Member News

Eversheds Sutherland | EU: Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation Working Plan

What the Working Plan means for your business Why should I read this? On April 16, 2025, the European Commission adopted its first 2025–2030 Working Plan for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), a major step towards reshaping how products are designed, produced, and sold in the EU. The ESPR aims to improve the environmental performance of a wide range of products throughout their life cycle. It introduces new rules covering both product performance - such as durability, availability of spare parts, and...

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Member News

Vulcan View: The latest EU developments 19 May – 23 May

EU and the UK sign Security and Defence Partnership On Monday, 19 May, European Commission President von der Leyen, European Council President Costa and European Commissioner with responsibility for the EU-UK Relationship Maroš Šefčovič held the first official post-Brexit EU-UK Summit with UK Prime Minister Starmer and Minister for EU Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds. As expected, the Summit brought an Agreement on an EU-UK Security and Defence Partnership. Still, it was light in concrete deliverables otherwise, apart from an extension of the...

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Member News

Bannockburn Capital Markets | Dollar Slumps

Overview:  The dollar is finishing the week heavily.  It is off against nearly all of the world's currencies.  The only exceptions are the Turkish lira and Hong Kong dollar.  For the week, among the G10 currencies, only the Australian dollar has not risen at least 1%,  Helped by stronger than expected retail sales, sterling set a new three-year high (~$1.3500).  Between the tariffs and the budget, the Dollar Index is set to snap a four-week upside correction, even as the...

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Chapter News

European Commission | Bringing down barriers to the single market to create opportunities for all

The EU’s single market gives businesses access to 450 million consumers. It is the first driver of our competitiveness and the second largest global market. But its rules and regulations can be complex and create barriers to entry and growth. In a bid to create a more simple and strong European home market, the European Commission has introduced a new strategy to simplify rules and reduce bureaucracy.   The new measures will boost growth opportunities for businesses and provide even higher...

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Member News

Noerr | European Commission: Proposal for simplification of GDPR record-keeping obligations of organisations with fewer than 750 employees

The European Commission has introduced a new package to simplify rules and reduce bureaucracy across the Single Market. Inter alia, this package aims to simplify record-keeping obligations of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), small mid-caps (SMCs) and organisations with fewer than 750 employees. According to the Commission’s recent proposal, the GDPR obligation to maintain records of processing activities (RoPA) (Article 30 GDPR) shall not apply to an enterprise or an organisation employing fewer than 750 persons unless the processing it carries out is likely...

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Member News

Osborne Clarke | Important EU and UK regulatory updates for US businesses

As early summer approaches, we wanted to highlight several critical regulatory developments that require attention from US businesses operating in European markets. Our international team has been closely monitoring these changes to help you navigate the evolving compliance landscape. The UK's Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) introduces new compliance challenges that could affect US businesses with UK connections. Simultaneously, the rise of artificial intelligence technologies is reshaping the approach to trade-secret protection in Europe, requiring fresh strategies...

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Member News, Trade & TTIP Related

Transatlantic Trade Monitor: Facts You Need Now | Demystifying VAT, Duties, and Tariffs: The Trade Taxes Reshaping Global Commerce

By Noa Sussman, Director of Global Solutions, TECEX In today’s increasingly fragmented and protectionist global economy, few areas are more misunderstood — yet more impactful — than trade taxes. Terms like VAT, duties, tariffs, and more recently, duty drawbacks, are often lumped together or misused entirely, even in strategic discussions. But make no mistake: these taxes are no longer just regulatory details relegated to customs departments or accounting teams. They have become strategic levers, influencing sourcing decisions, pricing models, and executive-level trade...

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Chapter News

European Commission | A simpler Single Market to make companies choose Europe

Today, the European Commission has presented a Single Market Strategy to create a more simple, seamless and strong European home market. The Strategy sets out bold actions to reduce existing barriers holding back intra-EU trade and investments, helps SMEs to operate and scale up their activities, and alleviates businesses by boosting digitalisation. The Strategy calls on Member States to do their part in making the EU market the best choice for companies, workers and consumers. In today's world, marked by economic volatility...

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Chapter News

IMF | Fostering Core Government Bond Market Resilience

Policymakers should broaden central clearing and monitor market-making, including by nonbank financial institutions, while dealers must continue to build resilience Blog post by Tobias Adrian, Kleopatra Nikolaou, Jason Wu | The smooth functioning of government bond markets is important for the safety and soundness of broader capital markets, especially amid heightened financial market volatility. Bond markets recently adjusted sharply to an abrupt re-assessment of the global macroeconomic environment and elevated trade policy uncertainty. Government bond market functioning demonstrated resilience despite very high volatility,...

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Member News

EIB | President Calviño: Bigger, Faster, Simpler

EIB Group President Nadia Calviño speaks at the Annual EU Budget Conference 2025. It’s thrilling to be back home and to see so many friends, so many experts, so many people that are passionate about the European budget and the multiannual financial framework. And I'm not surprised that this conference is year after year gathering so much interest, particularly at this point in time, obviously, because the European budget is the backbone of the European Union. But being ex-director general for...

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