Ref. Ares(2022)1293839 - 21/02/2022
DG GROW
BusinessEurope Advisory and Support Group
event
Brussels, Tuesday 9 November 2021
Cabinet Member: Joan Canton
BASIS ref.: CAB BRETON / 1028
BRIEFING FOR COMMISSIONER THIERRY BRETON
(Speech attached)
Scene setter:
You have been invited by BusinessEurope’s Advisory and Support Group
to their
event.
Also invited that day: President von der Leyen (video); Executive Vice
President Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioners Kadri Simson and Mareid
McGuinness as well as Diederik Samsom, Head of Cabinet of Executive
Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
You will give a 10’ speech followed by a Q&A session.
Key messages:
The ongoing series of disruptions – pandemic, chip crunch,
energy prices – urge us to accelerate the twin transition, to lay
the ground for our strategic autonomy and a more resilient
Single Market.
To reach strategic autonomy, Europe should dismiss the
“fabless” approach and strive to rebalance global value chains
by enhancing its manufacturing capacities and strengthen its
international partnerships.
Industrial policy and the Single Market are two sides of the
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same coin. The European Commission will continue to
strengthen the Single Market, in particular thanks to the
upcoming Single Market Emergency Initiative and, more
structurally, by addressing ongoing barriers that hinder the
competitiveness of our companies.
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Defensive points (based on the
questions provided by BusinessEurope):
From Confederation of British Industry: To create European
champions, we must also work with UK
A well-functioning Single Market without barriers is essential
for the global competitiveness of our companies.
Unfortunately, the UK has decided to leave the Single Market.
The UK has opted for a more distant relationship with the EU
with a distinct regulatory regime. The EU-UK Trade and
Cooperation Agreement provides a solid foundation for
economic cooperation and partnership, but is not comparable
to the economic integration of the past.
Currently, there are tensions in our relations with the UK and
we are increasingly concerned that the UK might embark on a
path of confrontation on how to handle post-Brexit relations.
From Uniper: Will there be an agreement on the taxonomy for gas
and nuclear activities anytime soon?
The Commission will adopt a complementary Delegated Act in
the near future.
The review process is based on the independent and scientific
technical report published in March 2021 by the Joint Research
Centre, the European Commission’s science and knowledge
service. Furthermore, the review process also uses as a base
the reports by the Euratom Article 31 experts group and the
Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging
Risks. The Commission published the two remaining reports on
its website in July 2021.
This complementary Delegated Act will also cover natural gas
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and related technologies as transitional activities in as far as
they fall within the limits of Article 10(2) of the EU Taxonomy
Regulation. The merits of a sunset clause for transitional
activities are being considered in this context.
What are your priorities for a market-based development of a
hydrogen economy?
We need to create an efficient market for hydrogen, by
promoting the industrial scale-up of clean hydrogen supply and
demand.
With the Recovery Plans, we will support pilot projects and first
industrial deployments. In addition, by the end of this year, the
EU Innovation Fund will award funding to the first large-scale
projects.
Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) are
another game-changing tool. They help Member States address
market failures and pool their investment efforts into clean
hydrogen projects, in line with State aid rules. The Commission
is and will continue to be fully involved in these projects.
We should consider the role of nuclear energy: while the
required renewable electricity capacity is building up, it will
help us ensure that we have large amounts of clean electricity
for the production of clean hydrogen.
From BASF: In the recent years we have been experiencing an
increasing number of potential breaches to the EU Better
Regulation Principle, where for example secondary legislations (the
delegated act on the EU Taxonomy) preempts the outcome of not
yet adopted primary legislations (the CSS, Farm-to-Fork). Similarly,
we’ve experienced that a study commissioned by the EC to a third
party becomes the basis for various legislation, disregarding a
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proper impact assessment and official consultations (ex. Due
Diligence)
The EU has the ambition to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030.
We need to act fast in order to meet these objectives. This also
means that we need to work in parallel on different legislative
and policy initiatives whilst respecting the powers of our
Treaties. The taxonomy Regulation sets the technical criteria
what it sustainable whilst the Chemicals Strategy for
Sustainability (CSS) or Farm-to-Fork represent EU strategies on
how to achieve our ambitious targets in key areas.
In very technical and complex areas, we rely on external advice
and feedback from industry such as from this group. However,
the Commission is solely responsible for proposing legislation.
