The European Council has adopted a revision of the Single Permit Directive, which involves updating the 2011 Directive currently in force and aims to attract the skills and talent the Union needs and address the shortcomings in terms of legal migration in the EU.

It establishes the administrative procedure for a single permit for both the right to work and the right to reside in the European Union and establishes a common set of rights for third-country workers. This revision provides for a reduced application procedure and is intended to strengthen the rights of third-country workers by allowing for a change of job and a limited period without work.

Third-country workers may submit an application from the territory of a third country or, if they hold a valid residence permit, from within the Union. If a Member State decides to issue a single permit, this decision will serve as both a residence permit and a work permit.

The revised Single Permit Directive includes stricter deadlines for the decision to issue a permit, which must be processed within three months of receipt of the completed application. If Member States choose to check the labour market situation before deciding whether to grant the single permit (e.g., to assess the need for a third-country worker profile), this check must also be carried out during the same 90-day period. The time limit for a decision may exceptionally be extended for another 30 days in the case of complex applications.

The revision introduces the novelty that holders of the single permit will be able to change jobs. This change may be subject to notification to the authorities, with Member States being able to carry out a labour market check. In addition, the countries of the Union may require a minimum period during which the holder of the single permit is obliged to work for his or her first job.

The update also establishes rules that may apply in the event of unemployment of the single permit holder. In these cases, third-country workers are allowed to stay in the territory of the Member State if the total period of unemployment does not exceed three months during the period of validity of the single permit or six months after two years of permit.

Member States have two years to transpose the provisions of the directive into national law.

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The European Council has adopted a directive establishing a set of basic EU-wide rules on the tracing, identification, freezing, confiscation and management of criminal assets related to various crimes.

The directive should help Member States to be better prepared for the fight against organised crime and will also oblige EU countries to ensure that the authorities have the resources they need for their activities. The rules also apply to the violation of restrictive measures.

And according to data from Europol, criminal organisations accumulate revenues estimated to be at least 139 billion euros a year.

Member states must enable the freezing of assets, and, in the event of a final conviction, the confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds derived from a criminal offence. In addition, they will have to adopt rules that make it possible to confiscate assets of a value equivalent to that of the proceeds of crime.

Where such criminal assets or property have been transferred to a third party, it will also be possible to confiscate them if the third party in question knew or would have known that the purpose of the transfer or acquisition was to avoid confiscation.

The new rules will also allow member states to confiscate unexplained wealth when the assets are linked to criminal conduct within a criminal organisation and involve substantial financial gain.

With regard to asset recovery and management offices, the asset recovery offices in charge of cross-border cooperation will be strengthened. They will support national authorities and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in asset tracing investigations. To carry out these duties, the offices will have the relevant databases and registers.

Asset management offices will be designated by the member states and will either manage frozen or confiscated assets directly or support other competent agencies.

The new directive also provides for the sale of frozen goods if certain conditions are met, including prior to final confiscation, for example, in the case of perishable goods.

The directive must enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member states will have 30 months to transpose the provisions of the regulation into national legislation.

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To ensure a reliable and secure digital identity for all Europeans, the European Council has adopted a new framework for a European digital identity (eID). The adoption of the European digital identity regulation is a milestone in the digital transformation of society. Allowing citizens to have a unique secure European digital wallet, while maintaining full control of their personal data, is a key step forward for the European Union. It will set a global benchmark in the digital arena and improve security when engaging with online services.

By putting citizens at the centre, the European digital identity regulation contributes to significantly enhancing and simplifying access to online public services. In this way, citizens should not have to bear the burden of administrative and institutional complexity. The revised regulation represents a clear paradigm shift for digital identity in Europe. It seeks to guarantee that individuals and businesses across Europe have universal access to secure and reliable electronic identification and authentication.

Under the new regulation, member states will offer citizens and businesses digital wallets that will be able to link their state digital identities with evidence of other personal attributes (e.g., driver’s license, curriculum qualifications, bank account, etc.). Citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their digital wallet in a simple way, using only their mobile phone.

The new European digital identity wallets will allow all citizens to access online services with their national digital ID, which will be recognised throughout the European Union, without having to use private identification methods or share personal data unnecessarily. User control guarantees that only information that really needs to be shared is shared.

