Articles

Post Brexit, the UK and EU’s rules on digital monopolies are diverging. Both understand the consequences of digital monopoly power, whether that is in online harms (behaviour online which may hurt a person physically or emotionally), abuses of privacy, or boosting of profits at the expense of smaller rivals and business customers. However, competition policy in both jurisdictions has lagged behind the changes that digitisation has brought to many industries. This post considers the diverse interventions in the EU and the UK that attempt to address digital monopoly power, namely the new EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and of the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

The publication of the post-Brexit UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (Data Reform Bill) in July 2022 signalled the UK Government’s intention to diverge from European data protection law in several critical areas. This blog post analyses this regulatory divergence and their potential implications, not only for UK-EU trade and relations, but also data subjects’ rights.

The differing approaches to the regulation of big tech in the UK and EU highlight some crucial questions for law-makers in both jurisdictions. The EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Bill both tackle the need to restrict certain content online and create a framework for regulating online platforms. The measures affect the underlying fundamentals of Internet services in very different ways, which could impact their operation across borders. This blog post considers how current policy choices in these two laws may influence future policy directions and ultimately the whole Internet ecosystem.

As rapporteur for the European Parliament, MEP Sergey Lagodinsky has launched an initiative for a European legal framework for associations. With Christine Pütz, he discusses the objectives pursued and what it will take for the initiative to succeed.

EU agri-food products protected by quality schemes such as geographical indications can face counterfeiting and usurpations in third countries, resulting in significant economic losses for EU producers. The same can happen in the other direction, and with the expansion of e-commerce platforms, these market dynamics have found new avenues to occur. The reform post-2022 of the CAP’s Common Market Organisation has extended the protection of quality schemes’ intellectual property (IP) rights to e-commerce platforms. However, how will this reform be enforced to protect both EU and non-EU producers? Will it establish a level playing field that also protects non-EU quality schemes directly registered in the EU, and those included in the association agreements signed with non-EU countries?

New ‘Pesticide Atlas’ by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Friends of the Earth Europe and PAN Europe reveals toxic global impact of hazardous chemicals used in agriculture.

All over the world, projects are proving that an ecological future is possible: More and more cities, states, and regions are trying to slash pesticide use; or even ban chemical agents completely from their fields and land.

Even though the EU’s pesticide legislation is the most sophisticated, it has failed to achieve a reduction in use. The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy seeks to change that. Many questions remain.

Agricultural robotics, drones, and algorithm-driven technologies for a new way of farming are becoming big business. They are supposed to help farms cut pesticide use, but there are serious doubts whether this will work.

As one of the world’s largest importers of agrochemicals and exporters of agriculture goods, Brazil sets record for pesticide consumption. A significant part of the pesticides used there is produced in the European Union – and highly hazardous.