Transparency is fundamental to ensure that people can play an
active part in the policymaking process.
To succeed, all stakeholders must work together. We invite you
to bring forward your concrete recommendations in the various
experts groups such as the Platform on Sustainable Finance.
[BusinessEurope is a member of the Platform and is represented
by Alexandre Affre, Deputy Director General at BusinessEurope.]
From Schneider Electrics: One major issue also looking at the energy
prices crisis is about storage. What is the state of play?
On 13 October, the Commission adopted a
Communication on
Energy Prices to tackle the exceptional rise in global energy
prices. The Communication includes a “toolbox” that the EU
and its Member States can use to address the immediate
impact of current prices increases, and further strengthen
resilience against future shocks.
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Short-term national measures include emergency income
support to households, state aid for companies, and targeted
tax reductions. The Commission will also support investments
in renewable energy and energy efficiency; examine possible
measures on energy storage and purchasing of gas reserves;
and assess the current electricity market design. In the short
term, we will continue closely monitoring the impact of price
hikes on different industrial sectors.
On storage specifically, today storage is not available in all EU
Member States. A more integrated European approach could
optimise the costs and benefits of gas storage across the EU
territory to help cushion volatility in energy prices. This is why
the Commission, with the help of Member State experts, will
assess the possibility of joint voluntary regional storage
arrangements.
From Metsa Group / forest-based industry: There is a risk that the
EU is moving away from business realism and understanding of
global markets. How can the EU ensure that the Green Growth
agenda provides adequate tools for the industry’s competitiveness
and a coherent regulatory framework?
Climate change is a global issue that has to be tackled in
cooperation with our main trading partners. One of the
purpose of the ongoing COP26 is to find common international
rules to level the global playing field in terms of emissions
reduction and carbon prices. One of our common objective
should be to ask all parties across the world to increase their
level of ambition in order to speed-up the energy transition.
In July, the EU has adopted the “Fit for 55” package to increase
its level of ambition and to show the way to reach climate-
neutrality by 2050. This new package includes more than 10
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inter-connected proposals, which all aim at the same goal of
ensuring a fair, competitive and green transition to 2030 and
beyond. The regulatory framework is widened and more
ambitious. Overall, it strengthens eight existing pieces of
legislation and presents five new initiatives, across a range
policy areas and economic sectors: climate, energy and fuels,
transport, buildings, land use and forestry.
All these new initiatives will create new opportunities for the
European businesses, notably in renewable energy, building
renovation, integrated infrastructures, transport systems,
batteries, hydrogen, digital, space and circular applications. We
have to strive for maintaining the EU’s leadership in green
technologies, ensuring that we continue to develop them in the
EU and that the EU supports them in an adequate manner. We
need to invest in the right projects and to develop the
appropriate transition pathways for the green and digital
transitions in cooperation with stakeholders.
Is the Commission planning to do competitiveness checks including
cumulative impact assessment for the Green Deal and fit for 55
package?
The European Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package are
underpinned by an extensive set of impact assessments that
quantify the effects of the proposed policy proposals on the
economy and businesses. This includes the size of the required
investments, the energy system costs, sector-specific outputs
and trade impacts.
Sector-specific analyses will complement this macro-level
modelling in order to understand better the constraints that
specific sectors may face during the transition in terms of
access to capital, skills, markets and technologies.
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The ongoing work on transition pathways will bring this
complementary sector-specific focus
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From ArcelorMittal: The fit for 55 package included some proposals
that have a disproportional impact, that were not included in the
impact assessment and not clear at the time of the release, but
become clear now. In case of the steel industry, this is related to
future ETS benchmarks. How can he help correcting such impacts?
The climate package we presented in July is there to enable the
transition: The EU ETS provides successfully carbon price
incentive to foster decarbonisation of industrial sectors.
EU-wide carbon pricing does not address all barriers.
Therefore, the package includes a balanced mix of instruments
combining a carbon price (setting a clear signal for
decarbonisation) with financing for the demonstration of
climate friendly technologies and a new Carbon Border
Adjustment Instrument to create a global level playing field.
From General Electrics: Supply chains and rare earth?
We are already experiencing disruptions with recent shortages
of supplies of various raw materials and energy, resulting in
high prices for EU industry and consumers. Through innovation,
technology and investment we can use the full potential of EU
domestic and external sourcing to diversify supply chains,
making them both secure and sustainable.