The main elements of the regulation can be summarised as follows:

– By 2026, each member state must make a digital identity wallet available to its citizens and accept those of other member states in accordance with the revised regulation.

– Sufficient safeguards have been included to prevent discrimination against any person who opts not to use the wallet, which will always be voluntary.

– The issuance, use and revocation will be free of charge for all individuals.

– Member States are obliged to provide free validation mechanisms only to verify the authenticity and validity of the wallet and the identity of the relying parties.

– The software components of the application will be open source, but Member States have leeway so that, for justified reasons, they do not have to disclose specific components other than those installed on users’ devices.

– Consistency has been ensured between the wallet as a form of eID and the scheme under which it is issued.

Finally, the revised regulation clarifies the scope of qualified website authentication certificates, which make sure that users can verify who is behind a website while preserving current, well-established industry security norms and standards. The regulation is expected to be fully implemented by 2026.

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Ambassadors of European Union member states (COREPER) have agreed their position on a regulation updating a mechanism that allows the EU to suspend visa-free travel by third countries whose nationals are exempt from visa requirements when travelling to the Schengen area.

This new law, when adopted, will enhance the Union’s ability to counter situations where visa-free travel is abused or where such travel is deemed to be against the interests of the European Union. While visa-free travel offers significant gains for the European economy, especially in the tourism and travel sectors, and is the cornerstone of social and cultural exchanges, it can also be a source of problems due to migration and security challenges.

Under this updated mechanism, the EU will have the following grounds for suspending the visa-free travel regime:

• The non-alignment of a visa-free third country with the EU visa policy, where this may lead to an increase in arrivals to EU territory. This could be because of the geographical proximity of that country to the EU.
• The operation of an investor citizenship scheme, whereby citizenship is granted without any real link to the third country in question, in exchange for predetermined payments or investments.
• Hybrid threats and deficiencies in legislation or document security procedures.

Member States have also decided to include the possibility of suspending the visa-free regime in the event of a significant and sharp deterioration in the EU’s external relations with a third country, in particular when it concerns human rights and fundamental freedoms.

However, the following grounds, which currently exist, will continue to be maintained:

• A substantial increase in the number of third-country nationals who are refused entry or who are deemed to have overstayed.
• A substantial increase in the number of unfounded asylum applications from third country nationals for which the recognition rate is low.
• A decrease in cooperation with the European Union in the readmission of people who have been asked to leave the territory of the Union and an imminent risk or threat to public order or internal security (e.g. due to an increase in crime).
• Non-compliance with visa liberalisation criteria by partners who have gone through a liberalisation dialogue to become visa-free – now the new regulation will be clearer.

The duration of the temporary suspension of the visa waiver has been increased from 9 to 12 months and can be extended for an additional 24 months (instead of 18 months under the current system). During this suspension phase, the European Commission will open a dialogue with the third country to take measures to remedy the circumstances that led to the suspension. If no solution is found to remedy the situation, the European Union may decide to revoke the visa-free travel regime permanently.

The reference period for identifying the existence of circumstances that may give rise to a suspension has also been modified to cover at least two months. This will allow longer reference periods (e.g., annual trends) to be taken into account, not just sudden changes in relevant circumstances.

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In order to ensure safer road traffic throughout Europe, the presidency of the Council and the negotiators of the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a proposal amending the 2015 directive on cross-border exchange of information regarding traffic offences. The revised directive seeks to ensure that non-resident drivers respect traffic rules when driving on the roads of other EU Member States. The new legislation is part of the so-called ‘road safety legislative package’.

Although the general thrust of the Commission’s proposal has been maintained in the provisional agreement, the co-legislators introduced several changes, with the main objective of clarifying the scope and definitions of the provision. These changes involve:

• Introducing the concept of ‘person concerned’ and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of national contact points and competent authorities.

• Adding more infractions to the revised legislation, such as cases of non-compliance with vehicle access restrictions, or rules at a railroad level-crossing, crossing a solid line, dangerous overtaking or parking, erratic driving, use of overloaded vehicles, as well as cases of being run over.

