February 2020

Contents

- SPOTLIGHT OF THE MONTH           

·         E-commerce  

- Council adopts new rules for exchange of VAT payment data           

·         Financial information 

- EU Commission consultation on the review of the regulatory framework for investment firms and market operators           

·         Anti-Money Laundering          

- FEBIS will consult its members on the transposition of AML and access to Beneficial Owners’ data 

·         Sustainable Finance  

- Commission launches public consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive           

·         E-privacy       

- New compromise from the Croatian Presidency (Council)

·         GDPR

 

 

The European Commission unveiled mid-February 2020 its long -awaited EU Data Strategy, together with the expected plan on Artificial Intelligence.

Both proposals insist on the importance of enabling better data access and data sharing, not only regarding public sector data (PSI or G2B) but also about private data sharing with public bodies (B2G) or between businesses themselves (B2B).

The EU Data Strategy also puts a clear focus on fair competitive level environment and on enabling better data sharing and support for EU data. It opens new possibilities for enhanced data access and sharing for several businesses including FEBIS Members.

You can access the texts and get more information on the whole process here.

The White Paper on Artificial Intelligence is now open for public consultation until 19 May 2020. The Commission is also gathering feedback on its data strategy.

Considering the input received, the Commission will take further action to support the development of trustworthy AI and the data economy.

FEBIS Regulatory Committee will work on a contribution to this important piece of legislation.

 

Council adopts new rules for exchange of VAT payment data

 

The new rules enable Member States to collect, in a harmonised way, the records made electronically available by payment service providers, such as banks. In addition, a new central electronic system will be set up for the storage of the payment information and for the further processing of this information by national anti-fraud officials.

Concretely, this set of new rules consists of two legislative texts:

•          amendments to the VAT directive putting in place requirements on payment service providers to keep records of cross-border payments related to e-commerce. This data will then be made available to national tax authorities under strict conditions, including those related to data protection. At the moment, only tax authorities are allowed to access this information.

•          amendments to a regulation on administrative cooperation in the area of VAT. These amendments set out the details of how national tax authorities will cooperate in this area to detect VAT fraud and control compliance with VAT obligations.

The texts complement the VAT regulatory framework for e-commerce coming into force in January 2021, which introduced new VAT obligations for online marketplaces and simplified VAT compliance rules for online businesses. The new measures will apply as of 1 January 2024.

EU Commission consultation on the review of the regulatory framework for investment firms and market operators

 

All companies, both small and large, need access to the capital markets. This entails that the regulatory regime for financial markets and financial services is fit for the new digital area and ensures that wholesale markets work optimal to the benefit of retail clients. Its review aims to ensure that European Union’s stock and bond markets work for the people. Measures envisaged include the creation of a consolidated tape, enabling commodity markets and tackling information requirements.

The consultation runs until 20.04.2020 and is available here

FEBIS will consult its members on the transposition of AML and access to Beneficial Owners’ data

 

The 5th Anti-Money Laundering directive has been adopted in 2018 by the EU and Member States had until 10th January 2020 to transpose it.

 The 5th AML extends the transparency requirements and especially the information on beneficial owners, which is to become more open under article 30 of the 5th AML.

 FEBIS will therefore very soon run a consultation among its members to assess how the provisions of the 5th AML on Beneficial Owners have been transposed by Member States, in order to assess the increased transparency possibilities.

 

Commission launches public consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive

 

The Commission has launched a public consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). This Directive requires certain large companies to include a non-financial statement (e.g. on environmental or social issues) as part of their annual public reporting obligations. The main focus of this consultation is to collect views from across the EU on different possible reforms or improvements that could be made to the Directive. As set out in the European Green Deal Communication and the European Green Deal Investment Plan, the European Commission has committed to reviewing the NFRD in 2020 as part of its strategy to strengthen sustainable investment in Europe. Meeting the objectives of the European Green Deal will require additional investments across all sectors of the economy, the bulk of which will need to come from the private sector.

Reviewing this Directive is, therefore, an essential part of the Commission's effort to scale up sustainable finance by improving corporate transparency and providing all stakeholders with more comparable and relevant information on sustainable business activities.

The feedback from the public consultation will feed into the Commission's impact assessment on the review of the Directive. 

Respondents are encouraged to provide as much evidence as possible. The consultation will remain open until 28 April 2020.

New compromise from the Croatian Presidency (Council)

 

The Croatian Presidency unveiled its first draft compromise on the e-privacy regulation here. 

 

It touches mainly articles 6 to 8 and the most important point is the will to increase the weight of legitimate interest as a lawful basis for processing of metadata and also possible for cookies for media providers, provided legitimate interest respect GDPR and does not concern sensitive data.  Also, it could not be used as a basis for profiling, this needs to rely on consent.

The compromise does not tackle article 16 on commercial communications and direct marketing.

 

The next meetings of the Council Working Group are scheduled for March 5 and March 12.

 

 

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has unveiled its report on the review of GDPR on 18 February 2020. Its major conclusions are that GDPR does not need a revision and that member states should work on implementation and on allocating more resources to national data protection authorities. More information on the EDPB website here.