The EU currently supplies only 1% of its own needs for key
battery raw materials (lithium, cobalt, nickel). At the same
time, we source 98% of rare earths, needed for e-motors, from
China.
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We must therefore accelerate development of a more resilient
raw materials supply. Moreover, we should invest not only in
primary raw materials extraction but also in the development
of refining facilities, as well as recycling, critical for a secure
supply of secondary raw materials.
From Accenture: Artificial Intelligence Act - will the Commission
approach become the basis for global standards?
The definition of AI should be as technology neutral as possible
so that it can be adapted over time to innovation and market
developments. The regulatory proposal builds on the
internationally recognised definition of the OECD. In order to
provide legal certainty, the Commission annexes a list of AI
techniques and approaches to the definition, and provides for
the possibility to update this list and clarify its scope when
required due to technological and market developments.
Our proposal for an AI regulatory framework introduces
requirements for a limited number of clearly defined AI
systems that pose high risks to safety and fundamental rights.
The regulatory approach aims at providing legal certainty while
avoiding excessive administrative burden. We are combining
regulatory tools that address the specificities of AI, are
proportionate and apt to foster innovation.
The AI Act will be part of existing EU sectoral safety legislation
to ensure consistency and avoid duplications.
Implementation of the industrial strategy - role of digital skills in
driving the twin transitions and Role of Digital technologies in
delivering the green transition
There is a growing body of evidence showing that the managing
the green transition would benefit from a digital ecosystem to
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provide people with the data and insights necessary to improve
natural resource governance decisions, target financial
investments and change consumption and production patterns.
Accessible and interoperable data, combined with digital
infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence solutions, facilitate
evidence-based decisions and expand the capacity to
understand and tackle environmental challenges. Data,
algorithms and insights can provide actionable evidence on the
state of the environment and interactions between the
economy, society and the environment. In the area of Smart
cities, urban digital twins can model and visualize complex
processes and data and thus have the capacity to tackle
complex challenges for cities.
At the same time, clean digital solutions can advance the
circular economy, create efficiencies, facilitate a more efficient
use of energy and resources (eco-efficient services), reduce
movement and support the decarbonisation of sectors, such as
transport and energy. If effectively leveraged (properly
addressing rebound effects, with measurable indicators), the
efficiency gains brought by digitalisation represent a powerful
tool to accelerate effective climate action with the potential to
decrease greenhouse gas emissions in other sectors by over 6
times more than the ICT sector’s own carbon footprint and
contribute to overall emissions reductions by up to 15%. This
could mean that almost one third of the reduction needed by
2030 (55%) can be achieved by properly deploying appropriate
digital technologies and efficient solutions across the major
economy sectors and society.
Public support to strategic sectors such as semiconductors, 5G,
Cloud - use of Recovery Plans to deliver on those priorities
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The Commission is supporting Member States in the process to
set up a new Important Project of Common European Interest
(IPCEI) on microelectronics. Such a multi-country project –
using funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility – will
contribute to the common EU interests by addressing gaps in
strategic value chains and increasing resilience. This will lead to
the reduction of dependencies on key components for data and
communication infrastructure.
The Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking aims to
reinforce the Union’s digital sovereignty in electronic
components and systems to support future needs of vertical
industries and the economy at large. Just like in its predecessor
ECSEL, we will work with Member States in the Key Digital
Technologies Joint Undertaking, so that the selected projects
will align with national and EU priorities.
Public support by Member States to the IPCEI is expected to be
between €4 and €8 billion, roughly half supported by RRF
funds. The budget of the Key Digital Technologies Joint
Undertaking will be €1.8 billion from the Union, with a similar
contribution expected from Member States, for the period
2021-2027. The contribution expected from the industry is
roughly €3.6 billion via in-kind contributions.
From Intel: What synergies can we expect between the Industrial
Alliance for Processors and Semiconductor technologies and the
European Chips Act?
The European Chips Act aims to create a state-of-the-art
European chip ecosystem, including production, involving all
stakeholders. Such ecosystem grounded on European soil
ensures the security of supply of chips that are essential for
many different industrial sectors.
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The Chips Act will also rely on a number of existing or upcoming
instruments, such as the Industrial Alliance on Processors and
Semiconductor technologies, the Important Project of Common
European Interest (IPCEI) on microelectronics, and the Key
Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking.
