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INSIGHTS BRUSSELSA regular update on key EU policy
developmentsIssue 28 September 2016
Brexit and beyondThe legislative pipeline for financial
services, energy and digital
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Brexit 3
Where do we go from here? 3
Financial Services 5
A rich but shaky legislative pipeline 5
Energy 10
Towards a redesigned European energy framework 10
Digital 15
Towards a Digital Single Market by end of 2017 15
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Brexit
Few material changes have taken place in Brussels or Lon-don
since 52% of Brits voted to leave the European Union on 23 June.
But behind the scenes, perceptions are shifting and a world of
uncertainty lies ahead of us. It has become clear that the
political leadership that raised the Brexit question did not plan
for the eventuality of the vote to leave the EU. The complacency of
David Camerons government is all the more surprising given that, in
the informed judgement of the Eu-ropean Union Committee of the
House of Lords, withdrawal from the EU is arguably the most
complex, demanding and important administrative and diplomatic task
that the Gov-ernment has undertaken since the Second World War. The
select committee is now quite rightly pushing for Parliament to
have the right to scrutinise the withdrawal negotiations and the
future of the relationship between the UK and the EU.
The most visible and remarkable post-Brexit changes regard the
reshaping of the political power map. Firstly, the result was
swiftly followed in Westminster by the replacement of UK Prime
Minister David Cameron with Theresa May and a subsequent cabinet
reshuffle which saw the PM appoint a brand new team, including new
dedicated ministers for international trade and managing Brexit,
arch-Eurosceptics David Davis MP and Dr Liam Fox MP. Prime Minister
May is however expected to drive the Brexit process directly by
chairing a special cabinet committee that brings together Davis,
Fox and new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson MP. Secondly, the UKs
Commissioner for Financial Services Lord Hill resigned in the wake
of the referendum result. Hill will be replaced, subject to
European Parliament endorse-ment expected in September, by Sir
Julian King, the former
Where do we go from here?
3
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British Ambassador to France. Sir Julian will be in charge of
the implementation of the European Agenda on Security. The decision
to place King in this position has been well received as a move
that plays to the UKs strengths and elevates the counter-terrorist
agenda to a single Commissioners portfolio. Thirdly, the UK has
withdrawn from its duty at the helm of the rotating presidency of
the Council of the EU, which had been scheduled for the second half
of 2017. This responsibility will now be taken on by Estonia.
Finally, both the Council and the Commission, in a typical Brussels
intra-institutional power struggle for leadership of the process,
have each appointed a chief negotiator. Didier Seeuws, a respected
Belgian diplo-mat and former Chief of Staff to previous Council
President Hermann Van Rompuy, takes on the mantle for the Council,
while the Commission has appointed Michel Barnier, a sea-soned
pro-European French politician and former minister, who proved his
capacity to negotiate with the British during his tenure as
European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Financial
Services.
Even before the formal withdrawal process has begun, the less
visible side of the Brexit story in Brussels is manifesting itself
in the gradual marginalization of British influence on a number of
pending policy decisions in the EU decision-mak-ing process.
Before any action is taken, Mays government must first agree on
how to face this withdrawal procedure; when to trigger the formal
notification required by EU law, and indeed on which goals to
strive for. Beyond the legal and institutional scrutiny of the
decoupling process, different interpretations are being elaborated
on the steps to be taken and on the substance of what the UK could
and should put up for discussion as it tries to redefine the nature
and scope of its relations with the EU. The creativity and skill of
specialist EU lawyers will cer-tainly be able to find plausible
legal answers on how best to frame any political decision that
emerges, but legalism wont be a substitute for well-informed,
thoughtful and transparent political choices, ideally preceded by
thorough parliamentary scrutiny. The outcome of this process,
whatever it may be, will have to be negotiated by the European
Council with the material input of the Commission, be approved by a
qualified majority of EU member states in the Council of Ministers
and finally be backed by the European Parliament. Pre-existing
scenarios for EU-third party bi-lateral cooperation range from the
Swiss model, focusing on selected policy areas, to the Turkish
custom-specific model or the more comprehensive free-trade Canadian
model that has still to come into force. Ex-amples of a more
multilateral cooperation framework include the case of EFTA
countries within the European Economic Area, which extends the EU
internal market and several other policy programmes to Norway,
Iceland and Lichtenstein. The default option of market access to EU
countries would be to fall back on World Trade Organisation rules.
Some options, such as UK accession to the EFTA-EEA agreement may
be
less cumbersome to finalise, but all will come at a cost and
none of them can replicate the more favourable pre-Brexit
conditions.
The EU leadership in Brussels may be willing to afford the UK
some patience as the country gathers itself before launch-ing into
the formal procedure of withdrawal, but Brussels is unlikely to
accommodate a filibustering agenda that allows the UK to
cherry-pick the most favourable mutual recognition rules and
principles purely in its own interests, potentially jeopardising
the EUs core principles.
Commission President Junckers State of the Union speech on 14
September and the parliament debate that follows are likely to
publicly uncover the first real insights into the lines that these
two institutions intend to pursue going forward. Two days later, on
16 September, the meeting of the other 27 Heads of State and
Government in Bratislava will complete the picture with preliminary
national perspectives, and will hopefully see the beginnings of a
sorely needed common di-rection on EU focus and approach.
There is general consensus that the EU cannot continue busi-ness
as usual by simply acknowledging the reduction of its members. That
said, there is little appetite for upheaval after the clamour of
recent months, and a busy agenda of national elections in 2017
precludes a Copernican revision of the EUs workings in the short
term. Although the administration of Brexit will remain centre
stage in Brussels for the foreseeable future, the UK remains in the
EU with all rights and obliga-tions until the divorce is made
official, at the current rate not earlier than 2019. Even so, the
most resounding signal that the EU is continuing to fully apply its
rule book, is given by the 13bn euro tax bill just adopted by the
Commission de-claring unlawful the Irish sweetheart tax regime
granted to Apple. The decision opens the way to further
investigations on the alleged practices of Apple and other
companies by Eu-ropean and US tax authorities, while reinforcing
the principle that any national tax ruling allocating profits to an
entity that exists only on paper is a form of illegal subsidy.
