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