The European Commission has released a report on ‘The future of European competitiveness’, alongside an in-depth analysis with recommendations to enhance the EU's competitiveness and boost sustainable growth in the EU. Mario Draghi (former European Central Bank President ) was tasked by the European Commission to prepare a report of his personal vision on the future of European competitiveness. The findings of the report will contribute to the Commission’s work on a new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness, and in particular, to the development of the new Clean Industrial Deal, which will be presented in the first 100 days of the new Commission mandate.

The European Commission has adopted two implementing decisions on harmonised standards for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/815 of 6 March 2024 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1182 as regards harmonised standards for medical gloves for single use, biological evaluation of medical devices, sterilization of health care products, packaging for terminally sterilized medical devices and processing of health care products, as well as Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/817 of 6 March 2024 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1195 as regards harmonised standards for sterilisation of health care products and packaging for terminally sterilised medical devices. Both Decisions will enter into force on the day of their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, on 8 March 2024.

Andreas Reindl, managing partner, Thibaut D’hulst, counsel, Gert-Jan Fraeyman, senior associate, and Darek Kloza, data protection expert, of Van Bael & Bellis, consider the European Commission’s draft guidelines under Article 28 of the EU DSA outlining measures for online platforms to protect minors.

The European Commission has published draft guidelines under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) to help online platforms protect minors from harmful content and uphold their privacy and safety. Released on 13 May 2025, the guidelines apply to all platforms accessible to minors and require providers to assess risks and implement appropriate safeguards. These include age assurance methods such as self-declaration, age estimation and robust verification—particularly where national laws impose age restrictions. Responses are invited by 10 June 2025, with final guidelines expected in summer 2025.

The European Commission has published three factsheets on targeted areas of pharma reform as part of the EU’s Pharmaceutical Strategy of sweeping reforms to pharma regulation. The factsheets cover the steering pharmaceutical investment into medicines for unmet medical needs, the mitigation and addressing of shortages of medicines and ensuring security of supply, and ensuring access to medicines for all patients in the EU.

The European Commission has published the findings from its Digital Fairness Fitness Check, which analysed the effectiveness of current EU consumer protection laws in the digital landscape. The review indicates that while Directive 2005/29/EC (the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive), Directive 2011/83/EU (the Consumer Rights Directive), and Directive 93/13/EEC (the Unfair Contract Terms Directive) remain relevant and necessary, consumers face challenges online, such as dark patterns in online interfaces and personalised targeting. It also found that harmful commercial practices have cost consumers in the EU approximately €7.9bn per year, and that there is an insufficient enforcement of EU consumer protection laws across EU Member States, causing regulatory fragmentation and lack of incentives for businesses to protect customers.

The European Commission has found, in its screening of 576 influencers’ social media posts to verify whether they followed EU consumer law in their advertising activities, that 97% of these influencers posted commercial content but only one in five influencers indicated that their content was advertising. The Commission has earmarked 358 influencers for further investigation and national authorities will contact them to ensure compliance with the rules. Further enforcement action may be taken in accordance with national procedures.

The European Commission has published guidance aimed at ensuring simpler and more harmonised implementation of EU water laws by reducing compliance uncertainties. The guidance addresses the Water Framework Directive, supported by the Groundwater Directive and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive and explains how to assess the environmental impact of new projects on water quality. It focuses on projects affecting the chemical status of water bodies and verifies compliance with rules set out in EU water laws, which already allow for lower environmental objectives. New exemptions introduced through recent amendments to water legislation allow simplified procedures for projects that result only in short-term deterioration or in the relocation of pollution without a net increase. While the guidance focuses on the mining sector it can also apply to other projects or activities including those related to strategic sectors promoted under the Renewable Energy Directive III, the Chips Act and the Net Zero Industry Act.

The European Commission has published a guidance document (C/2024/3998) highlighting the methods in which investment frameworks for cross-border offshore grid and renewable projects can be organised most efficiently. The guidance aims to support EU countries, national regulatory authorities and system operators in their discussions on cost-sharing agreements for reaching EU countries’ regional offshore renewable targets. The guidelines are foreseen under the TEN-E Regulation and also follow on from the EU Action Plan for Grids in November 2024, whereby the Commission urged the significance of collaborative investment frameworks to realise the EU’s political ambitions on offshore renewables, showing the necessity for guidance to support the process.  The guidance recommends that EU countries and regulatory authorities discuss principles for collaboration, including on costs, already at the stage of identifying the network needs in order to accelerate the emergence of new cross-border projects. ENTSO-E is also called upon, to further develop effective modelling tools to improve EU countries’ needs for information relevant to kickstart these exchanges.

The European Commission has published guidelines establishing voluntary pre-issuance disclosure templates for bonds marketed as either environmentally sustainable or sustainability-linked. These templates support the EU's objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 by standardising disclosures for issuers using the EU Taxonomy, thereby complementing the European Green Bond Standard and filling a market gap in demonstrating taxonomy-aligned bond proceeds allocation. The guidelines provide two detailed templates: one for environmentally sustainable bonds, which requires issuers to detail their environmental strategy, the intended allocation of bond proceeds, environmental impacts, and reporting commitments; and another for sustainability-linked bonds, which focuses on the environmental strategy, bond characteristics, performance indicators, and reporting requirements.

The European Commission has published the Commission Guidelines for providers of Very Large Online Platforms and Very Large Online Search Engines on the mitigation of systemic risks for electoral processes pursuant to Article 35(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The European Commission has published information on the AI Pact. As the initial all for interest was launched in November 2023, the AI Office has since initiated the development of the AI Pact, which is structured around two pillars—'Pillar I: gathering and exchanging with the AI Pact network' and 'Pillar II: facilitating and communicating company pledges'. The AI Office is in the preparatory phase of the pledges, and the final version of the pledges will be disclosed and discussed during the workshop in September 2024, with the aim of collecting the official signatures on the pledges by the second half of September.