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EU Legislation

YOUR BUSINESS IN EU

EU Legislation for Business in EU


ENTREPRENEURSHIP & SMALL BUSINESSES
  • Implementing the small and medium-sized enterprises initiative
  • Transfer of businesses
  • The SME Envoy
  • Horizon 2020: specific implementing programme (2014-20)
  • EU Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
  • Promoting youth entrepreneurship to foster social inclusion of young people
  • Common rules on the ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund, EAFRD and EMFF (2014-2020)
  • A simplified business environment
  • Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises: definition and scope
  • European social entrepreneurship funds
  • A new EU approach to handling business failure and insolvency
  • European standardisation
  • Boosting entrepreneurship of European SMEs — COSME programme
  • A small business act for European SMEs
  • SMEs turning environmental challenges into business
  • Combating late payment in business dealings
 Intellectual property: patents, trademarks, etc.
  • Intellectual property rights infringements
  • Accession to the World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties
  • Harmonised national laws on the protection of designs
  • EU rules on protecting trade secrets
  • Wider access to copyright material — orphan works
  • EU unitary patents – translation arrangements
  • Unified Patent Court
  • Biotechnological inventions: legal protection
  • European Union trade mark
  • Intellectual property rights — customs enforcement
  • Supplementary protection certificates for medicines and plant protection products
  • EU trade mark law (national registrations)
  • Community design
  • Single EU patent boosts intellectual property protection and cuts related costs - EUR-Lex
  • Enforcement of intellectual property rights
Environmental responsibility
  • Eco-design for energy-using appliances
  • Restriction on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment
  • Safe and effective fertilisers on the EU market
  • Ecolabel
  • Energy consumption: Framework for labelling rules
  • Better environmental performance: European eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)
  • Uniform conditions for the marketing of safe products in the EU (conformity marking)
  • SET-Plan for the development of low-carbon technologies
BUSINESSES IN THE INTERNAL MARKET
  • Restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt
  •  Company law
    • Company takeover bids
    • European Economic Interest Grouping
    • Certain aspects of company law concerning limited liability companies
    • A simplified business environment
    • Indirect taxes on raising capital
    • Single-member private limited liability companies
    • European Cooperative Society
    • Comparable and clear company financial statements across the EU
    • Statute for a European Company
    • Common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different European Union countries
    • Common system of taxation: mergers, divisions, transfers of assets, exchanges of shares and transfer of the registered office of an SE or SCE
    • Shareholder Rights Directive
  •  Public procurement
    • Awards of public contracts and concessions — public supply and public works contracts
    • Public procurement in the fields of defence and security
    • Common procurement vocabulary
    • Awards of public contracts and concessions — water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors
    • Electronic invoicing in public procurement
    • Public purchasing — rules for water, energy, transport and postal sectors
    • Concession contracts in the EU
  •  Intellectual property
    • WTO: agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property
    • Intellectual property rights infringements
    • Ensuring technology transfer agreements respect competition rules
    • EU rules on protecting trade secrets
    • Accession to the World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties
    • Unified Patent Court
    • Fighting violations of EU intellectual property rights in non-EU countries
    • Legal protection: Topographies of semiconductor products
    • Enforcement of intellectual property rights
    • Enforcing intellectual property rights: EU action plan
    •  Copyright and related rights
      • Copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market
      • Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances
      • Copyright and related rights: term of protection
      • Resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art
      • Computer programs — legal protection
      • Rental, lending and certain other rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property
      • Copyright and related rights: satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission
      • Protecting electronic pay services against piracy
      • Legal protection: databases
    •  Inventions, trade marks & designs
      • EU trade mark law (national registrations)
      • Copyright and related rights in the information society
      • European Union trade mark
      • EU unitary patents – translation arrangements
      • Wider access to copyright material — orphan works
      • Biotechnological inventions: legal protection
      • Harmonised national laws on the protection of designs