The overall objective of the Alliance is to identify current gaps
in the production of microchips and the technology
developments needed for companies and organisations to
thrive, no matter their size. The European Chips Act will help
identify those gaps.
From Siemens: Currently, the EXPO 2020 in Dubai demonstrates a
true live smart city integrating 130 buildings with more than
200.000 sensor data points in a cloud-based Industrial IoT App for
more resource savings, safety and security of life. How do you rate
the current cyber security level in the EU to realize such smart city
approaches in Europe?
The delegated act to the Radio Equipment Directive
(RED) adopted on October 29 aims at making sure that all
wireless devices are safe before being sold on the EU market.
This act lays down new legal requirements for cybersecurity
safeguards, which manufacturers will have to take into account
in the design and production of the concerned products.
The RED ensures a single market for radio equipment by setting
essential requirements for safety and health, electromagnetic
compatibility, and the efficient use of the radio spectrum. It
also provides the basis for further regulation governing some
additional aspects, including features for the protection of
privacy, personal data and against fraud.
From IBM: Quantum, Transatlantic tech cooperation
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The first meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC)
took place on September 29th, in Pittsburgh, USA. It is evident
that the TTC has the potential to become the main channel of
our dialogue on global economic and technological challenges
as well as bilateral matters and cooperation. We should seize
this opportunity to lead together the work to set standards and
rules for the 21st century, together with US and other countries
around the world that share our values.
The TTC will allow us to cooperate in areas, where neither the
EU nor the US have already an established system (regulations
and/or standards). We could focus, for example, on security
and resilience of critical digital, telecoms and ICT supply chains
(including cloud, undersea cables, etc.), and encourage our
respective standardisers to develop similar and compatible
standards that facilitate trade, reinforcing shared democratic
values and respecting universal human rights.
There is a high level of interest from stakeholders from both
sides of the Atlantic and we will work closely with them to
ensure the success of the TTC. Both EU and US governments
are committed to robust and ongoing engagement with a broad
range of stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes from this
cooperation support broad-based growth in both economies
and are consistent with our shared values.
From Google: We know the Commission has set a target for 75%
cloud uptake. What is your vision of how we get there and what
role do you see for global providers to support this vision?
Within the current financial programming period, the Commission
is stepping up its effort to co-finance European and multi-country
projects in the area of data processing technologies. It will notably
support state-of the art research in the area of cloud and edge
computing, foster the emergence of federated cloud and edge
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infrastructures across the EU, for example by interconnecting
existing national cloud capacities, stimulate the deployment of
highly secure, resource-efficient and interoperable EU cloud and
edge services and infrastructures on the market, built over smart
middleware, etc. In Horizon 2020, the EU had already invested
around €300 million in projects related to cloud computing and
software between 2014 and 2020.
EU funding for cloud and edge will come from the Horizon Europe
programme, the Connecting Europe Facility 2 and the Digital
Europe programme. These European financial efforts will be
complemented by Member States that will receive important
funding through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (under the
NextGeneration EU programme), and by industry investments that
will be supported by the InvestEU programme (to facilitate the
access to investments in cloud).
In addition to this, as set in the European industrial technology
roadmap on cloud and edge, the development of application
services powered by cloud and edge that would provide significant
value to European stakeholders will require extensive investments
in R&D and engineering, which could be achieved through a
possible Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI).
In December 2020, Germany, France, Italy and Spain launched an
open process to prepare together with other interested Member
States such possible IPCEI on Next Generation Cloud and Edge
Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS). Currently, 12 Member
States (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Hungary, Poland,
Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Czech
Republic) confirmed their participation into the IPCEI-CIS.
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Additional defensive points (based on BusinessEurope’s opinion on current files):
Industrial strategy and Single Market
The updated industrial strategy falls short to establish strong links
between the fundamental Single Market freedoms and actions in
chapter 5 'Accelerating the twin transitions’.
The green and digital transitions in our economy will need a
Single Market with well-defined rules and regulations to give a
credible and stable prospect for business investment.
We need transition pathways for each of the 14 industrial
ecosystems. We have published for comments the ‘scenarios’
for the first two of these pathways - tourism and energy
intensive industries - and are working on developing the rest.
These transition pathways shall identify, among other factors,
the regulatory needs for industries to gain competitiveness in
the internal market as well as worldwide in the area of green
and digital solutions.
