The European Commission has launched a Life Science Strategy designed to position Europe as the world’s most attractive region for life sciences by 2030 while addressing systemic issues that have long hindered the region’s competitiveness and limited patient access to cutting-edge treatments. Supported by over €10bn annually, the strategy aims to accelerate innovation, enhance market access, and build public trust across the entire life sciences value chain.

The European Commission has adopted the European Water Resilience Initiative to bolster water security and reduce risks associated with water scarcity, pollution, and climate-induced disruptions across the European Union. In a Communication issued by the Commission, the strategy sets out actions to modernise water management, improve efficiency, and promote circularity in water use across key sectors. This follows mounting concerns over the rising frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, and pollution events, which pose risks to public health, food supply, biodiversity, and industrial competitiveness.

The European Commission has implemented a new three-year surveillance system on 24 March 2025 to monitor imports of specific industrial chemicals, including ethylene copolymers, high-nitrogen urea and ammonium sulphate. The system, operated through EU customs, tracks import volumes and values from all countries, responding to increased market share of imports, particularly from China. While not restricting trade, the mechanism enables the Commission to gather daily updated data to assess potential trade defence measures if evidence suggests injury to EU industry.

The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation on the process for notifying suspected criminal offences under Article 18 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The consultation seeks feedback from hosting service providers, as well as law enforcement and judicial authorities on how the notification process operates in practice, including which types of criminal offences fall within its scope and areas where further clarification is needed. The initiative is being conducted by the European Board for Digital Services through its Working Group 7, which focuses on cooperation with law enforcement authorities and illegal content. The consultation closes on 19 December 2025.

The European Commission has opened public consultations on the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and Market Stability Reserve, alongside separate consultations on the Innovation Fund and Modernisation Fund. The consultations aim to evaluate the ETS Directive's implementation since 2018 amendments and inform the 2026 review, focusing on aviation, maritime transport and stationary installations. The reviews will assess if additional policies are needed to reach EU climate targets. The ETS and Innovation Fund consultations close on 8 July 2025, while the Modernisation Fund consultation ends on 12 May 2025.

The European Commission has established a new import surveillance tool to help safeguard the EU internal market from potentially harmful trade diversion resulting from restrictive measures imposed by non-EU trading partners. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of an import surveillance task force on 7 April 2025, which will monitor import trends using an automated dashboard based on customs surveillance data. This mechanism enables the early identification of surges in redirected imports, particularly where increases in volume coincide with price decreases for goods produced within the EU. The task force will incorporate information from EU producers, Member States and sector experts to support proportionate and evidence-based trade defence action, including safeguards, anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures. The Commission has invited stakeholders to review dashboard results and provide additional intelligence to strengthen market protection efforts.

The European Commission has announced a new voluntary Code of Conduct for Online Ratings and Reviews for Tourism Accommodation. The code aims to establish standards for verifying review authenticity and distinguishing between reviews from actual guests versus non-guests. Co-developed with accommodation providers and online platforms, the code is open to tourism operators, associations and platforms but operates independently from Article 45 of the EU Digital Services Act (EU DSA). The initiative focuses on improving transparency and reliability in tourism accommodation reviews across the EU.

The European Commission has launched a whistleblower tool to support enforcement of the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, providing a secure and confidential channel for individuals to report suspected breaches directly to the EU AI Office. The tool accepts submissions in any EU official language and format, using certified encryption mechanisms to ensure confidentiality and data protection. It also enables secure follow-up communication, allowing whistleblowers to receive progress updates and respond to further questions, while remaining anonymous. Reports may cover potential violations that pose risks to fundamental rights, health or public trust, with the tool intended to facilitate early detection of non-compliance and promote the safe and transparent development of AI technologies.

The European Commission has launched work on a code of practice for the marking and labelling of AI-generated content, initiating a seven-month, stakeholder-driven process led by independent experts appointed by the European AI Office. The code will serve as a voluntary instrument to help providers of generative AI systems comply with transparency obligations under the EU AI Act. It will support the marking of AI-generated content, including synthetic audio, images, video and text, in machine-readable formats to enable detection. The code will provide guidance to deployers using deepfakes or AI-generated content to ensure that AI involvement is clearly disclosed when communicating with the public on matters of public interest. These transparency obligations will become applicable in August 2026, complementing existing rules for high-risk AI systems and general-purpose AI models.

The European Commission has announced on 24 March 2025 the creation of three new European Partnerships under Horizon Europe, committing €520m in matched funding with private partners through to 2030. The partnerships cover innovation in photovoltaics (€480m total), textiles (€60m total) and advanced materials (€500m total). The initiatives aim to strengthen EU technological sovereignty and industrial competitiveness through public-private collaboration. Implementation will begin following Memorandum of Understanding adoption, with first funding opportunities available through the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025.

The European Commission has unveiled InvestAI, a major initiative aimed at mobilising €200bn for artificial intelligence investment across the EU. The plan includes a new €20bn European fund for AI gigafactories, which will finance four facilities specialising in training complex, large-scale AI models. These gigafactories will be equipped with approximately 100,000 last-generation AI chips, forming the largest public-private partnership globally for trustworthy AI development. The Commission has stated that funding will be drawn from existing EU programmes with digital components, while Member States can contribute through their Cohesion envelopes. This initiative builds upon the €10bn AI Factories support co-financed by the EU and Member States, and forms part of a broader AI innovation package presented in January 2024.

The European Commission has made legally binding a series of commitments by AliExpress to address concerns under the EU Digital Services Act (EU DSA), including measures to improve the detection of illegal products, platform transparency, trader traceability, and access to data. It has also issued preliminary findings that AliExpress breached its duty to assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to the dissemination of illegal goods. AliExpress may now respond to the findings before a final decision is taken. If confirmed, the Commission may issue a non-compliance decision, impose a fine, and require a remedial action plan.