COUNCIL OF THE EU:update

 

Press material Thursday 20 July 2023

● Council of the EU   20/07/2023 02:26 | Press release | Capital markets union: provisional agreement reached on alternative investment fund managers directive and plain-vanilla EU investment funds   Today, negotiators from the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on new rules to improve European capital markets and strengthen investor protection in the EU. The provisional agreement reviews the alternative investment fund managers directive, which governs managers of hedge funds, private equity funds, private debt funds, real estate funds and other alternative investment funds in the Union. It also modernises the rules in the framework for undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS), i.e. plain-vanilla EU-harmonised retail investment funds such as unit trusts and investment companies. Negotiators agreed to enhance the integration of asset management markets in Europe and to modernise the framework for key regulatory aspects. Under the provisional agreement, negotiators decided to enhance the availability of liquidity management tools, with new requirements for managers to provide for the activation of these instruments. This will help ensure that fund managers are well equipped to deal with significant outflows in times of financial turbulence. The Parliament and the Council also reached a provisional agreement on an EU framework for funds originating loans, i.e. funds that provide credit to companies, supplemented with several requirements to alleviate risks to financial stability and to ensure an appropriate level of investor protection. Negotiators also agreed on enhanced rules for delegation by investment managers to third parties: this will enable them to better tap the best resources from market specialists, subject to reinforced supervision and preserving market integrity. Other key components of the agreement include enhanced data sharing and cooperation between authorities, and new measures to identify undue costs that could be charged to funds, and hence their investors, as well as on preventing possible misleading names to better protect investors. Next steps The agreement reached today is provisional as it still needs to be confirmed by the Council and the Parliament before it can be formally adopted. Background The alternative investment fund managers directive and plain-vanilla EU investment funds (UCITS, or undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities) are part of the capital markets union package which the Commission presented on 25 November 2021. The capital markets union is the EU’s initiative to create a truly single market for capital across the EU. It aims to get investment and savings flowing across all member states for the benefit of citizens, businesses, and investors. The Council agreed its position (general approach) on the proposal on 17 June 2022. Negotiations with the European Parliament started on 8 March 2023 and ended in the provisional agreement reached today. Capital Markets Union: Council agrees its position on updated rules for hedge funds, private debt funds, and other alternative investment funds (press release, 17 June 2022) Capital markets union (background information)

18/07/2023 | Article Highlights of the agenda of the informal ministerial meeting on consumer affairs and industry and the internal market On 24 and 25 July, the informal ministerial meeting on consumer affairs and industry and the internal market will take place at the Euskalduna Conference Centre in Bilbao. Meetings Wednesday 19 July 2023   ● Council of the EU   19/07/2023 17:26 | MEETING | Agenda highlights - Agriculture and Fisheries Council, 25 July 2023   Agriculture and fisheries ministers will meet in Brussels on 25 July. They will hear from the Spanish presidency regarding its priorities and work programme for agriculture and fisheries this semester, and discuss the market situation in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ministers will also exchange views on the Commission’s study complementing the impact assessment of the proposal for a regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, and on the recent proposal on new genomic techniques.

Press material Wednesday 19 July 2023

● Council of the EU   19/07/2023 12:31 | Press release | Cyber resilience act: member states agree common position on security requirements for digital products   With a view to ensuring that products with digital components, such as connected home cameras, smart fridges, TVs, and toys, are safe before entering the market, member states’ representatives (Coreper) reached a common position on the proposed legislation regarding horizontal cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements (cyber resilience act). "We are to celebrate the agreement reached today in the Council. An agreement that advances EU's commitment towards a safe and secure digital single market. IoT and other connected objects need to come with a baseline level of cybersecurity when they are sold in the EU, ensuring that businesses and consumers are effectively protected against cyber threats. This is an important milestone for the Spanish presidency, and we hope to bring forward negotiations with the Parliament as much as possible." Carme Artigas Brugal, State Secretary for digitalisation and artificial intelligence Objectives of the proposal The draft regulation introduces mandatory cybersecurity requirements for the design, development, production and making available on the market of hardware and software products to avoid overlapping requirements stemming from different pieces of legislation in EU member states. The proposed regulation will apply to all products that are connected either directly or indirectly to another device or network. There are some exceptions for products, for which cybersecurity requirements are already set out in existing EU rules, for example on medical devices, aviation, or cars. The proposal aims to fill the gaps, clarify the links, and make the existing cybersecurity legislation more coherent by ensuring that products with digital components, for example ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) products, become secure throughout the whole supply chain and throughout their whole lifecycle. Finally, the proposed regulation also allows consumers to take cybersecurity into account when selecting and using products that contain digital elements by providing users the opportunity to make informed choices of hardware and software products with the proper cybersecurity features. Main elements retained from the Commission’s proposal The Council’s common position maintains the general thrust of the Commission’s proposal, namely as regards: rules to rebalance responsibility for compliance towards manufacturers, who must ensure conformity with security requirements of products with digital elements that are made available on the EU market, including obligations like cybersecurity risk assessment, declaration of conformity, and cooperation with competent authorities essential requirements for the vulnerability handling processes for manufacturers to ensure the cybersecurity of digital products, and obligations for economic operators, such as importers or distributors, in relation to these processes measures to improve transparency on security of hardware and software products for consumers and business users, and a market surveillance framework to enforce these rules The Council’s amendments However, the Council’s text amends various parts of the Commission’s proposal, including on the following aspects: the scope of the proposed legislation, including with regard to the specific categories of products that should comply with the regulation’s requirements reporting obligations of actively exploited vulnerabilities or incidents to the competent national authorities (‘computer security incident response teams’ – CSIRTs) instead of the EU agency for cybersecurity (ENISA) with the latter establishing a single reporting platform elements for the determination of the expected product lifetime by manufacturers support measures for small and micro enterprises a simplified declaration of conformity

Υλικό για τον Τύπο Τετάρτη 19 Ιουλίου 2023

● Ευρωπαϊκό Συμβούλιο   19/07/2023 14:37 | Δηλώσεις και παρατηρήσεις | Δήλωση της συνόδου κορυφής ΕΕ-CELAC 2023, 17-18 Ιουλίου 2023   Στη σύνοδο κορυφής ΕΕ-CELAC που πραγματοποιήθηκε στις Βρυξέλλες στις 17-18 Ιουλίου 2023, οι ηγέτες και οι ηγέτιδες της ΕΕ και της CELAC εξέδωσαν δήλωση. Δήλωση της συνόδου κορυφής ΕΕ-CELAC 2023 Οδικός χάρτης ΕΕ-CELAC για την περίοδο 2023-2025