To ascertain that the Single Market will function frictionless
under the future rules, we will reinforce its monitoring with an
annual report of the state of play, including an analysis of the
14 selected industrial ecosystems.
SMET should not only be a platform for discussions on
implementation issues and barriers in the Single Market: we
strongly support SMET to play a key role in putting forward
solutions for the removal of those implementation issues which
result in barriers
SMET’s main and ultimate goal is to achieve the removal of
concrete obstacles hampering the freedom of our businesses
and citizens to travel, live and do business in the EU. SMET
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focuses not solely on improving legal compliance, but aim at
addressing barriers that have a negative effect on our
businesses and citizens and hinder the smooth green and
digital transition.
To this purpose, SMET operates as a partnership between
Member States and the European Commission. Members work
together to identify priority areas, engage in constructive
dialogue to make progress on the selected priorities and
develop actions aimed at delivering concrete and tangible
results.
In that sense, SMET is a forum for discussions on
implementation issues and barriers but also works on solutions
with regard to barriers.
SMET: However instrumental SMET may be, it should not be a
forum that delays necessary enforcement actions or allows Member
States to escape action on their poor implementation “on the basis
of discussions in SMET”; the Commission should not be shielding from sensitive but necessary decisions behind this forum either
Our work in the SMET is intended to be in parallel to other
existing enforcement tools (e.g. infringement procedures, EU
Pilots (informal pre-infringement dialogues), package meetings,
SOLVIT, dialogues for better transposition of directives, use of
various preventive mechanisms, such as the notifications
procedure for technical Regulations under the Single Market
Transparency Directive etc.) and does not replace nor prejudge
them.
It is important to underline that the Commission and Member
States are participating at equal level in SMET and have a joint
responsibility for its deliverables. Therefore, the constructive
dialogue and cooperation are key for the success.
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Corporate Sustainable Directive
We are concerned about the maximum approach taken, with the
cumulative obligations on companies, i.e. a disproportionately
large scope combined with extensive aspects that companies need
to report on, further detailed requirements provided through
mandatory standards, and mandatory assurance. We are also
concerned about the costs of the proposal, as estimated by the
Commission, which we find disproportionate to the objectives, as
well as the feasibility of the ambitious timeline. Companies would
only have two months to implement the final standards before the
first year of application (2023) starts. This outlined timeline for the
introduction of the additional reporting requirements and European
standards does not allow for a proper implementation at company
level
The EU has the ambition to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030.
Businesses play a full role in the transition to a sustainable
economy. We need to act now.
Regarding the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive the
Commission will explore options how companies can report in
the first year of their obligations, taking into account certain
data gaps. The Commission's proposal aims at reducing the
reporting costs over the long term. The proposed Directive
would imply additional costs in the short term, but most
companies already face an increase in costs due to the growing
demand from investors and other stakeholders for
sustainability information. This problem is exacerbated by the
existence of overlapping standards and inconsistent
information requests from stakeholders. The Commission's
proposal is an opportunity for an orderly, cost-efficient
solution.
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We invite you to bring forward concrete recommendations how
we can simplify the proposals. You can do so in the different
experts groups such as the Platform on Sustainable Finance and
the expert group established by the European Financial
Reporting Advisory Group to develop sustainable reporting
standards.
SMEs
Why does the Commission not introduce binding quantitative and
qualitative targets to reduce administrative burdens?
The One-In One Out is a target. It means that the Commission
will offset administrative burdens introduced by legislation with
an equivalent amount of burdens in the same policy area.
The ‘one in, one out’ already includes flexibility if it is not
possible to find an ‘out’ in the same area, the Commission can
decide to take the ‘out’ from a different policy area.
Does the ‘one in, one out’ approach only cover administrative costs?
The ‘one in, one out’ approach will consider all costs. The
expected costs of complying with EU legislation will be
quantified more transparently and systematically presented in
the impact assessments. They will be scrutinised by the
Regulatory Scrutiny Board and communicated to the European
Parliament and the Council as part of the Commission’s
proposals to inform the political debate.
How does the Commission ensure the effective application of the
SME Test in impact assessments?
We systematically screen policy initiatives for their potential
impacts on SMEs. Where relevant, the SME-test analysis entails
in-depth screening of impact on SMEs. The Regulatory Scrutiny
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Board systematically checks the coherence and quality of this
assessment.