      • Community design
      • Single EU patent boosts intellectual property protection and cuts related costs - EUR-Lex
SINGLE MARKET FOR SERVICES
  • Authorisation of electronic communications networks and services
  • Electronic road tolls — interoperability of national systems
  • Open internet access and roam-like-at-home
  • Agricultural and food supply chain — unfair business-to-business trading practices
  • Accessibility of products and services
  • Regime for the remuneration of directors of listed companies
  • Electronic road tolls — compatibility between countries
  • Postal services in the EU
  • EU cross-border parcel delivery services
  • The supply of shipping services
  • Access to electronic communications networks
  • The EU’s services directive
  • Inland navigation: non-resident carriers
  • Access to the international market for coach and bus services
  • E-commerce - standard EU rules
  • European standardisation
  • Principle of equal treatment of men and women outside the employment market
  • Ensuring the sustainable supply and use of raw materials
  • Stepping up the enforcement of EU legislation on the posting of workers
  • Regulatory framework for electronic communications
  • Liability insurance of air carriers
  • Insurance distribution — new rules from 2018
  • System for the recognition of professional qualifications
  • Freedom to provide services within the EU (ocean trade)
  • Air service agreements between EU and non-EU countries
  • Remuneration policies in the financial services sector
  • Sea transport — supply of services, competition, unfair pricing and access to ocean trade
  • Data protection in the electronic communications sector
  • Affordable telecommunications services - users' rights
SINGLE MARKET FOR GOODS
  •  Free movement of goods — general rules
  • Accessibility of products and services
  • Mutual recognition of goods
  • Obstacles to trade: Rapid Intervention Mechanism
  • Accreditation and market surveillance
  •  Technical harmonisation
    • EU type-approval legislation with regard to the UK withdrawal
    • Mutual recognition of goods
    • Measuring instruments and methods of metrological control — common rules
    • Harmonisation of civil aviation requirements and procedures
    • Integration of environmental aspects into European standardisation
    • Product safety: general rules
    • Uniform conditions for the marketing of safe products in the EU (conformity marking)
    •  Sectors harmonised in line with the new approach
      •  Medical devices
        • In vitro diagnostic medical devices
        • Safe active implantable medical devices
        • Ensuring medical devices are safe for patients
  •  Pharmaceutical and cosmetic products
    • Clinical Trials
    • Supplementary protection certificates for medicines and plant protection products
    • High safety standards and streamlined procedures for EU clinical trials
    • Duty free treatment
    • Colouring matters for medicinal products (recast)
    • Safe medicines for Europeans — European Medicines Agency
    • Protection of laboratory animals
    • Safer cosmetics for Europeans
    • Good laboratory practice: inspection and verification of laboratory studies on all chemicals
    • Good laboratory practice: tests on chemical substances
    • Public-private partnership in innovative medicines
    •  Medicinal products for human consumption
      • Medicines for rare diseases - orphan drugs
      • Ingredients used in medicines – guidance for importers and distributors
      • European Pharmacopoeia - EUR-Lex
      • Export of generic medicines to developing countries: compulsory licences
      • EU rules for new medical products based on genes and cells
      • Medicines and investigational medicines for human use — safe production
      • Medicinal products for paediatric use
      • EU rules on the authorisation, import and production of medicines for humans
      • Transparency of decisions regulating the prices and the reimbursement of medicinal products in EU countries
    •  Medicinal products for veterinary use
      • Authorisation, import and manufacture of veterinary medicines
      • EU rules on the authorisation, import and production of veterinary medicines
      • Veterinary medicines — good manufacturing practice
      • Residues of veterinary medicinal products in foodstuffs of animal origin
      • Preparation and marketing of medicated feedingstuffs for animals
  •  Chemical products
    •  Dangerous substances & preparations
      • Free movement of pyrotechnic articles within the single market
      • Safer detergents for European consumers
      • Classification, packaging and labelling of chemical substances and mixtures
      • International trade in hazardous chemicals (Rotterdam Convention)
    •  Risk management — chemicals
      • Protecting health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants
      • Exposure to chemical agents
      • European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) — how the EU regulates chemicals
      • Good laboratory practice: inspection and verification of laboratory studies on all chemicals
      • Good laboratory practice: tests on chemical substances
      • Major accidents involving dangerous chemicals
    •  Managing pollution & waste
      • Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal
      • Disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs)
      • Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
      • Tackling threats posed by chemicals (Stockholm Convention)
  •  Motor vehicles
    • Civil liability insurance for motor vehicles
    • Hydrogen-powered vehicles — type-approval rules
    • Spray-suppression systems for motor vehicles
    • Improving tyres’ fuel efficiency, braking capacity and noise levels
    • Motor vehicles with trailers: permissible sound level
    • Windscreen defrosting and demisting systems for motor vehicles
    • Worldwide harmonised Light-duty vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) and Real Driving Emissions (RDE)
    • EU approval and market surveillance measures for motor vehicles and their trailers
    • Motor vehicle towing devices
    • Combating cross-border vehicle crime
    • Manufacturer’s statutory plate and identification number for motor vehicles
    • Motor vehicles - block exemption from EU competition law
    • Charging of heavy goods vehicles: Eurovignette Directive
    • Safe motor vehicles and trailers
    • Motor vehicle wheel guards
    • Rear registration plates on motor vehicles
    • Safe agricultural and forestry vehicles
    • Installation of motor vehicle tyres
    • Re-use, recycling and recovery of vehicle parts and materials
    • Car windscreen wiper and washer systems
    •  Aligning technical standards — General market surveillance
      • Worldwide harmonised Light-duty vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) and Real Driving Emissions (RDE)
      • Curbing the sound levels of motor vehicles
      • eCall in-vehicle system - type-approval
      • Global technical harmonisation of vehicles
      • Type-approval and market surveillance requirements for motorbikes/mopeds and quads in the EU
    •  Technical implications of road safety
      • Protection of pedestrians and vulnerable road users
      • Retrofitting of mirrors to heavy goods vehicles
      • Driving time in the road transport sector
      • Road haulage and passenger transport companies: operating rules
      • Road safety: driving licences
      • Safer cars: seat belts and child restraint systems
      • Motor vehicles and trailers: vehicle registration documents
      • Road safety: authorised dimensions and maximum weights for trucks, buses and coaches
    •  Pollution & emissions
      • Emissions from heavy-duty vehicles (Euro VI): certification rules
      • Monitoring and reporting the CO2 emissions of heavy-duty vehicles
      • CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles
      • Reduction in CO2 emissions of new passenger cars and of new light commercial vehicles
      • Clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles
      • Information on the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of new cars
      • Emissions from air-conditioning systems in motor vehicles
      • Reducing pollution from light motor vehicles
      • Fuels — reducing sulphur content
      • Quality of petrol and diesel fuels: sulphur and lead
      • End-of-life vehicles
  •  Construction sector
    • Noise emission by equipment used outdoors
    • Exposure to mechanical vibration
    • Exposure to asbestos: worker protection
    • Fire safety in existing hotels
    • Exposure to artificial optical radiation
    • Construction products
    • Fluorescent and high intensity discharge lamps — ecodesign requirements
    • Efficient and safe hot-water boilers
    • Energy performance of buildings
    • Temporary and mobile work sites
  •  Market surveillance — ensuring product safety
    • Market surveillance and compliance of products
    • EU approval and market surveillance measures for motor vehicles and their trailers
    • Ensuring the safety of toys in the European Union
    •  Machinery & related tools — safety & accuracy
      • Equipment used in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX)
      • Ensuring lift safety
      • EU rules ensuring that measuring instruments are accurate
      • Ensuring safe personal protective equipment for users
      • EU rules ensuring that non-automatic weighing instruments are accurate
      • Machinery safety
      • Cableway installations for passengers
    •  Electrical & electronic devices
      • EU rules for the taxation of energy products and electricity
      • Fluorescent and high intensity discharge lamps — ecodesign requirements
      • Efficient and safe hot-water boilers
      • Electrical safety: low-voltage electrical equipment
      • Appliances burning gaseous fuels (from 2018)
      • Reducing interference between electrical and electronic devices
    •  Transport — aligning systems & safety
      • Ensuring the compatibility of EU rail systems
      • Reducing air pollution from leisure boats and personal watercraft
      • Safety of pressure vessel equipment and material
      • Joint rules on access to the EU road haulage market
      • EU-wide rail safety
      • Safety rules and standards for passenger ships
      • Safer and less polluting equipment on EU ships

TAXATION
  •  Administrative cooperation
  •  Archived summaries
  •  Direct taxation
  •  Indirect taxation

INDIRECT TAXATION
  • Indirect taxes on raising capital
  • Charging of heavy goods vehicles: Eurovignette Directive
  •  Value-added tax (VAT)
    • Refunds to non-EEC taxable persons (13th VAT Directive)