• Further clarification of the different procedures related to accessing vehicle registration data and the different options for competent authorities to request mutual assistance to ensure that the person concerned is identified and that the traffic violation notice reaches the correct place within a reasonable amount of time.

• Ensuring the protection of the fundamental rights of the driver or any other person concerned, including the establishment of a clear framework to prohibit any abuse by private entities involved in processing road safety traffic violations, and better mechanisms for road safety with respect to the protection of personal data.

The provisional agreement must now be approved by the Council and the European Parliament, prior to formal adoption of the revised directive. The Belgian presidency of the Council intends to submit the compromise text to the representatives of the Member States (COREPER) for approval as soon as possible.

Once approved, the text must undergo a legal and linguistic review before being formally adopted by both co-legislators, must be published in the EU Official Journal and will enter into force 20 days after this publication. Member States will have 30 months to transpose the provisions of the revised directive into their national legislation.

In its EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030, the Commission recommitted to the ambitious target of approaching zero fatalities and zero serious injuries on EU roads by 2050, as well as to the medium-term goal of reducing fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2030. However, road fatalities increased by 4% last year compared to 2021, according to the latest data from the Commission. It is still 9% below the pre-pandemic level, but the rate of improvement is not sufficient to achieve the above-mentioned objectives.

The proposal in question is part of the road safety package, adopted by the Commission on 1st March 2023, which also includes a new driving license regime and a new proposal on driver disqualifications, where a disqualification in one Member State entails action by the Member State that issued the driving license.

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To strengthen the EU’s solidarity and capabilities to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents, and to improve its cyber resilience, the presidency of the Council and the negotiators of the European Parliament have reached an agreement on the so-called cybersolidarity act, as well as on a specific modification of the cybersecurity act.

These agreements set new goals for Europe’s cyber resilience. These rules will bolster the EU and Member States’ capabilities to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from large-scale cyber threats or incidents. In addition to creating the possibility of certifying managed security services, it will help ensure a high common level of these cybersecurity services across the EU, facilitating their cross-border provision for the benefit of European citizens and businesses.

The new regulation sets out the EU’s capabilities to make Europe more resilient and reactive to cyber threats, while strengthening cooperation mechanisms. Its main objectives are:

• To support detection and awareness of significant or large-scale cybersecurity threats and incidents.
• To strengthen the preparedness of critical entities and essential services, such as hospitals and utilities, and protect them.
• To boost solidarity at the EU level, concerted crisis management and response capabilities among Member States.
• To contribute to ensuring a secure digital landscape for citizens and businesses.

With the aim of detecting major cyber threats quickly and effectively, the new regulation establishes a cybersecurity alert system, which is a pan-European infrastructure consisting of national and cross-border cyber hubs across the EU. These hubs are entities in charge of sharing information and detecting and acting on cyber threats. They need to strengthen the existing European framework, and, in turn, the relevant authorities and entities will be able to provide a more efficient and effective response to major incidents.

The new regulation also provides for the creation of a cybersecurity emergency mechanism to increase preparedness and improve incident response capabilities in the EU. It will support:

• Preparedness actions, including testing entities in highly critical sectors (healthcare, transport, energy, etc.) for potential vulnerabilities based on common risk scenarios and methodologies.
• A new EU cybersecurity reserve consisting of private sector incident response services ready to intervene at the request of a Member State or EU institutions, bodies and agencies, as well as third country partners in the event of a major or large-scale cybersecurity incident.
• Mutual assistance in financial terms.

Finally, the new law sets up an evaluation and review mechanism to assess, among others, the effectiveness of actions under the cyber emergency mechanism and the use of the cybersecurity reserve, as well as the contribution of these regulations in strengthening the competitive position of companies, industry and services.

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The European Council has adopted a new regulation on measures with a high level of public sector interoperability across the EU (Interoperable Europe Act), with the aim of creating a network of interconnected digital public administrations and accelerating digital transformation.

The aim of the regulation is to establish a new cooperation framework for EU public administrations to ensure the perfect delivery of public services across borders and provide for support measures that promote innovation and improve the exchange of skills and knowledge.

It also enables the creation of an ecosystem of shared interoperability solutions for the EU public sector, particularly through the establishment of regulators. In this way, administrations can contribute and reuse these solutions, innovate and create added value.