Moreover, there are a number of new legislative proposals underway,
many crucial regulatory decisions to be taken and several hundred
executory acts to be finalised as part of the EUs day-to-day
business. From energy to financial services and the digital world,
in the following pages we provide an update on the most relevant
legislative initiatives in the pipeline. We remain available to
support organisations in understanding and navigating the Brussels
arena and the interplay with rel-evant national policy
landscapes.
Leonardo SforzaManaging Director, Head of EU Affairs
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Financial Services
The policy area for which Brexit presents the greatest
chal-lenges is Financial Services, where Londons 106tn volume of
business in trading and clearing euros only takes place due to the
City being in the EU. This will be one of the most controversial
elements of the negotiations between the EU and the UK. The City is
unlikely to safeguard its current status without the UK making
concessions in other areas of interest for the EU such as the
maintenance of the freedom of movement and establishment for EU
citizens.
The Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan, presented last year
by the European Commission, outlines 33 new measures deemed
necessary to establish the building blocks for an integrated
capital market across the European Union by 2019. The first
progress report on CMU released earlier this year does not take
account of the new situation emerging following the UK referendum
and will require re-assessment by the Commission.
A rich but shaky legislative pipeline
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1 Hill, J., 2016. Speech by Commissioner Jonathan Hill at the
European Parliament on the Capital Markets Union. European
Commission. Available at:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_speech-16-2529_en.htm
2 See the remarks by Vice-President Dombrovskis at the Atlantic
Council. Available at:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_speech-16-2574_en.htm
Ongoing consultations
Capital Markets Union: action on a potential
EU personal pension framework
27 July - 31 October
The consultation invites interested parties to provide
information on their experience using personal pen-sion schemes and
seeks the views of professionals working in the pensions industry
on the possibility of offering more simple, affordable and
transparent personal pension products. The consultation will enable
the Commission to get a better view on what can be done at EU level
to support a wider choice of personal benefit tools at retirement
across borders. Review of the EU macro-prudential framework
1 August-24 October
The framework under consultation consists of the European
Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) Regulations, the Capital Requirements
Directive IV (CRD IV), the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR)
and the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). The consultation
focuses on refining the scope of existing macro-prudential
instruments (such as capital buffers) and making the rules more
consistent with one another, as well as examining the role and
organisational structure of the ESRB and its relationship with the
European Central Bank.
Main barriers to the cross-borders distribution
of investment funds across the EU
2 June-2 October
The aim of the consultation is to define how best to strengthen
the single market passport for cross-bor-der investment funds. The
consultation seeks feed-back from the public, including fund
managers, in-vestors and consumer groups, as well as from those who
market and sell these funds, in order to gain a fuller picture of
the remaining barriers to cross-bor-der distribution (such as
marketing rules, administra-tive arrangements by host countries,
regulatory fees and notification rules).
Evaluation of the financial conglomerate
directive
9 June - 20 September
The consultation will gather evidence on whether the Directive
on the supplementary supervision of credit institutions, insurance
undertakings and investment firms in a financial conglomerate,
known as FICOD, first adopted in 2002, is proportionate and fit for
pur-pose in its current form and delivering as expected.
>
>
>
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There has been much speculation about how Brexit affects
Financial Services legislation for the EU, and specifically the
future of the Capital Markets Union, a pet project of the for-mer
British Commissioner Jonathan Hill. In his final speech, however,
Lord Hill was resolute, Its absolutely essential for the European
Union to continue diversifying the funding sources for its economy,
particularly with London outside the EU, urging the EU to stick
with it, to keep hammering away at the barriers to free movement of
capital for the years ahead.1
Despite the new challenging situation surrounding Brex-it and
the diverging views of other key Member States on several technical
aspects of CMU priorities, Commission Vice-President Valdis
Dombrovkis2, who has taken over re-sponsibility for the Financial
Services portfolio seems com-mitted to pursuing the work initiated
by Lord Hill in this area, but the pace and scope of future work is
unlikely to remain as initially planned.
The launch of four new public consultations presents a good
opportunity for business and stakeholders to make known their views
and perspectives on future EU initiatives in financial services, as
outlined in the box to the right.
Proposals to be Adopted > Revised directive on Institutions
for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP II)The proposed
revision of the IORP II directive was presented by the European
Commission in March 2014, mainly focus-ing on the governance and
transparency of the activities of occupational pension
institutions.
According to the rapporteur in the European Parliament, Brian
Hayes (EPP, Ireland), the final text will be voted on at the
plenary session in October 2016. EU member states will have 24
months after the entry into force of the Directive to transpose it
into national legislation.
TimelineMarch 2014: Commission proposal
30 June 2016: Council Agreement
October 2016: Adoption in EP Plenary
2018: Deadline for transposition in national law
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> Regulation on a European framework for Simple, Transparent
and Standardised (STS) Securitisation and a revision of the capital
calibrations for banksWith a view to opening up investment
opportunities to a wider set of non-bank investors, the Commission
in Septem-ber 2015 presented a proposal for the creation of a new
regu-latory framework to relaunch markets for STS securitisations
and for the revision of capital calibration for banks. The
pro-posals were agreed by the Council in December 2015 and are
currently awaiting the opinion of the European Parliament.
Following a Public Hearing on the regulation in the European
Parliament on 13 June, the rapporteur Paul Tang, (S&D,
Neth-erlands) expressed his concern that the examination of the
proposal by the Council was being rushed. In his draft report he
follows the proposal of NGO Finance Watch that at least 20% of the
risk should be kept on the balance sheet of the is-suer (the
Commission proposal foresees only 5%). This pro-posed higher
threshold clearly divides the political groups, with rapporteurs
from GUE/NGL and Greens/EFA supporting the proposal, while ECR and
ALDE clearly oppose it.
Both pieces of legislation are provisionally scheduled to be
debated in ECON Committee on 9 November and in plenary on 13
December for 1st reading/single reading.
Once a political agreement is reached between the
co-legis-lators, the Commission has announced its intention to also
revise capital charges for investments in STS securitisations under
Solvency II.
> Regulation on the modernisation of the Prospectus
DirectiveIn November 2015, the European Commission issued a
pro-posal to modernise the Prospectus Directive, aiming to reduce
the costs for smaller companies accessing the capital mar-kets. The
European Parliaments Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
(ECON) published its draft report in March 2016. Rapporteur Petr
Jezek (ALDE, CZ) and the ECON com-mittee endorsed its draft
negotiating position on 13 July, to be submitted to plenary. The
Member States agreed on their general approach in the ECOFIN
council meeting on 17 June.