However, the scope of analysis of every impact assessment
report is different, focusing on impacts on key dimensions, and
not covering all policy aspects with the same depth. The depth
of SME test analysis needs to be proportionate to the expected
impact on SMEs. This is why the scope of the SME-test analysis
varies on a case-by-case basis.
Will the Commission revise the SME strategy?
It is true that the SME strategy was adopted on March 10
2020. However, the SME strategy is flexible to the new reality.
Many actions are already being implemented and adjusted to
best support SMEs. The Commission is currently not planning to
revise the SME strategy.
Why is the Commission not planning to update the SME definition?
We have evaluated the SME Definition and found that the
Definition remains relevant, fit for its purpose, and has been
effective in reaching its objectives. Within the overall context of
SME policy, the evaluation has not found evidence that points
to a need for a revision.
The Definition works well for the overwhelming majority of
enterprises and is easy to apply in the bulk of cases. Difficulties
arise in the assessment of companies with complicated and/or
foreign ownership structures.
Most issues identified during the evaluation are not specifically
attributable to the Definition and would not necessarily be
addressed by a revision.
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How will you ensure that our millions of SME are not
disproportionately burdened by new legislation?
To make sure that new legislation does not put unnecessary
burden on SMEs, we systematically apply an SME test in impact
assessment reports and we have strengthened the role of the
SME Envoy network. [The appointment of the EU SME Envoy is
currently in progress.]
In the 2021 Communication on Better Regulation, we have
proposed several improvements to our law-making process and
renewed our commitment to SMEs.
The ‘one in, one out’ approach, which we will fully implement
in 2022, will help us to minimise burden and consider the
cumulative impact of legislation on companies.
The SME Strategy foresees the nomination of a dedicated high
level EU SME Envoy. Why has/he or she not been nominated yet?
Given the quickly evolving context, we are reflecting on how to
best define and design the mandate and role of the next
European SME envoy. While the Commission shares the EP’s
and SME community’s eagerness to appoint an SME envoy, we
need the right skill set and balance in terms of
representativeness of the SME community across the EU. In
this context, we have decided to take some extra time to find
the right match.
There is no void in the interim. The network of SME national
envoys is operating at full speed and cooperating across
borders, and is chaired in the interim by DG GROW.
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What is the Commission doing to help companies fully benefit
from the potential of the single market?
We are working to address existing obstacles, also in services,
and unlock the full potential of the single market.
The updated Industrial Strategy reiterates the importance of
several ongoing priorities for the Single Market and services in
particular, including full enforcement of the Services Directive
and several work streams addressing regulatory and
administrative barriers in the framework of Single Market
Enforcement Taskforce (SMET).
We also need to strengthen market surveillance of products.
We will support national authorities to increase capacity and
step up the digitalisation of product inspections and data
collection.
Furthermore, the Commission will explore the merits of a
number of initiatives to deepen the Single Market, such as a
legislative proposal for regulating key business services
supported by harmonised standards, as well as a possible
common form, in an electronic format, for the declaration of
the posting of workers.
Finally, preserving competition in the Single Market also
contributes to the resilience and competitiveness of our
companies on the global markets. We shall continue
monitoring the application of the State Aid Temporary
Framework (extended until end-2021) and the implementation
of COVID-19 related State aid measures, with a view to
progressively phasing out crisis support measures when the
situation allows, while avoiding cliff-edge effects.
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Machinery
We reject the introduction of mandatory third-party conformity
assessment. The proposed requirement is: unjustified - There is no
evidence that third-party certified machines are any safer than
those undergoing internal production control; disproportionate -
The European Commission’s cost estimation is largely undervalued
as it does not cover the additional costs of resources, logistics,
planning or the loss of lead time; uncompetitive - the increased
uncertainty, the longer time to market and additional costs will
hamper innovation - disadvantaging SMEs while creating incentives
for larger companies to move strategic sites to more supportive
regions.
The introduction of mandatory third-party conformity
assessment is in line with the New Legislative Framework (NLF)
risk-based approach, aligned with the Regulation. The
Commission made an impact assessment on the cost and
benefits of this option to ensure safer machinery products and
a level-playing field.
The Commission’s empowerment to adopt technical
specifications is exclusively allowed in the absence of
harmonised standards due to rejection or too long delays from
the standardisation bodies.