The main elements of the new regulations are summarised as follows:

• Concept and definition of “trans-European digital public services” according to the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

• Provisions guaranteeing a structured EU cooperation that frames the projects shared by public administrations and member states, as well as regions and cities.

• A multilevel governance framework led by the “Interoperable Europe” portal, which is the core of the new structure created by the regulation.

• Possibility of sharing and reusing interoperability solutions, driven by a one-stop shop for solutions and community cooperation – Interoperable Europe portal – together with measures to promote innovation and improve the exchange of skills and knowledge.

• Main objectives and conditions of the mandatory interoperability assessment, in accordance with the principle of proportionality to avoid overburdening national and local administrations.

• Consistency with the provisions of the Artificial Intelligence Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, with regard to the establishment of and participation in interoperability regulators.

In recent years, digital governments and data experts have developed common practices of broad interoperability cooperation based on the current European Interoperability Framework (EIF).

The EIF is the widely recognised conceptual model for interoperability in Europe. However, recent evaluations have revealed serious limitations of this totally voluntary approach to cooperation.

EU Member States have increasingly stressed the need to strengthen European cooperation on interoperability. The ministerial declarations signed in 2017 in Tallinn and in 2020 in Berlin, among others, attest to this need. Consequently, to address these needs, the Commission adopted the proposal for an “Interoperable Europe Act” on 18 November 2022.

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To ensure safer sea voyages in Europe, the presidency of the Council and the negotiators of the European Parliament reached an agreement to revise the 2009 directive on the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector. The new legislation is part of the so-called ‘maritime safety legislative package’.

The aim of the revised directive is to simplify and clarify the existing regime governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector. Extending its scope to include smaller fishing vessels, along with other changes related to these vessels in the guidelines related to port state control, may improve the safety of fishing vessels in European waters. The new directive seeks to:

– Improve the protection of fishing vessels, their crews and the environment, with fishing vessels less than 15 metres in length now included within the scope of the directive, meaning that accidents involving fatalities and loss of vessels will be investigated in a systematic and harmonised way.

– Clarify definitions and legal provisions for accident investigation bodies in the Member States to investigate all accidents to be investigated in a timely and harmonised manner.

– Improve the ability of accident investigation agencies to conduct accident investigations and report accidents in a timely, expert and independent manner.

– Update various definitions and references to EU legislation and regulations to ensure clarity and consistency.

The co-legislators have introduced several amendments to the Commission’s proposal, with the main objective of enabling accident investigation bodies to conduct accident investigations in a harmonised way across the EU and making the rules clearer and more consistent with international standards. More specifically, the provisional agreement covers, among others, the following aspects:

– Alignment with the casualty investigation code on the obligation to inform the maritime safety authorities if the accident investigation body suspects that a crime has been committed.

– A voluntary approach to the quality management system for national investigation authorities accompanied by a guide for its implementation.

– The introduction of a 2-month period for preliminary assessment in case of accidents involving smaller fishing vessels.

Overall, the revised directive strikes a difficult balance between, on the one hand, the need to ensure a high level of maritime transport and, on the other hand, the need to safeguard the competitiveness of the European maritime sector while maintaining reasonable costs for operators and Member State administrations.

The provisional agreement must be endorsed by both co-legislators before the final approval of the legislative act. Member States will have 30 months after the entry into force of the revised directive to transpose its provisions into their national legislation.

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The Belgian presidency of the European Council and the European Parliament have agreed on the first European Union directive on violence against women and domestic violence. The new law establishes minimum standards for the definition of specific criminal offences and sanctions toaddress these forms of violence. It also establishes the rights of victims of all forms of violence against women or domestic violence and provides for their protection.

Sexual violence, domestic violence, street harassment or online abuse are daily threats for many women in Europe. In addition, women often pay with their lives for relationship breakups. Even forced marriages and genital mutilation have not been completely eradicated from our society.

The new regulation provides for the criminalisation of the following offences throughout the Union:

• Female genital mutilation
• Forced marriage
• Non-consensual exchange or dissemination of intimate images
• Cyber harassment
• Incitement to hatred or violence online

Once approved, the new directive will establish common rules on the definition of these offences and related penalties.