TimelineSeptember 2015: Commission proposal
December 2015: Council agreement
November 2016: Adoption in EP Committee
December 2016: EP Plenary Meeting for 1st/single reading
Under the new regulations proposed by the Commission, issuers
would no longer be obliged to create prospectuses for issuances of
less than 500.000, a threshold that Mem-ber states could raise to
10 million. Where the Commission want to limit this possibility
purely to national issuances, the Councils proposal does not
foresee this restriction, whereas the European Parliament wants to
limit it to 5 million.
In addition, the Commissions proposal and the positions of the
European Parliament and the Council are still divergent on the
exact definition of who can make use of a lighter ver-sion of
prospectus, the EU Growth Prospectus and on the exact qualification
of risk factors.
After a formal approval of the negotiating mandate in EP
ple-nary, scheduled for 13 September 2016, the interinstitutional
negotiations can start. The Slovak Presidency aims to reach a
political agreement between the institutions before the end of the
2016.
> Regulation on the Reform of Money Market FundsThe
commission adopted a proposal for a regulatory frame-work for Money
Market Funds (MMFs) in September 2013. These funds serve as an
important source of short-term fi-nancing for financial
institutions, business and governments, but are also vulnerable to
investor runs on redemptions and have given rise to the
misperception that their returns are guaranteed. The proposed
regulatory framework should allow them to better withstand
redemption pressures in stressed market conditions, while ensuring
that they remain a secure tool for European companies to manage
their finances.
After years of discussion, on 17 June 2016 the EU finance
TimelineNovember 2015: Commission proposal
17 June 2016 : negotiating mandate agreed at ECO FIN Council
13 September 2016: negotiating mandate agreed in EP plenary
Autumn 2016: start of inter-institutional negotiations
End 2016: target date from Slovak Presidency for Political
agreement
2017: Entry into force of Regulation
2018: Application of Regulation and dead line for transposition
of elements in national law
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TimelineSeptember 2013: Legislative Proposal published
April 2015: negotiating mandate agreed in EP plenary
May 2015: Opening inter-institutional negotiations
June 2016: Council position
Autumn 2016 : expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2016: target Slovak Presidency for political agreement
Council European Parliament
ministers reached an agreement on the negotiating mandate for
the Council, paving the way for trilogues with the Europe-an
Parliament to start shortly. The European Parliament has been ready
for talks since April 2015.
The discussions between the three institutions centre around the
issues of Constant Net Asset Value funds (CNAVs) and the creation
of a new type of money market fund, the Low Volatility Net Asset
Value Money Market Fund (LVNAV).
For CNAVs, the Commission wants to introduce a minimum reserve
of 3% of total assets in own funds. Both the Euro-pean Parliament
and the Council disagree with this, favour-ing instead liquidity
fees or redemption gates to be applied only in times of stress. The
Council is pushing in favour of CNAVs which invest 99.5% of their
assets in public securi-ties, whereas MEPs are pushing for 80% of
CNAVs assets to be invested in public securities of EU
countries.
With regard to LVNAVs, the EP wants to introduce a sunset clause
thereby forcing LVNAVs to be converted into Variable Net Asset
Value Funds (VNAVs) after five years.
After lengthy internal discussions whereby the UK, Ireland and
Luxembourg argued for less restrictive liquidity require-ments on
one side and France and Germany argued for more regulation, the
Council reached a compromise on a weekly liquidity requirement of
30% for CNAVs and LVNAVs and of 15% for VNAVs, of which 15% may be
made up of public se-curities, going further than the original
Commission proposal which foresaw 20%.
The Slovak presidency aims to reach a political agreement
between the European Parliament and the Council before the end of
the year.
> Delegated Act on Key Information Documents (KID) on
Investment ProductsOn 30 June 2016, the Commission adopted a
delegated act with new rules specifying regulatory technical
standards on the content of methodology of the KID which must be
supplied, from 2017 onwards, to consumers wishing to in-vest in a
retail financial products. This delegated legislation follows from
the regulation adopted in November 2014 on Packaged Retail and
Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs). The Council and the
European Parliament have two months to object. Ten member states
(including Germa-ny and France) had asked for a longer
implementation time for industry and also inside the European
Parliament there is strong resistance to the current provisions of
the delegat-ed act, with the EPP, ALDE, ECR and Greens/EFA groups
threathening to table a motion of objection in the Septem-ber
plenary, which, if adopted, would even threaten the entry into
force by with the EPP, ALDE, ECR and Greens/EFA groups having
tabled a motion of objection, which, if adopted in the September
plenary, would even threaten the entry into force of the PRIIPs
regulation by January 2017.
> Enhanced Cooperation on a Financial Transaction Tax
(FTT)Negotiations between the finance ministers of the 10
coun-tries participating in the enhanced cooperation, are making
very slow progress. On 16 June 2016, the ministers decided to set
up two task forces to look into two controversial issues still open
in preparation of their next September meeting. The first task
force, which will be presided by Italy will look into the possible
impact of the tax on derivative products of sovereign financing, a
main concern of Belgium. The sec-ond task force, led by Germany,
will look at the implemen-tation costs versus the anticipated
revenue from the future tax, which in particular Slovakia and
Slovenia are sensitive to. This new delay means that the
self-imposed deadline for political agreement by June 2016 was
missed once again.
> Proposal on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax BaseOn the
basis of the public consultation in January 2016 on the relaunch of
the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, the Commission is
expected to outline its legislative proposal in the fourth quarter
of 2016.
> Regulation amending European venture capital funds (EuVECA)
and European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEF)
regulationsFollowing the public consultation that closed in January
2016, the European Commission on 14 July 2016 published a proposal
for a Regulation amending the existing Regulations on EuVECA and
EuSEF, dating from 2013. The purpose is to respond to problems
encountered by the industry through the application of the existing
Regulations. The new Regulation
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seeks to abolish the practice of member states levying charg-es
when a fund is registered. Also the definition of SME in which a
fund must invest 70% of the capital subscribed in order to obtain
the European Passport is relaxed. The pro-posal will now be
submitted to the European Parliament and the Council. The first
meeting of the Member States on the topic of tax incentives for
venture capital and business angels is scheduled for Autumn 2016,
to allow for an exchange of views on best practices, on the basis
of a study launched by the Commission in January.
