MLex: A leading Irish human rights campaign group has lodged an official complaint calling for the European Commission to intervene after Ireland appointed a former Meta lobbyist as a Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), saying the move breached EU law. The appointment process lacked independence, expertise, and raised concerns over conflicts of interest and impartiality, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said in a statement on Tuesday. The appointment could also undermine trust in Ireland’s data watchdog, it said.

A national of any of the following European Union (EU) countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on the Platform Work Directive, aiming to improve working conditions and regulate the use of algorithms by digital labour platforms. The directive will make the use of algorithms in human resources management more transparent, ensuring that automated systems are monitored by qualified staff and that workers have the right to contest automated decisions. It will also help correctly determine the employment status of persons working for platforms, enabling them to benefit from any labour rights they are entitled to. Member States will provide guidance to digital platforms and national authorities when the new measures are being put in place. The agreed text aims to strike a balance between respecting national labour systems and ensuring minimum standards of protection for the more than 28 million persons working in digital labour platforms. The text of the agreement must now be formally adopted by both institutions. Afterwards, Member States will have two years to include the directive into their national legislation.

The Notified Bodies Coordination Group for Medical Devices (NBCG-Med) and Team-NB Executive Committees has published a position paper proposing reforms to EU medical device governance. The paper recommends the establishment of a Medical Device Coordination Office (MDCO) to address fragmentation and inconsistent implementation in the current regulatory framework.

Nuclear energy in the EU According to Eurostat data published in January 2026, 12 out of 27 EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden) hosted nuclear power plants on their territory, with Germany closing their final power plants in April 2023. In 2024, nuclear power plants generated around 23.3% of the total electricity produced in the EU (an increase of 4.8% as compared with 2023). Nuclear safety is a priority at EU level, given the scope for cross-boundary impacts in the event of a nuclear accident. This Practice Note provides an introduction to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the Euratom Treaty), which underpins EU level nuclear rules and standards, and outlines key EU legislation relevant to the nuclear energy sector. It covers rules on nuclear safeguards, installation safety and licensing, the protection of human health and the environment from radiation, impact assessments for new nuclear installations, the management of radioactive waste, and site decommissioning. Euratom Treaty The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy

EU Law analysis: Menno Baks, Bram Linnartz, Bastiaan Kemp, Marit Bosselaar, and Sjoerd Tiddo Pennink of Loyens & Loeff provide an analysis of the impacts of proposed changes to the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, made under the banner of Commission’s first ‘omnibus package’.

This timeline shows key developments relating to EU operational resilience requirements for financial services firms from January 2024 onwards. For earlier developments, see Operational resilience—timeline [Archived] 2026 Date Source Document Description 23 February 2026 EBA The EBA publishes follow-up Report on ICT risk assessment under the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process The European Banking Authority (EBA) published a follow-up to its 2022 peer review report on information and communication technology (ICT) risk assessment under the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). The report assesses progress made by competent authorities in implementing previous recommendations, finding notable improvements in supervisory capacity, horizontal analysis, and systematic use of supervisory tools, driven largely by implementation of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) since January 2025. The EBA found that ICT risk assessment is being incorporated into revised SREP guidelines, which will replace standalone ICT SREP guidelines, though some gaps remain in methodology implementation by certain authorities. 16 January 2026 EIOPAESMA Decision of the Board of Supervisors delegating to the Chair of ESMA the adoption of non-controversial Q&As under DORABoS

The ordinary legislative procedure is the Union's standard procedure for the adoption of legislative acts, which are adopted jointly by Parliament and the Council of Ministers on a proposal submitted by the Commission.

MLex: The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee has approved two laws paving the way for the EU-US trade deal to be approved in a plenary session as early as next week. The Turnberry Agreement, provisionally struck last summer, is awaiting rubber-stamping from lawmakers as well as from national governments, but work was put on hold in light of new US tariffs threats and investigations.

The European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Food Safety has adopted its position on the EU's 'one substance, one assessment' package, which includes three proposals. The package aims to streamline chemical safety assessments by establishing a common data platform that will compile data on hazards, properties, emissions, and exposure levels in people (e.g., blood and breast milk). MEPs strengthened the proposals by requiring the inclusion of data on chemicals in products and safer alternatives, making publicly funded research data submission mandatory, and improving early warning mechanisms for chemical risks. The reforms also reallocate scientific and technical tasks among EU agencies (ECHA, EFSA, EEA, EMA) to enhance cooperation and resolve divergences in scientific opinions. The revision of Directive 2011/65/EU (the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (RoHS)) will transfer certain responsibilities to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The proposals are part of the 2020 EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, supporting the EU's zero pollution vision for 2050. Parliament is set to adopt its mandate during the March-April 2025 plenary session, followed by negotiations with the Council. The Commission has announced plans for a chemicals industry package in 2025 and a targeted revision of EU rules on chemicals.

Law360: Two European Parliament committees approved new anti-money laundering (AML) legislation on 19 March 2024 for the EU to create a single rule book for all 27 EU countries and to establish a common enforcement authority.

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note explains the Eurosystem’s policy strategy for the future of European payments, including the comprehensive payments strategy published in March 2026, the Eurosystem cash strategy and the Eurosystem retail payments strategy. It considers how those strategies interact with the EU legal framework for payment services, electronic money, cryptoassets and the digital euro, including the recast Payment Services Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2366) (PSD2), the proposed third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), the proposed Payment Services Regulation (EU PSR), the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) (MiCA), the Instant Payments Regulation and the proposed digital euro regime. This Practice Note focuses on strategy and policy direction. For more information about: • the payment services perimeter, authorisation, conduct, transparency, security and strong customer authentication requirements, see Practice Note: EU regulation of payment services—essentials • electronic money (e-money) regulation, see Practice Note: EU regulation of electronic money—essentials • the digital euro and other EU related central bank digital currency issues, see Practice Note: EU regulation of CBDCs • stablecoins, e-money tokens and cryptoasset service providers