The regulation will also introduce aggravating circumstances, such as the repeated exercise of violence against women, the commission of an act of violence against a vulnerable person or a minor and the use of extreme levels of violence.

The new law will also facilitate access to justice for the victims of these crimes and oblige Member States to provide an adequate level of protection and specialised support.

Member States should ensure, for example, that victims can report acts of violence against women or domestic violence through accessible and user-friendly channels, including the possibility of online reporting, as well as submitting evidence online, at least for cybercrimes.

Moreover, when children are victims of these offences, EU countries will have to ensure that they receive assistance from professionals trained to work with minors. And if the act of violence involves the holder of parental responsibility, the complaint should not be conditioned on that person’s consent. In fact, the authorities will first have to take measures to protect the child’s safety before this person is informed of the complaint.

Likewise, when a victim of sexual or domestic violence first comes into contact with an authority, the risk posed by the perpetrator or suspect should be assessed. On this basis, the authorities will have to provide appropriate protective measures. These measures may include exclusion and restraining orders or emergency protection.

To protect the victim’s privacy and avoid repeat victimisation, Member States should also ensure that evidence relating to the victim’s past sexual conduct is only allowed in criminal proceedings when relevant and necessary.

Finally, the directive provides that victims will be entitled to claim full compensation from offenders for damages arising from the crime of violence against women or domestic violence. Victims should also be able to obtain compensation in the context of criminal proceedings, where appropriate.

The Council Presidency and the EU Parliament agreed that EU countries should take appropriate measures, such as awareness campaigns, to prevent violence against women and domestic violence. These preventive measures are aimed at raising awareness and social understanding of the different manifestations and causes of all these forms of violence, as well as challenging harmful gender stereotypes and promoting gender equality.

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The European Council and representatives of the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to add forced marriage, illegal adoption and surrogacy as types of exploitation included in the European Union’s anti-trafficking law.

The update of the directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings will also require EU countries to ensure that people who knowingly use services provided by victims of trafficking can face different types of sanctions. Other amendments relate to strengthening victim support and assistance, as well as crime prevention measures.

Negotiators from the Council and the European Parliament agreed to explicitly mention in the directive that surrogacy, forced marriage and illegal adoption are types of exploitation that fall within the scope of the definition of trafficking. The fight against trafficking for the exploitation of surrogacy, which is when a woman agrees to give birth to a child on behalf of another person or couple to become the parents of the child after birth, will target those who coerce or trick women into acting as surrogate mothers.

The inclusion of these forms of trafficking in EU anti-trafficking law will take into account the prevalence and relevance of these forms of exploitation.

As in the current directive, the new forms of exploitation will be punishable by a maximum penalty of at least five years’ imprisonment, or ten years’ imprisonment in aggravated cases.

The Council and EU Parliament have also decided to include a new aggravating circumstance to the law to account for the amplifying effect that information and communication technologies can have on this crime. This includes the fact that the aggressor has facilitated the dissemination, through new technologies, of images, videos or similar material of a sexual nature involving the victim.

Penalties for legal persons, such as companies responsible for human trafficking offences, will also be intensified. From now on they will be excluded from access to public funding, including bidding procedures, subsidies, concessions and licenses, and the withdrawal of permits and authorizations for the exercise of activities that have given rise to committing the offence.

The agreement between the Council and the European Parliament foresees that Member States will have to make it a criminal offence if a person using the service provided by a victim of trafficking knows that the person is a victim. In such cases, Member States shall ensure that this offence is punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. Under current law, Member States should only consider the use of services of persons exploited by human traffickers as a crime.

In 2011, the EU adopted a directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting the victims of this crime. This is a key instrument in the fight against human trafficking, as it establishes minimum standards for the definition of criminal offences and penalties. It also includes Union-wide standards to strengthen prevention and victim protection.

According to data from the European Commission, sexual and labour exploitation are the main purposes of human trafficking. However, begging or organ removal – already explicitly mentioned in the 2011 directive – and forced marriage and illegal adoption, which are not explicitly mentioned, currently account for 11% of all victims in the EU in 2020.

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