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Financial ServicesTimeline
2016 2017
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
PROPOSAL ON REDUCTION OF FINANCIAL RISKS *
DIRECTIVE ON IORP II
REGULATION ON REFORM OF MONEY MARKET FUNDS
REGULATION ON PROSPECTUS
REGULATION ON STS SECURISATION FRAMEWORK
PROPOSAL ON COMMON CONSOLIDATED TAX BASE*
REGULATION amending EuVECA and EuSEF REGULATIONS
PROPOSAL ONEU MACRO PRUDENTIAL FRAMEWORK *
PROPOSAL ON EU PERSONAL PENSION FRAMEWORK *
PROPOSAL ON CROSS BORDER DISTRIBUTION OF INVESTMENT FUNDS *
EVALUATION FINANCIAL CONGLOMERATE DIRECTIVE
* Nature of exact act not yet determined
REGULATION ON EUROPEAN DEPOSIT INSURANCE SCHEME (EDIS)
Commissionproposal
Council agreement
EP Committee
Position
EP Plenary Position
EP Committee
Position
Adoption
Adoption
Trilogue negotations
Council exploring possible use of
Intergovernmental Agreement
Council Position
EP Plenary Position
Implementation
Implementation
Council Position
Council Position
EP Position
Adoption
Adoption
Trilogue negotations
Trilogue negotations
Implementation
Implementation
Results Public Consultation
EP Committee
Position
EP Committee
Position
Potential Commission
proposal
Potential Commission
proposal
Potential Commission
proposal
Potential Commission
proposal
Commissionproposal
Commissionproposal
Public consultation
Public consultation
Public consultation
Public consultation
Council Position
Council Position
Results
Results
Results
Results
EP Plenary Position
Trilogue negotations
EP Plenary Position
FT
T FINANCIAL TRANSACTION TAX (enhanced cooperation)
Setting up 2 Ministrial Working
Groups
Possible Agreement
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In the coming months, the European Commission will pres-ent
several major legislative proposals for the energy sector, in order
to give life to its five-pillar energy strategy present-ed in 2015:
realize an integrated internal energy market, reduce Europes
climate impact, improve energy efficiency, strengthen security of
supply and support innovation. To fulfil these goals, the EU
institutions will work on revising the Emission Trading System, as
well as the existing energy efficiency and renewable energy
directives. The EU legisla-tors will also focus on a new set of
measures for Europes se-curity of supply, focusing on
intergovernmental agreements for gas companies and on a heating and
cooling strategy, as well as on liquefied natural gas. Key future
policy develop-ments are outlined below.
The uncertainty thrown up by Brexit is reflected in the fact
that private investors will likely hold back on large energy
projects until they have assurances about the environment they will
be operating in. By way of example, the UK has
Energy
already seen a 20% decline in value of infrastructure con-tracts
for July compared with the previous month. Leaving the single
market could also open the UK to new import taxes, adding cost to
equipment such as foundations for offshore wind farms or parts for
nuclear plants. There are some silver linings for the UK energy
sector though. Brex-it would eliminate the EUs trade duties on
Chinese solar equipment imports, making cheap panels more
accessible to UK users. The UK unshackling itself from Brussels
might also mean companies and investors are granted more free-dom
to access local public subsidies, or pursue energy pro-jects such
as for shale gas which are currently submitted to EU environmental
assessment. Meanwhile, in the legisla-tive landscape, the
Commissions climate policy - the blue-print for sharing out the 40%
by 2030 greenhouse gas target among the 28 member states is now
likely to be postponed, along with inter-institutional negotiations
on the emissions trading system.
Towards a redesigned European energy
framework
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An integrated internal energy market> Directive on an
Electricity Market Design In the second half of 2016 the European
Commission is expected to present a draft directive on Electricity
Market design to improve the full integration of new market
players, focusing particularly on renewables. The aim is to allow
the electricity market to manage large-scale cross-border flows and
greater volumes of intermittent electricity from renew-able
sources.
Ahead of the formal presentation by the Commission, the Energy
Ministers within the Council of the EU and the Eu-ropean Parliament
have already shared their preliminary views. The Ministers
indicated in April that a stronger con-nection with neighbouring
countries would allow Member States to better share capacities in
renewable energies, while increasing the security of supply and
ensuring a sit-uation of fair competition for all producers. The
European Parliament presented an own-initiative report on this
issue in June, the adoption of which is expected in September. MEPs
indicate that the redesign must be guided by mar-ket-oriented and
long-term measures to ensure that the supply of electricity is
balanced against distortions and to better integrate renewables in
the market.
> Proposals for a new Renewable Energy Package Building on
the agreed target of 27% renewable energy in the EU energy mix by
2030, the European Commission in-tends in 2016 to put forward a new
renewable energy pack-age, comprising a new renewable energy
directive for 2030 and a proposal on bioenergy sustainability. The
package is expected to progressively harmonise national support
schemes for renewables, with the objective of addressing market
distortions and avoid overcompensation.
Stakeholders and citizens were consulted in the first months of
2016 on an updated EU policy on sustainable bioener-gy for the
period 2020-2030. Concerns among respondents were raised regarding
the sustainability impacts and com-petition for resources caused by
the increasing reliance on bioenergy production and use. According
to the items put forward in this consultation, the Commissions
upcoming
proposal may address several sustainability risks, including
lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy produc-tion and
use, impacts on the carbon stock of forests and other ecosystems,
impacts on biodiversity, soil, water and emissions to the air, as
well as impacts on competition for the use of biomass between
different sectors (energy, indus-trial uses, food). The full
results of the consultation are ex-pected to be published soon.
The results of the complementary consultation on a renewa-ble
energy directive for the period after 2020 show that there is a
need for a stable and predictable EU legal framework for renewable
energy policies, as well as strong support for ad-ditional EU
action on empowering energy consumers, by al-lowing them to produce
and store their own renewable heat and electricity and participate
in all relevant energy markets and projects in a non-discriminatory
and simple way. Final-ly, there is a broad consensus on the need to
decarbonise the heating and cooling sector, as well as to increase
renew-able energy use in the transport sector.