The rules for the development of technical specifications under the
proposal are not clear and we fear that the current principles used
in standardisation (e.g. a consensus-based text, market relevance, a
balanced representation of stakeholders and transparency, ensured
by a public enquiry) will not be respected
The Commission defends the standardisation system in place
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that helps manufacturers, in particular SMEs, to comply with
the safety requirements of the Machinery Regulation.
However, if at any moment, the standardisation bodies reject
the Commission request to develop and provide the needed
harmonised standards, or if they do not manage to comply
timely with it, as last resort, the Commission can make recourse
to technical specifications elaborated in consultation with
Member States and stakeholders.
Essential requirements (Annex III) should not be over-prescriptive or
unfeasible. Co-legislators must also avoid introducing additional
vertical requirements that risk causing unpredictability for
manufacturers.
Only few essential requirements in Annex III of the Regulation
have been adapted based on the new risks stemming from
digitalisation or on reported accidents/occupational diseases. It
considers the New Legislative Framework (NLF) principles
articulating only the essential requirements.
A transition period, where both legislative frameworks apply, is
necessary to allow the market to adapt to the new regulation.
A transition period of 2.5 years is enough to allow industry to
adapt their products if necessary as the proposed legal act is
only partially revising the existing legal act.
Commission will send the standardisation request to ESOs as
soon as possible and at the latest when the Council and the
European Parliament adopt the Regulation. Furthermore,
harmonised standards allow a transitional period of 18 months,
enough time for the industry to adapt to the state of the art.
Finally, in general harmonised standards will simply adapt a few
provisions, which will not imply in practice a big change in the
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design of the machinery product and only some products will be
impacted.
Article 49 ensures that Directive 2006/42/EC can still be
applicable 2.5 years after the date of entry into force of the new
Regulation.
Article 50 will be adapted to ensure that manufacturers can
place on the market products designed in conformity with the
Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC during 2.5 years after the entry
into force of the new Regulation.
Economic operators can make available on the market e.g.
distribute products, designed under the Machinery Directive
2006/42/EC during 42 months after the date of entry into force
of this Regulation.
These deadlines are consistent with the average time provided
when a legislation is only revised because not all products must
be adapted and not for all aspects.
A 12 months transition period for “making available on the
market” is to prevent that products that are not in conformity
with the latest state of the art regarding safety keep circulating
in the EU market. This is in line with the latest NLF product
safety legislation such as Personal Protective Equipment or Gas
Equipment regulations.
Standards
The upcoming Standardisation Strategy should urgently address
bottlenecks in standardisation processes and essentially be aimed
at preserving a market-driven standardisation environment for the
European industry and the EU’s close linkages to international
standardisation. Furthermore, it should also avoid initiatives with
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insufficiently demonstrable value added or market relevance. For
example, standardisation in services has not yet proved being an
advantageous tool for businesses. In addition, standards which
could negatively impact the autonomy of social partners or affect
different systems of industrial relations must be avoided, such as
standards for human resources management.
The Commission has made substantial efforts to make the
process more efficient, which has resulted in an increasing
number of harmonised standards referenced in the Official
Journal of the EU (OJEU) and in a much shorter time.
We are currently discussing with the European
standardisation organisations within a task force how to
address obstacles to the delivery of standards.
In the upcoming standardisation strategy, the Commission will
present measures to improve the anticipation and the
prioritisation of standardisation activities, strengthen the
coordination of such activities within the Commission and
build up standardisation expertise in the European
standardisation system.
Patents
BusinessEurope calls for the rapid ratification and entry into
operation of the unitary patent system.
We know that industry is impatiently expecting the launch of
the unitary patent system. It will bring more legal certainty
and allow businesses to cut costs considerably, especially
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national validation and litigation costs and red tape.
We are pleased to see that its launch is now approaching.
Indeed, only one more Member State needs to agree to the
start of the ‘provisional application period’ of the Unified
Patent Court Agreement. Should this take place in late 2021,
the unitary patent system will be launched in late 2022. This
launch will represent a significant improvement for our
companies and in particular for our SMEs.
More broadly, we are also progressing well in the
implementation of the ‘IP Action Plan’ of November 2020,
with a range of initiatives that will benefit the EU’s
competitiveness and the digital and green transitions. These
initiatives include for instance the modernisation of the EU
framework for the protection of industrial designs, the
creation of a new EU scheme to protect geographical
indications for crafts and industrial products and several IP
support actions targeting EU SMEs.
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