU: noteworthy are the Joint Communication on a Partnership with the Gulf c ..read more

Today is the day that the EU releases one of the most significant and voluminous policy and legislative packages.  Many of the proposals are relevant intra-EU, but there are several with significant impact on third-countries, EU trade generally and the private sector, beyond the borders of the EU. Testament to the global relevance of the proposals,  the New York Times put out an alert and an article today with the headline: “Europe Lays Out Vision for a Carbonless Future, but Big Obstacles Loom”. As to “The Brussels Effect” - the article also notes that “(…) The political importance ..read more

On 21 April 2021, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for the first-ever legislation on artificial intelligence (AI) – which will have far-reaching effects on any organisations developing, deploying or using AI technologies. By introducing this legal framework, the Commission aims to guarantee the safety and fundamental rights of people and businesses in relation to AI systems placed on the EU’s market, and at the same time to increase AI uptake, investments and innovation in the EU. Why is this of relevance? The proposed Regulation on a European Approach for AI follows ..read more

Acquis EU Law & Policy will host a live webinar discussion “EU Sanctions: Key Recent Developments and Practical Implications for Companies”, that will take place on Wednesday, 14 April from 14.00 to 16.00 CEST. In the last 12 months, the EU sanctions landscape saw a number of significant developments, including the launch of the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions regime and first designations under this new instrument, new designations under the EU’s Chemical Weapons Sanctions regime, as well as the new plan of actions, proposed by the European Commission in January 2021, aimed at imp ..read more

On 22 February 2021, the EU’s foreign ministers agreed to impose sanctions against the Russian individuals accused by the EU of being responsible for the recent arrest, sentencing and persecution of the Russian opposition politician Mr Alexei Navalny. The restrictions imposed on the officials concerned consist of an asset freeze and a prohibition to enter any EU Member State, and will become effective once the related EU legal acts will be adopted and published in the EU Official Journal. The final list of the individuals subject to these new sanctions has not yet been publicly announced, but ..read more