Furthermore, on 23 June, the Parliament maintained high
ambitions on renewable energy goals by adopting a resolu-tion which
plans to set the goal of 30% of renewable con-sumption in the
energy mix as the minimum objective for 2030.
Both consultations and this resolution will feed the decision-
making process which will result in the presentation of the package
by the end of 2016.
Climate action > Directive on EU Emissions Trading System The
European Parliament and the Council of the EU are cur-rently
discussing a proposal presented in July 2015 by the Commission to
revise the EU Emissions Trading system for the period after 2020.
The proposal intends to increase the pace of emissions cuts after
2020 by reducing the overall number of emission allowances at an
annual rate of 2.2% from 2021 onwards, instead of 1.74% currently.
This shall result in an automatic increase of carbon costs,
impacting energy intensive industries in particular.
TimelineSeptember: adoption of the EP own-initiative report
End 2016 : Directive proposal by the Commission
Early 2017: Expected EP Committee position
Mid 2017: Expected Council position
End 2017: Expected formal adoption
TimelineSeptember: Publication of the results of the renewable
energy directive consultation.
End 2016 : Renewable Energy Package proposal by the
Commission
Early 2017: Expected EP Committee position
Mid 2017: Expected Council position
End 2017: Expected adoption of package
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In the Council, the proposal was addressed at working party
level under the Dutch Presidency (from January to July), and
Environment Ministers held a policy debate on the proposal on 20
June 2016. They underlined the impor-tance of flexibility so that
the EU can adapt its level of am-bition under the dynamic ambition
mechanisms of the Paris Agreement. Discussions will continue under
the Slovak Presidency which started on 1 July. Within the
Parliament, the draft report of the environment committee (ENVI)
was presented at the end of May. In line with the dynamic nature of
the Paris Agreement, the draft report proposes a review clause for
the linear reduction factor, which could lead to a revision
following the first global stocktake in 2023. It calls on the
Commission to consider the impact of overlapping EU climate and
energy policies, and proposes to place al-lowances in the Market
Stability Reserve (MSR) in case of the closure of power plants.
The Environment (ENVI) and Industry, Research and Ener-gy (ITRE)
committees, both in charge of this dossier, will discuss the
amendments on the draft report from September for a vote expected
in October (ITRE) and December 2016 (ENVI).
Energy efficiency> Directive on Energy Efficiency In 2016 the
Commission intends to reap the full potential of energy efficiency
by putting forward a new energy efficien-cy directive. The
proposal, to be presented at the end of the year, will align the
regulatory framework to the indicative EU-level target of at least
27% energy efficiency by 2030. It will also include provisions for
large companies to carry out regular energy audits. Without waiting
for the propos-al to be presented, the European Commission has
already announced that it will be reviewed a second time by 2020
with the objective of upping the EU target to 30% energy efficiency
by 2030.
The results of a public consultation on this issue held by the
Commission at the beginning of 2016 show that stake-holders agree
that the energy efficiency directive of 2012 established a
comprehensive framework for the EU. The majority also believes that
the Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes set by the directive are
an effective instrument
to achieve energy savings. However, participants indicat-ed that
the present framework remains complex, and that Member States
require additional guidance.
On 23 June, the Parliament adopted a resolution on energy
efficiency. It stresses the need for the full implementation of the
existing EU legislation for the EU to meet its energy efficiency
target by 2020 (an increase of 20% by 2020), while calling for a
binding target of at least 30% of renewables in the EU energy mix
by 2030. This recommendation will feed into the legislative
proposal that the Commission is expect-ed to present this
autumn.
> Directive on Energy Labelling In July 2015, the European
Commission proposed a revi-sion of the energy labelling directive,
including provisions for a single energy labelling scale from A to
G and a digital database for new energy efficient products. For
producers, the new measures imply that they will have to sell their
new products with the new scale and register their products in a
database accessible to Member State authorities to facilitate
compliance checks.
The legislative work is now ongoing under the co-decision
procedure between the European Parliament and the Coun-cil of the
European Union. In plenary session on 6 July, the European
Parliament adopted its report with amendments to the draft
Regulation setting a revised framework for the energy efficiency
labelling system introduced in 1995. The Parliament backs the
reintroduction, in the course of the next five years, of the system
labelling energy efficiency from A to G to replace the current A+,
A++, A+++ etc. sys-tem. These rescaled labels should be introduced
within a timescale of between 21 months and 6 years, depending on
product type, following entry into force of the new Regu-lation.
Negotiations within the Council of the EU will take place in the
coming months under the Slovak Presidency, with adoption expected
in 2017.
Timeline
September: Consideration of amendments in the environment and
industry committees of the Parliament.
October : ITRE Committee position
December: ENVI Committee position
Early 2017: Trilogue negotiations
End 2017: Expected adoption
TimelineAutumn: Commission directive proposal
Early 2017 : Expected EP committee position
Mid 2017: Expected Council position
End 2017: Vote in plenary session and expected adoption
TimelineEnd 2016: Council position
Early 2017: Trilogue negotiations
2017: Expected formal adoption
2018: Deadline for transposition
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Security of Supply On the 16 of February, the European
Commission presented its Winter Package, also known as the Security
of Gas Supply Package. It contains several measures aimed at
im-proving the resilience of the EU to breaks in gas supply, as
certain countries and regions of the European neighbour-hood remain
instable, for example Ukraine. Two legislative proposals, as well
as two strategies for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and for heating
and cooling, are part of this strat-egy.
> Regulation on Security of Gas supply With its Security of
Gas Supply Package presented last winter, the Commissions goal is
to lessen Europes vulnera-bility and dependence on its neighbours
by diversifying its sources of supply. To this end, it includes two
legislative proposals: a revision of the Regulation on the security
of gas supply, and a decision on Intergovernmental Agree-ments
(IGAs) in energy.
These proposals aim to increase solidarity between Mem-ber
States in case of serious crises, by guaranteeing that they provide
energy for homes and essential services, such as health care. They
also seek to move from a national to a regional approach for the
design of security of supply measures, while improving transparency
of gas markets, especially regarding the conclusion of relevant
contracts between gas companies. According to Energy Commis-sioner
Miguel Arias Canete, the Commission and Member States will have to
be notified of any trade contract of more than one years duration
and involving a market share that is significant to security of
supply. Indeed, the Commission is proposing to create a mechanism
for obligatory pre-con-sultation by Member States before such
agreements are signed. In June, the European energy ministers
reached a compromise on this mechanism, agreeing that the ex-ante
assessment by the Commission of IGAs will apply only to gas
agreements and will take no more than between six and twelve weeks.
