Member states’ EU ambassadors today agreed the Council’s partial mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on a revised Commission proposal for the InvestEU programme.

The aim of InvestEU is to encourage public and private investor participation in financing and investment operations by providing guarantees from the EU budget to address failures and sub-optimal investment situations. The Commission presented a revised proposal for this programme as part of the revised multiannual financial framework and recovery package in May 2020. A key element of the revised proposal was the introduction of a new fifth window for strategic European investments in addition to the previously proposed policy windows for sustainable infrastructure, research, innovation and digitisation, SMEs, and social investment and skills.

Following the European Council conclusions of 17-21 July, the Council integrated the proposed new strategic European investment window into the other four policy windows, which therefore may support final recipients whose activities are of strategic importance to the EU, in particular in view of the green and digital transitions, enhanced resilience and strengthening strategic value chains.

The Council also anchors the Just Transition Scheme under InvestEU, as the second pillar of the Just Transition Mechanism, in the InvestEU regulation. The scheme will be established horizontally across all policy windows to support investments which adress social, economic or environmental challenges deriving from the transition process towards EU climate neutrality by 2050 and the achievement of the EU’s 2030 climate target, benefitting the territories most negatively affected.

On the basis of the guidance received from the European Council in July, the Council indicates that the EU guarantee for the InvestEU programme will amount to €23.5 billion, to be provisioned at the rate of 40%. The EU guarantee is distributed across the four policy windows as follows:

• 35% for the sustainable infrastructure window
• 27.5 % for the research, innovation and digitisation window
• 27.5% for the SME window
• 10% for the social investment and skills window

On other parts of the InvestEU proposal, including governance, the Council’s position reflects the common understanding reached with the European Parliament in April 2019.

Next steps

Negotiations with the European Parliament are expected to start as soon as the Parliament has agreed on its mandate.

The collective defence of consumers’ rights has come a step closer. Following the agreement reached with the European Parliament in June 2020, the Council today adopted its position at first reading on a draft directive on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers within the EU.

Thanks to the single market, EU consumers have so far enjoyed a broad choice of quality products, competitive prices and high safety standards. Today’s agreement paves the way for granting consumers throughout the EU the right to seek effective judicial protection collectively when traders harm consumers by violating EU laws.

Christine Lambrecht, German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection

The directive requires member states to put in place a system of representative actions for the protection of consumers’ collective interests against infringements of Union law. It covers actions for both injunctions and redress measures.

It empowers qualified entities designated as such by member states to seek injunctions and/or redress, including compensation or replacement, on behalf of a group of consumers that has been harmed by a trader who has allegedly infringed one of the EU legal acts set out in the annex to the directive. These legal acts cover areas such as financial services, travel and tourism, energy, health, telecommunications and data protection.

The directive distinguishes between qualified entities entitled to bring actions in the member state where they have been designated (domestic representative actions) and those entitled to bring actions in any other member state (cross-border representative actions). For domestic actions a qualified entity will have to fulfil the criteria set out in the law of its member state of designation, whereas for cross-border actions it will have to fulfil the harmonised criteria set out in the directive.

As a safeguard against abusive litigation, the directive provides clear rules on the allocation of judicial costs in a representative action for redress based on the ‘loser pays’ principle. Furthermore, with a view to avoiding conflicts of interest, it imposes on qualified entities a number of transparency requirements, in particular as regards their funding by third parties.

The directive will apply to representative actions brought on or after the date of its application.

Next steps

In line with the early second reading agreement reached last June, the European Parliament should approve the Council’s position at first reading before the end of the year. The directive will then be deemed to have been formally adopted. It shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member states will have 24 months from the entry into force of the directive to transpose it into national law, as well as an additional 6 months to start applying these provisions.

Background

The directive was proposed by the Commission in April 2018 as part of the Commission’s ‘New deal for consumers’ package, which aimed to ensure fair and transparent rules for EU consumers. The directive on the better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection rules, which was also proposed under the same package, was adopted on 27 November 2019.

November 04, 2020 General

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November 04, 2020 General

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Verhelfen Sie Ihrem Unternehmen zu Wachstum mit den richtigen Schutzrechten – Das Österreichische Patentamt und das Europäische Markenamt (EUIPO) informieren über Vorteile des geistigen Eigentums für Unternehmen sowie Marken- und Designschutz auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene.

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The Council today adopted two recast regulations, one on the taking of evidence and a second on the service of documents, to modernise cross-border exchanges between authorities through digitalisation. After reaching a political agreement with the European Parliament in June 2020, the text will now be submitted to the Parliament for its final adoption.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a modern and digital justice system. The regulations adopted today will allow for faster, more efficient cooperation between judicial authorities, making it easier for citizens and businesses to exercise their right to justice.

Christine Lambrecht, German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection

The modernised regulations seek to improve the efficiency and speed of cross-border judicial proceedings by taking advantage of digitalisation and the use of modern technology, and by these means to advance access to justice and fair trial for the parties.

Changes in both regulations include the mandatory use of a decentralised IT system, composed of interconnected national IT systems, for the transmission of documents and requests between member states.

Regarding the service of documents, under the new rules documents can be served electronically and directly to an addressee with a known address in another member state, when their express consent is given in advance. The service can be performed through qualified electronic registered delivery services or, under additional conditions, by e-mail.

The new rules also promote the use of videoconferencing or other distance communication technology in the taking of evidence which implies hearing a witness, party or expert located in another member state.