On 27 January 2025, the law deriving from draft Bill No. 7961 (“Law”) introducing significant changes to the laws governing the Register of Beneficial Owners (Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs (RBE)) and the Trade and Companies Register (Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés) was published in the Luxembourg official journal.
These changes align with the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 22 November 2022, aiming to balance transparency for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism purposes with enhanced privacy protections.
The European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass was published on 29 January 2025. It sets forth the European Commission’s priorities for the next five years with a clear ambition to make Europe a leader in future technologies, services, and clean products. The policy priorities are defined around three pillars: (i) Innovation, (ii) Decarbonization and (iii) Security.
The AI Act introduces a comprehensive legal framework for companies dealing with AI systems in the EU. From 2 February 2025, companies subject to the regulation must take steps to ensure AI literacy and ensure that no prohibited AI practices are used. Non-compliance could lead to substantial fines.
On 13 December 2024, the new “Regulation (EU) 2023/988 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on General Product Safety” (“GPSR”) came into force.
The GPSR repeals the General Product Safety Directive (2001) and introduces an updated regime to ensure product safety in light of evolving technologies and means of trade. As a regulation, the GPSR is directly applicable to all EU member states without the need for national transpositions.
Following the enactment of the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumer Act (DMCCA) in May 2024, the new UK digital markets competition regime and changes to the UK competition regime entered into force on 1 January 2025. This landmark legislation brings about significant changes to the UK antitrust regime including giving the Competition & Markets Authority the ability to regulate the technology sector, increased jurisdiction to review mergers, and stronger antitrust investigation powers.
On 4 December 2024, the Federal Cabinet adopted the comprehensive German National Circular Economy Strategy (NCES). The NCES bundles all of Germany’s goals and measures on the path to a holistic circular economy with the “Circularity Made in Germany” seal. The implementation of the NCES includes the following: The establishment of a circular economy platform involving all stakeholders; the development of a Roadmap 2030 to concretize the goals and measures formulated in the NCES; the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system as well as resolutions on financing. The initiative offers numerous opportunities for companies to make their business models and production processes more sustainable.
Belgium’s new Private Investigation Act (PIA) was published in the Official Gazette on 6 December 2024, with most of its provisions having entered into force on 16 December 2024. The PIA replaces the 1991 Belgian Act on Private Detectives with the aim of modernizing the applicable legal framework in light of new investigation methods and the application of the General Data Protection Regulation. With its broader scope of application – this legislation is now also applicable to internal investigations – and the significant additional requirements it imposes, the PIA will undoubtedly impact many businesses operating in Belgium.
Starting 1 January 2025, only citizens of Georgia and Armenia will be eligible for residence permits for the purpose of employment and guest worker residence permits. This marks a significant tightening of the previous rules, which allowed citizens of 10 countries to obtain guest worker residence permits and had no such restrictions for residence permits for the purpose of employment. Although these changes do not affect currently valid permits, the new rules will apply to all new permit issuances.
In an article published in Compliance & Risk Journal, Kim Sartin, Lauren French and Melissa Chan discuss the new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their workers in the course of their employment that came into force on 26 October 2024.
The European Accessibility Act is a directive aimed at improving the accessibility of products and services for people with disabilities across the European Union. It establishes common accessibility requirements for a wide range of products and services provided to consumers to ensure that people with disabilities have better access to digital and physical environments, thereby promoting their inclusion and participation in society.