This agreement on the general approach will allow the Council to
start negotiations with the European
Parliament with a view to the final adoption of the proposal in
2017. Within the Parliament, the industry and research committee is
expected to present its draft report on the Reg-ulation concerning
measures to safeguard the security of gas supply in the coming
months.
> Strategy for Liquefied Natural Gas and Gas Storage (LNG) A
strategy on improving access to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and the
use of gas storage is also part of the Security of Gas Supply
Package. The strategy seeks to present how the EU should exploit
the LNG global market and reduce regional disparities in terms of
access to this alternative source, notably by reducing the
dependency of the Baltic states on Russia. Strategic infrastructure
will be built in var-ious regions, such as South-Eastern Europe and
the Baltic Sea area. On 13 July, the European energy ministers
reached a consensus on the future key role of LNG, agreeing that
the EU must continue with the construction of infrastructure and
interconnections, particularly the north-south link and the
development of several LNG terminals in Greece and Croatia, as well
as the development of links between LNG capacity in Spain and the
main energy corridors.
> Strategy for heating and cooling Heating and cooling
accounts for around half of the EUs energy use and is expected to
remain the largest energy de-mand driver in the long term. While
uncertainties remain as regards the role of heating and cooling in
meeting the 2030 targets, the heating or cooling market is also
fragmented and no single market has so far emerged either
nationally or EU-wide. Instead, heat markets are local and are
composed of many different technologies and economic players.
In this context, the European Commission released in early 2016
a Strategy for heating and cooling (within its Winter Package for
the security of supply) to drive the transforma-tion of the sector,
maximise the use of potentials and de-ploy solutions for demand
reduction. It gives guidance to allow driving actions by
stakeholders and Member States on areas where better synergies
between current EU instru-ments could be exploited or where EU and
national regula-tory frameworks would need to be complemented.
On the 12 July 2016, the European Parliament adopted a
resolution in which it states that heating and cooling sys-tems
must be modernised to make more use of renewable energy and new
technologies. The Parliament calls on the Commission to do more to
raise awareness among consum-ers of the often low performance of
their installed heating systems and to increase the modernisation
rate of existing heating and cooling systems. MEPs also encourage
mem-ber states to put in place tax and financial mechanisms for the
development and use of urban heating and cooling sys-tems. The
Commission should also better integrate smart
Timeline
End 2016: Slovak presidency to encourage preliminary Trilogue
negotiations.
Early 2017: Expected EP position
Mid 2017: Expected Council position
End 2017: Expected adoption of both legislative proposals.
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Ongoing consultations
Consultation regarding the 2009 Directive imposing an obligation
on Member States to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or
petroleum products.
27 July - 31 October
The 2009 directive imposes an obligation on Member States to
maintain stocks of crude oil and/or petro-leum products. With this
consultation, the European Commission is collecting views and
suggestions from stakeholders and citizens in the context of the
current evaluation of the directive. The general ob-jectives of the
evaluation are to assess how the Oil Stocks Directive has been
implemented in the Mem-ber States and how it is functioning in
practice, and to identify possible problems and areas for
improve-ment or simplification.
Consultation on the development of network codes and guidelines
for 2017 and beyond.
18 July 14 October
The objective of this consultation is to consult stakeholders on
the priorities for the development of network codes and guidelines
for 2017 and beyond. The European Commission has to establish in
accordance with its Electricity Regulation and its Gas Regulation
an annual priority list identifying the areas to be included in the
development of network codes.
>
>
technologies in relevant energy union initiatives to ensure real
interconnectivity of smart appliances, connected homes and smart
buildings with smart grids, MEPs say. Although the strategy does
not announce any new legislative propos-als, it presents some steps
that the European Commission may consider in the process of
revising existing energy leg-islation.
Research and Innovation> Strategy on research, innovation and
competitiveness The European Commission is planning to develop a
com-prehensive research, innovation and competitiveness strat-egy
for the Energy Union, as the fifth pillar of the Energy Union. It
held a public consultation from March to May in order to gather
stakeholders views on how to achieve the EUs energy and climate
targets, as well as sector-specific research, development and
innovation goals needed for the EU transformation. The findings,
scheduled to be released by 30 September, will feed into the
integrated Research, In-novation and Competitiveness strategy to be
presented at the end of 2016. This strategy will provide
recommenda-tions on how to reduce EUs emissions and use of energy,
while maintaining the competitiveness of economic sectors including
energy and transport but also industry, agricul-ture, bioeconomy
and construction.
The European Commission has also launched two public
consultations regarding energy issues, allowing the stake-holders
to make their voice heard.
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2016 2017
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
DIRECTIVE FOR AN ELECTRICITY MARKET DESIGN
DIRECTIVE FOR A REVISED EU EMISSION TRADING SYSTEM
LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL ON BIOENERGY SUSTAINABILITY
DIRECTIVE ON ENERGY LABELLING
DECISION ON IGAS
DIRECTIVE ON RENEWABLE ENERGY
DIRECTIVE FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY
REGULATION ON SECURITY OF GAS SUPPLY
EP Committee preliminary position
EP Committee Position
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
Consultation resultsCommission
Proposal
Commission Proposal
Preliminary inter-institutional negotiations
Commission Proposal
Commission Proposal
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
National transposition
National transposition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
14
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In the second half of 2016, the European institutions will enter
the final stretch; releasing, adopting or making signifi-cant
progress in the negotiations over the remaining legisla-tive
proposals completing the Digital Single Market. While some major
proposals, such as the Regulation on geoblock-ing or the
cross-border portability of online content, are about to enter the
decisive phase of trilogue negotiations,
Digital
the European Commission will also present its long-await-ed
proposal on copyright reform in September, adapting intellectual
property rules to the ever-evolving online en-vironment. European
stakeholders are expected to actively contribute to the debate
given the many financial, legal and cultural interests at
stake.
