The European Commission has approved Illumina's plan to divest GRAIL under the EU Merger Regulation, following the restorative measures requiring Illumina to unwind its completed acquisition of GRAIL, which the Commission adopted in October 2023. The Commission found that the plan, including the optionality between different divestment methods, met all the conditions set out in its decision imposing restorative measures as GRAIL's independence from Illumina is restored, GRAIL will operate in a viable and competitive manner as it did before the acquisition, and the divestment plan is capable of being exercised in a timely manner. The divestment plan does not affect the transitional measures that Illumina and GRAIL need to comply with until Illumina has dissolved the transaction, as ordered by the Commission in its October 2023 decision, and confirms their applicability until the disposal is finalised.

The European Commission has assessed written guarantees provided by the United Kingdom regarding the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/1182 on medicines for the Northern Ireland market. The UK has committed to requiring "UK only" labelling, removing EU safety features from packaging, and ensuring EU-authorized medicines are no longer supplied to Northern Ireland after 1 January 2025. The Commission considers that the UK's proposed measures, including updated inspection programmes, provide reasonable assurance of compliance with the Regulation. Consequently, the Commission will publish a notice confirming the Regulation's application from 1 January 2025. The Commission will continue to monitor the UK's application of the rules and may take appropriate measures in case of serious or repeated infringements.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on designating renewables acceleration areas under Directive (EU) 2023/2413 (the recently revised Renewable Energy Directive) which Member States are required to do for one or more types of renewable energy sources by 21 February 2026. The call will help inform a guidance document for EU countries on designating renewables acceleration areas for wind and solar energy projects, scheduled for publication by April 2024. The deadline for responses is 23 February 2024.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence to shape the European Oceans Pact, a political initiative aimed at promoting sustainable ocean management and ensuring the health, resilience, and productivity of the oceans, thereby benefiting the EU’s coastal communities. Announced by Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, in her political guidelines for the new Commission, the call for evidence will run until 17 February 2025, with input expected from stakeholders, experts, and citizens. The feedback will help shape the Pact, which is to be presented at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in June 2025. The Pact aims to foster an integrated approach to ocean governance, maintain healthy oceans, promote a sustainable blue economy, and advance marine knowledge, research, and innovation.

The European Commission has formally requested consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding China's provisional anti-dumping measures on EU brandy imports. The Commission asserts that China's actions contravene WTO rules, citing a lack of evidence for threat to China's brandy industry, absence of causal link between alleged threat and EU imports, and insufficient grounds for case initiation. This move marks the first step in WTO dispute settlement procedures. Failing a satisfactory resolution, the EU may seek a WTO panel ruling on the matter. China was given 10 days to respond.

The European Commission has adopted the text of a Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation (EU) 2015/757 (the EU Ship Emissions Monitoring (MRV) Regulation) with respect to emissions from offshore ships. The EU MRV Regulation was substantially revised in 2023, as part of the Fit for 55 package of reforms. These revisions included amendments to its scope such as extension of the EU MRV Regulation to include general cargo ships and offshore ships from 1 January 2025 (subject to certain tonnage thresholds). The Delegated Regulation clarifies which emissions from these vessels will be caught by the monitoring requirements. Further to the consultation on the draft legislation over Summer 2024, the adopted Delegated Regulation also broadens the list of ships considered to be ‘offshore ships’ (notably including cable layers, wind turbine installation vessels and dredgers). The Delegated Regulation updates the EU MRV Regulation also to align with recent amendments to the EU Emissions Trading System monitoring and reporting rules.

The European Commission has clarified how suppliers and retailers of energy-labelled products should show energy label classes in their visual advertising and promotional material. This Notice follows a European Court of Justice ruling in October 2023 relating to energy labelling of ovens and range hoods, but which has implications for other products. The ruling stated that it was not sufficient only to show the class of the product (eg 'A' or 'B') in advertisements, but it was necessary also to show the relevant range of classes (eg 'A++ to D' or 'A to G'). Since 2021, energy labelling rules have been updated and rescaled for some product categories, so that the range is never higher than 'A'. For products that have not yet been rescaled, however, the most efficient class can vary between 'A' and 'A+++', and the least efficient is not always 'G'. The guidance published by the Commission is intended to help suppliers and dealers become more aware of the ruling and to operationalise the changes needed as a result of it. Economic operators must now use a letter in an arrow alongside the relevant range of classes in their visual advertising of domestic ovens and range hoods, including catalogues and other promotion materials. Suppliers of other energy-labelled products which have not yet been rescaled should also include such a pictogram with the relevant range wherever possible.

The European Commission has adopted decisions to close four market investigations, which were opened on 5 September 2023 under the EU Digital Markets Act (EU DMA). The Commission found that Apple and Microsoft should not be designated as gatekeepers for Apple's messaging service iMessage, Microsoft's online search engine Bing, web browser Edge and online advertising service Microsoft Advertising.

The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network has sent a letter following concerns that Meta's ‘pay or consent' model might breach EU consumer law. This coordinated action specifically focusses on the assessment of Meta's practices under EU consumer law and is distinct from the ongoing investigations against the company by the Commission on its ‘pay or consent' model potentially breaching Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, the EU Digital Markets Act (EU DMA), the Commission's formal request for information under Regulation 2022/2065, the EU Digital Services Act (EU DSA), and the assessment by the Irish Data Protection Commission under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR).

The European Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China is unfairly subsidised, causing an economic injury risk to EU BEV producers. The investigation also assessed the potential effect of measures on importers, users and consumers of BEVs in the EU. The Commission has also pre-disclosed the level of provisional countervailing duties it would impose on imports of BEVs from China and reached out to Chinese authorities to discuss its findings and further assess how to resolve the issues highlighted, in a ‘World Trade Organization compatible manner’. If the discussions with Chinese authorities do not result in an effective solution, the provisional countervailing duties would be introduced from 4 July 2024 by a guarantee, whose form will be decided by customs in each Member State.

In a speech to the European Parliament today, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has confirmed that the proposal for a new Sustainable Pesticides Regulation will be withdrawn. The new Regulation was originally proposed in July 2022, and was intended to replace Directive 2009/128/EC (the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive). The draft Regulation was rejected by the European Parliament in a vote on 22 November 2023. In response to this, President von der Leyen is recommending the proposal be withdrawn but notes that the issue of pesticide use remains on the agenda and that the Commission could make a new, alternative proposal. Any such proposal will be a task for the new Commission, following the 2024 elections.

The European Commission has published a call for evidence regarding the proposed regulation, the Cloud and AI Development Act. The Act is part of the Commission’s ‘AI Continent’ initiative and aims to address the EU's gap in cloud and AI infrastructure capacity through three pillars: research and innovation for greener AI cloud and compute infrastructure and data centres, industrial investments to triple the EU's data processing capacity in the next five to seven years, and actions to increase the secure processing capacities of EU-based cloud providers. Responses are sought by 4th June 2025.