    • Refund of VAT: taxable persons established in another EU country
    • Exemption from customs duties and other charges: Convention on Temporary Admission
    • Agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Norway on administrative cooperation in the field of value-added tax (VAT)
    • The EU’s common system of value added tax (VAT)
    • Exemption from VAT: final importation of goods
    • Value-added tax and excise duties — exemptions for travellers from outside the EU
  •  Excise duties
    • General arrangements for the holding and movement of products subject to excise duty
    • Excise duty on manufactured tobacco
    • EU rules for the taxation of energy products and electricity
    • EU rules for the taxation of alcohol
    • Fiscal marking of gas oils and kerosene
  •  Tax exemptions
    • Tax-free allowances: temporary importation of certain means of transport
    • Tax-free allowances: permanent imports of personal property


AGREEMENTS WITH NON-EU COUNTRIES
  •  North & West Africa
    • Pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin
    • Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Algeria
  •  Central and Southern Africa & Indian Ocean
    • ACP countries — economic partnership agreements and export arrangements
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and South Africa
    • Cotonou Agreement
    • EU cooperation with the ACP countries: 11th European Development Fund
  •  Latin America & the Caribbean
    • Bilateral framework agreements for cooperation with the Mercosur countries
    • EEC-Andean Community Cooperation Agreement
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Brazil
    • EU-Chile Association Agreement
    • EU Trade Agreement with Colombia, Peru and Ecuador
    • Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and Mercosur
    • EU-Chile agreement on trade in organic products
    • EU-Latin American and the Caribbean International Foundation
    • Imposition of EU sanctions to address the situation in Venezuela
    • Association Agreement between the EU and Central America
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Argentina
    • EU-Central America political dialogue and cooperation agreement
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Chile
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Mexico
    • Political dialogue and cooperation agreement with Cuba
    • EC-Mexico Global Cooperation Agreement
    • Container security: EU–US agreements
  •  North America
    • Agreements with Canada on customs matters
    • Agreement with the United States on mutual legal assistance
    • EU-US aviation agreements
    • EU–Canada mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • EU–United States of America mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • Agreement between the European Union and the United States on the transfer of financial messaging data
    • EU-US agreement on personal data protection
    • Agreement with the United States on extradition
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Canada
    • EU-US Agreement on Insurance and Reinsurance
    • EU-US agreement on airline passenger name record data
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and the United States
  •  Western Europe (non-EU)
    • EU and Iceland: clarification of certain rules relating to trade (safeguard measures)
    • Surrender procedure between EU countries and Iceland and Norway
    • Agreement on the European Economic Area
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Euratom and Norway
    • EU–Switzerland mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • Agreement between the EU and Switzerland on the greenhouse gas emissions trading system (ETS)
  •  Eastern Europe (non-EU)
    • EU Enlargement policy 2018
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo
    • Participation of Kosovo in EU programmes
    • Association Agreement with Ukraine
    • Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs): Russia, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia
    • EU–Russia partnership and cooperation agreement
    • Exceptional trade measures for countries and territories involved with the EU’s stabilisation and association process
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with North Macedonia
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Albania
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Montenegro
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia
    • Association Agreement with Moldova
    • Association Agreement with Georgia
    • Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina
  •  Western Asia
    • EU strategy for Syria
    • EU customs union with Turkey
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Egypt
    • Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Yemen
    • Scientific and technological cooperation with Jordan
    • Cooperation Agreement between the EEC and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
    • Partnership and cooperation agreement between the EU and Iraq
    • EU-Israel mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • Partnership Agreement with Armenia
  •  Southern Asia
    • EU-India customs agreement
    • Partnerships with countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
    • Agreement with Bangladesh on partnership and development
    • Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Vietnam