Towards a Digital Single Market by
end of 2017
15
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E-Commerce and Online Services> Regulation on phasing out
Geo-blockingAccording to the European Commission, only 37% of
web-sites allow consumers to make online purchases in another
Member State than their own. The European Commission considers this
geo-blocking practice to be unjustified because it fragments the
internal market, preventing con-sumers from buying products that
are only available out-side of their own Member State. In an effort
to address these shortcomings, the European Commission presented in
May this year a proposal for a Regulation to phase out unfair
geo-blocking, introducing the same place, same ser-vice, same
conditions principle: it will oblige traders to sell under the same
conditions as in their home countries, with-out discrimination on
access to prices, sales or payment conditions. The new rules will
apply to all European and foreign companies operating in the
European market.
The European Parliament is currently elaborating its po-sition
on the dossier within its Internal Market Committee under the
leadership of the rapporteur Ra Maria Grfin von Thun und Hohenstein
(EPP, Poland). MEPs have al-ready said in a resolution that
geo-blocking was unjustified and that the practice should stop.
While the Parliament is likely to support the Commission
pro-consumer approach, the Council of Ministers is expected to
adopt a stronger pro-business stance on the dossier, as the
sensitive issue of phasing out geo-blocking impacts the business
model of many online service providers. The Slovak Presidency of
the Council stated that it will try to reach a common posi-tion on
the proposal by the end of the year before starting the
negotiations with the Parliament. The adoption of the Regulation is
therefore not expected before Spring 2017.
> Regulation on Cross-border Portability of Online Content
Services Films, music or e-books purchased in one EU country are
not systematically accessible when people travel to other Member
States, for example on holidays or a business trip. Considering
this as an obstacle to free movement of goods, the European
Commission presented a proposal for
a Regulation to allow cross-border portability of online
con-tent services in December last year. In practice, the
Regu-lation will enable consumers with subscriptions to online
content to access it when they are temporarily in another EU
country.
The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers al-ready
adopted their position on the proposal and will start
inter-institutional negotiations in September with a view to
reaching an agreement by the end of the year. The ne-gotiations are
not expected to be difficult, as the European Parliament and the
Council share the same approach on the sensitive notion of
temporary presence in another Mem-ber State. Some Members of the
European Parliament advo-cated for a strict definition to a certain
number of days, but both the Parliament and the Council agreed to
not define the notion of temporary period abroad and call for
compul-sory and effective controls. They also both propose a strict
definition of the country of residence and call on service
providers to carry out checks on the basis of a range of cri-teria,
such as the invoice address, bank account, payment of local taxes
or samples of the IP address. They eventually explain that the new
obligations applicable to service pro-viders should not lead to
increased administration costs and that the principle of
territoriality must continue to prevail.
> Proposal on copyright enforcement On 21 September, the
Commission is expected to present a legislative proposal on the
enforcement of the legal frame-work of intellectual property rights
(IPR). The proposal in-tends to review the functioning of the
previous Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property
rights (IPRED), aiming to adapt its provisions to the ever-evolving
online environment and to propose corrective measures. Among the
concrete actions envisaged, the European Commission has already
asserted that it will focus on commercial-scale infringements to
strengthen the protection of all IPR. In this respect, the European
Commission intends to adopt a fol low the money approach aimed at
depriving infring-ers of revenue flows. In particular, it will
suggest that all websites hosting videos such as YouTube,
Dailymotion and Facebook, seek to conclude, in good faith,
agreements with the rights holders that reflect the economic use
value of the
Timeline
November: expected Council position on the proposal
End 2016: expected Parliament position on the proposal
Early 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
Spring 2017: expected agreement on the regulation
Mid 2017: expected formal adoption of the regulation
July 2018: expected entry into force of the regulation
Timeline
September: start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2016 : expected agreement on the decision
Early 2017: expected formal adoption of the decision
Mid 2017: expected start for the implementation of the
regulation
16
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protected work in question. According to preliminary drafts, the
Commission will also put forward measures to strength-en the online
rights of newspaper publishers by providing them with the
possibility of seeking financial compensation from search engines
and Internet Platforms such as Google News.
The European Commission is close to releasing its propos-al. A
public consultation on this issue was opened during the first half
of 2016. On 21 June 2016, the Commission held a further
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Conference where key
European and international decision makers gathered to review the
progress made in disrupting IP infringing activities at the source
and ensuring supply chain integrity. All these inputs will help the
European Commission complement its proposal before presenting it to
the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in a
normal co-decision procedure which is expected to span the duration
of 2017.
> Directive on Audiovisual Media Services The European
Commission in May proposed an update to EU audiovisual rules to
make them more flexible on adver-tising time, to protect children
and to subject subscription video services to demands on the
promotion of European works. In terms of advertising, the
Commission is propos-ing that programs can be interrupted by
adverts every 20 minutes, instead of the current 30 minutes. It
also allows TV chains to extend the length of advertising spots by
applying the current 20% threshold from 7am to 11pm. Product
place-ment and promotion will also be authorized, in an effort to
create a level playing field with the US. As regards the promotion
of European content, the Commissions proposal imposes video on
demand services (VOD) such as Netflix or Amazon Prime to broadcast
at least 20% of European con-tent. The Commission also empowers the
Member States where such VOD services are available, to require
such companies to make a financial contribution to local
cinema.
While the European Parliament is just starting to construct its
position on the dossier, EU culture ministers held a first debate
on the proposal where they mostly welcomed the
Commissions approach on audiovisual media services. The main
difficulties for the coming months are expected to be around quotas
for European works. While Finland, Den-mark and Sweden wondered
whether it was worth putting in place quotas for European works on
video on demand services, France, which applies a 60% quota inside
its bor-ders, took the view that the Commission proposal did not go
far enough. This issue will have to be resolved before reach-ing a
common position on the proposal either by the end of this year, or
early 2017. Interinstitutional negotiations will then start
thereafter for a potential final adoption in mid-2017.
