Following a settlement between the parties, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has dismissed by consent a claim by Euronet 360 Finance Limited and other Euronet group companies against Mastercard Incorporated, Mastercard International Incorporated, Mastercard Europe SA, Visa Europe Limited, Visa Europe Services LLC, and Visa Inc.

Europe 2020 is the action and growth strategy of the European Union devised for the years 2010 to 2020.

Law360, London: Europe Arab Bank PLC has sued in a bid to have a London court fix a series of errors in its employee pension scheme that could cost the company more than £10 million ($14 million) by introducing mistakes to the timing and size of payments into the plan.

The European 5G Observatory has published its latest bi-annual report. This October 2023 report covers several new 5G developments across the EU. It takes account of three major national spectrum auctions in Estonia, Sweden and Poland. These auctions bring the average percentage of 5G pioneer bands assigned across the EU to 71%. Meanwhile, the estimated 5G population coverage across the EU is 81%. However, population coverage of 5G service based on the 3.6 GHz band, which gives an important indication of high-quality 5G coverage, is still considered to be low. The report also summarises the recent State of the Digital Decade report published by the European Commission. New policy developments and efforts by the Commission to improve the 5G Key Performance Indicators for measuring 5G progress are also covered. The report also features an exploratory editorial that considers the relevance and feasibility of monitoring the deployment of standalone 5G (5G SA) in the EU, charts current progress in the 5G SA rollout, and considers the relevance of 5G SA towards achieving EU Digital Decade goals.

The European AI Office has launched a consultation on the first General Purpose AI Code of Practice which will detail the EU AI Act rules for providers of general-purpose AI models and general-purpose AI models with systemic risks. The consultation looks at the transparency, copy-right related provisions, risk taxonomy, assessment and mitigation of general-purpose AI models. It will also include a section on how Codes of Practice will be reviewed and monitored. The initial Code of Practice will be developed based on the submissions and answers to the targeted questions in the consultation. The deadline for responses is 10 September 2024. The European AI Office has also launched a call for expression of interests for individuals who wish to participate in the drawing-up of the Code of Practice, which will be prepared by 1 April 2025. Expressions of interest should be submitted by 25 August 2024.

EU Law analysis: Barry Scannell and Leo Moore, partners at William Fry, discuss the EU’s draft General-Purpose AI Code of Practice.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will come into application across the EU on 28 June 2025, requiring selected digital products and services such as smartphones, banking and e-books to be accessible to persons with disabilities. The Act introduces common accessibility requirements to reduce daily barriers and support full societal participation, while harmonising rules for businesses across Member States. Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, emphasised that the measure aims to promote fairness, innovation and equal opportunity for the EU's 100 million persons with disabilities.

This Practice Note considers Regulation (EU) 655/2014 establishing a European Account Preservation Order procedure to facilitate cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters, the EAPO Regulation. The Regulation creates a unified debtor enforcement mechanism with the aim of reducing costs and delays in cross-border claims. Under the EAPO Regulation creditors can obtain account preservation orders on the same conditions, irrespective of the country where the competent court is located. The Practice Note looks at when EAPOs are available, the requirements for issuing an EAPO and the procedure for applying for an EAPO. Third states and the European Account Preservation Orders Regulation Member States have many different debtor enforcement mechanisms and legal systems relating to the granting of such relief so the EAPO Regulation brought great change to this area. An EAPO can only be sought by creditors who are domiciled in a Member State and for bank accounts held in a Member State. This means that the Regulation will not apply to creditors domiciled in third states, nor to accounts

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has received written evidence about UK-EU dynamic alignment from a range of organisations and individuals. Among these, the Institute for Government (IfG) has provided evidence examining how Parliament should engage with and influence the government's management of dynamic alignment with EU rules as part of the broader UK-EU relationship. Hearings are currently taking place.

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has published correspondence from 7 November 2023 to 30 May 2024. The correspondence includes scrutiny of EU documents, scrutiny of primary legislation (including the Illegal Migration Bill) and general correspondence on topics such as public procurement and the implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

ARCHIVED: 11 pm (GMT) on 31 December 2020 marked the end of the Brexit transition/implementation period entered into following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. At this point in time (referred to in UK law as ‘IP completion day’), key transitional arrangements came to an end. From IP completion day, the UK cannot actively participate in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) because EAWs are only available to Member States. Instead an agreement for fast-track extradition arrangements, based on the EU's Surrender Agreement with Norway and Iceland, was reached under Part 3, Title VII, of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed on 30 December 2020. The impact of Brexit on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) While the UK formally left the EU on Exit day (31 January 2020), this was subject to transitional arrangements. The UK could continue to utilise European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) throughout the implementation period. That said, the situation was not exactly status quo ante—Article 185 of the Withdrawal Agreement expressly permitted declarations to be made by those Member

The European Commission has confirmed that an European Artificial Intelligence Office (EAIO) will be established within the Commission as part of the administrative structure of the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology. The Commission said that the EAIO will operate in accordance with its internal processes and should not affect the powers and competences of national authorities, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union in the supervision of AI systems, as set out in the upcoming AI Act.