This regular alert covers key regulatory developments related to EU emergency responses, including in particular, to COVID-19, Russia's war of aggression on against Ukraine, and cyber threats. It does not purport to provide an exhaustive overview of developments.

This regular update expands from the previous COVID-19 Key EU Developments – Policy & Regulatory Updates (last issue No. 99).

LATEST KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Competition & State Aid

  • European Commission publishes 2022 Report on Competition Policy
  • European Commission welcomes political agreement on European Chips Act
  • European Commission approves further schemes under new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework to support economy in context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accelerating green transition and reducing fuel dependencies
  • European Commission approves further schemes to compensate for damage due to COVID-19 crisis

Trade / Export Controls

  • Council of the European Union expands sanctions over Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and planned 11th package of sanctions underway
  • Joint Statement on 10th EU-US Energy Council
  • Fourth meeting of the Joint Committee under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement

Medicines and Medical Devices

  • Statement by EU Commissioner Kyriakides on World Health Day on key EU objectives
  • EMA announces new features to strengthen PRIority Medicines (PRIME)

Cybersecurity, Privacy & Data Protection

  • European Commission proposes Cyber Solidarity Act
  • EDPB publishes 2022 Annual Report on Streamlining Enforcement through Cooperation
  • European Commission launches European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency
  • European Commission adopts procedural rules on implementation of Digital Markets Act

COMPETITION & STATE AID

Competition
European Commission publishes 2022 Report on Competition Policy (see here)

On 4 April 2023, the European Commission published the 2022 Report on Competition Policy, presenting key policy developments and legislative initiatives undertaken in 2022, as well as selected key enforcement actions.

The Report, in particular, sets out the Commission's view of its role in mitigating external economic shocks during the upheavals of 2022 through initiatives such as the following:

  • The Commission adopted the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) for State aid measures on 23 March 2022 (as subsequently modified and most lately replaced on 9 March 2023 by the new Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework), enabling Member States to remedy the liquidity shortage faced by undertakings directly or indirectly affected by the serious disturbance in the economy created by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

    In 2022, under the TCTF, the Commission adopted 195 decisions, approving 182 national measures notified by 27 Member States. The overall budget that Member States notified to the Commission for such State aid measures amounted to some EUR 670 billion.

  • The Commission phased out the COVID Temporary Crisis Framework (with certain exceptions, see below). The Framework was adopted on 20 March 2020 to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

    By end-2022, the Commission had adopted 217 COVID-19-related decisions in all Member States, including decisions under the COVID Temporary Crisis Framework. This was significantly less compared to 2021, when 1180 COVID-19-related decisions were adopted.

  • Implementation continued in 2022 of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), established on 18 February 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support faster and more resilient Member State recovery. The RRF is the core instrument of the €800 billion NextGenerationEU recovery plan for Europe's green and digital transformation.

    The Commission indicated that most measures financed by the RRF do not constitute State aid. For the measures that do qualify as State aid, Member States can implement the majority of these either under a block exemption regulation or under a de minimis regulation. Still, various measures were notified for the Commission's prior authorization. In 2022, the Commission adopted State aid decisions on nearly 80 RRF-funded measures.

An accompanying Staff Working Document (see here) to the Report further details (i) the main legislative and policy developments in 2022 across the three competition instruments: State aid, Antitrust (including cartels) and Mergers, as well as (ii) specific enforcement actions in a sectoral overview.

The Commission also released an infographic of key milestones for 2022 (see here).

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