Networks and Cybersecurity> Decision on the 700MHz BandBack
in February 2016, the European Commission released a proposal for a
decision to coordinate the so-called radio spectrum which allocates
the use of the Ultra High Fre-quency (UHF) 700 MHz band. The band
is currently used by terrestrial broadcasting and mobile networks,
and will be fundamental in coming years for the development of many
new technologies requiring radio spectrum allocation (such as the
Internet of Things, the cloud systems, the digitali-sation of
industrial sectors or e-government). However, the national
management of the spectrum has resulted in very different
conditions between individual Member States. In
Timeline
September: expected Commission proposal
Mid 2017: expected Parliament and Council positions on the
proposal
Fall 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2017: expected agreement on the directive
Timeline
Early 2017 : expected Parliament and Council positions on the
proposal
Spring 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
Mid 2017: expected agreement on the directive
Fall 2017: expected formal adoption of the directive
Fall 2018: deadline for the implementation of the directive
Timeline
September: start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2016 : expected agreement on the decision
Early 2017: expected formal adoption of the decision
2022: expected deadline for the allocation of 694-790 MHz to
mobile services
2030: expected deadline for the allocation of 470-694 MHz to TV
broadcasters
17
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order to allocate the UHF band in a harmonised manner, the
Commission proposed to reorganise its allocation by dividing it
into two parts: the upper part of the spectrum (694-790 MHz) will
be devoted from 2020 or 2022 exclusive-ly to mobile operators,
including new technologies, while audiovisual services and TV
broadcasters will be moved to the lower part (470-694 MHz) until
2030.
In September, the draft decision will be subject to
inter-in-stitutional negotiations between the European Parliament
and the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament supports the
proposal in a recent draft report prepared by Patrizia Toia
(S&D, Italy), in which it suggests only minor changes to the
timeline of implementation. The Council of Ministers also accepts
the essence of the Commissions pro-posal but is vying for greater
flexibility: the Member States will have a maximum of two years to
allocate the upper part of the spectrum (694-790 MHz) to mobile
services and they will have until 2018, rather than 2017, to adopt
national roadmaps. The negotiations are expected to be completed by
the end of year.
> Regulation on cross-border Parcel Delivery In May, the
European Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation to
increase price transparency and regulato-ry oversight of
cross-border parcel delivery services so that consumers and
retailers can benefit from more affordable deliveries and
convenient return options even to and from peripheral regions. The
Commission justifies its proposal on the premise that almost 4
billion parcels are ordered on-line every year in the EU, but very
few citizens order parcels from other Member States, as the costs
are broadly consid-ered too expensive.
The proposal intends to give national postal regulators the data
they need to monitor cross-border markets and check the
affordability and cost-orientation of prices. It will also
encourage competition by requiring transparent and
non-discriminatory third-party access to cross-border parcel
delivery services and infrastructure. As part of the measures
enclosed in its proposal, the Commission will also publish publicly
listed prices of universal service pro-viders to increase peer
competition and tariff transparency. The Commission plans to take
stock of progress made in 2019 and assess if further measures are
necessary.
The European Parliament and the Council of the Europe-an Union
are just starting to develop their internal position before
entering into inter-institutional negotiations. Within the European
Parliament, the file has been assigned to the Committee on
Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and the ap-pointment of a rapporteur
is pending. The 28 responsible EU Ministers will discuss the
proposal at their next Telecom Council meeting on 2 December.
> Directive on e-privacyFollowing the formal adoption of the
Data Protection Reform in April, the Commission intends to present
a proposal for directive to reform privacy rules online in
November. Its aim will be to align with the recent data protection
reform, and will focus more on enhancing security and
confidentiality of electronic communications, in particular
regarding cookies, traffic and location data.
With a view to complement its legislative proposal before
presenting it this autumn, the European Commission held a public
consultation from April to July to seek stakeholders views on the
possible changes to the existing legal frame-work to make sure it
is up to date with the new challenges of the digital arena.
Stakeholders and telecom groups have already expressed their
concerns about the revision of the current directive, which could
increase Regulation of their sector while not imposing similar
rules on big internet com-panies.
> Revision of the Telecoms PackageThe Commission announced it
will present its proposals for a revision of the telecoms package
in November this year. While provisions on roaming charges and net
neutral-ity were set out in last years package, the European
Com-mission plans to revise the telecom regulatory framework by
tackling the issue of the wholesale market mechanism for roaming,
introducing investment incentives in ultrafast broadband and
ensuring openness of the telecom market to new market entrants.
Timeline
Early 2017: expected Parliament and Council positions on the
proposal
Spring 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
Mid 2017: expected agreement on the regulation
Fall 2017: expected formal adoption and entry into force of the
regulation
2019: progress report on the implementation of the
regulation
Timeline
November: expected Commission proposal
Mid 2017: expected Parliament and Council positions on the
proposal
Fall 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2017: expected agreement on the directive
18
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Timeline
November: expected Commission proposal
Mid 2017: expected Parliament and Council positions on the
proposal
Fall 2017: expected start of the Trilogue negotiations
End 2017: expected agreement on the directive
The European Commission completed two public consul-tations last
year on broadband needs and the review of the current telecoms
framework. It covered all three main pillars of the current
framework, namely the network pillar, with the aim of ensuring a
consistent regulatory framework that is supportive of
infrastructure investments in both fixed and wireless networks; the
service pillar, with the aim of ensur-ing a modernised regulatory
regime for electronic commu-nication services and the governance
pillar, with the aim of ensuring that markets are regulated in a
consistent manner across the EU.
The revision of the telecoms package may be the last
leg-islative item out of an agenda of 16 identified actions in the
Commission Digital Single Market strategy. Its adoption is not
expected before the end of 2017.
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Digital Single MarketTimeline
2016 2017
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
REGULATION PHASING OUT GEO-BLOCKING
DECISION ON THE 700MHZ BAND
REGULATION ON CROSS-BORDER PORTABILITY OF ONLINE CONTENT
PROPOSALS TO REVIEW THE TELECOM PACKAGE
PROPOSAL TO REFORM THE COPYRIGHT REGIME
REGULATION ON CROSS-BORDER PARCEL DELIVERY
DIRECTIVE ON AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA SERVICES DIRECTIVE
DIRECTIVE ON E-PRIVACY
EP Committee Position
Commission Proposal
Commission Proposal
Commission Proposal
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
NationalTransposition
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
Council Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
EP Committee Position
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
EP PlenaryPosition
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Trilogue negotiations
Implementation
Implementation
Implementation
Implementation
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IN
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Leonardo Sforza [email protected]
Olivier Hinnekens [email protected]
Romain Seignovert [email protected]
Alastair Bealby [email protected]
Franois Troussier [email protected]
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