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and India
    • EU-Afghanistan: Cooperation agreement on partnership and development
  •  Eastern & South-eastern Asia
    • EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement
    • EU-Japan mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Philippines
    • Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore
    • Agreement with China on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and China
    • ITER: Euratom/Japan agreement on nuclear fusion
    • Customs Agreement with Japan
    • EU relations with China
    • Investment Protection Agreement between the EU and Singapore
    • Investment Protection Agreement between the EU and Vietnam
    • Partnership Agreement between the EU and Mongolia
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and South Korea
    • Economic partnership agreement between the EU and Japan
    • EU-China agreement on civil aviation safety
    • EU-Philippines Agreement on Air Services
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Japan
    • EU-Japan agreement on civil aviation safety
    • Agreement with the Republic of Korea
    • EU–Japan mutual legal assistance
    • EU-Republic of Korea free trade agreement
  •  Oceania
    • EU–New Zealand mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • EU–Australia mutual recognition agreement (MRA)
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Australia
    • Framework agreement EU-Australia
AGREEMENTS WITH NON-EU COUNTRIES - SECTORIAL AGREEMENTS
  •  Agreements — Free movement of persons
    • Agreement with the Swiss Confederation: free movement of persons
    • Readmission agreements between the EU and certain non-EU countries
    • Visa facilitation
  •  Agreements — Environment
    • Barcelona Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean
    • Conservation of Antarctic marine living resources
    • Bern Convention
    • Convention on Biological Diversity
    • ITER: Euratom/Japan agreement on nuclear fusion
    • International Dolphin Conservation Programme
    • Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
    • Helsinki Convention: preventing pollution in international watercourses and lakes
    • OSPAR Convention
    • The Energy Charter Treaty and Protocol
    • Convention for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean
    • Agreement between the EU and Switzerland on the greenhouse gas emissions trading system (ETS)
    • Convention on Biological Diversity — Cartagena protocol on biosafety
    • Climate change – Paris Agreement, ratified by EU
  •  Agreements — Trade
    • Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Singapore
    • EU and Iceland: clarification of certain rules relating to trade (safeguard measures)
    • Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with South Africa
    • Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Southern African Development Community countries
    • Association of the overseas countries and territories with the EU
    • EU cooperation with the ACP countries: 11th European Development Fund
    • EU Trade Agreement with Colombia, Peru and Ecuador
    • Exceptional trade measures for countries and territories involved with the EU’s stabilisation and association process
    • EU-Republic of Korea free trade agreement
  •  Agreements — Customs
    • Pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin
    • Agreements with Canada on customs matters
    • EU-India customs agreement
    • Agreement with China on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters
    • EU customs union with Turkey
    • Customs Agreement with Japan
    • Agreement with the Republic of Korea
    • Container security: EU–US agreements
  •  Agreements — Transport
    • Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF)
    • Montreal Convention on air carrier liability
    • Interbus Agreement: the international occasional carriage of passengers by coach and bus
    • EU-US aviation agreements
    • Air service agreements between EU and non-EU countries
    • EU–Moldova common aviation area agreement
    • Euro–Mediterranean aviation agreement between the EU and Jordan
    • EU–Georgia common aviation area agreement
    • Euro–Mediterranean aviation agreement between the EU and Israel
    • EU–Switzerland air transport agreement
    • EU–Canada air transport agreement
    • The Transport Community
    • Euro–Mediterranean aviation agreement between the EU and Morocco
    • EU-US agreement on airline passenger name record data
  •  Agreements — Science & technology
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and China
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Brazil
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and South Africa
    • Scientific and technological cooperation with Jordan
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Algeria
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Canada
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and South Korea
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and India
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Chile
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Japan
    • Scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and the United States
Sources: European Union, http://www.europa.eu/, 1995-2025, 

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