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24 November 2020

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Safecall and Beyond Governance team up to co author a whitepaper explaining what the new EU Whistleblowing Directive is andhow it effects business' within the EU and UK.

On October 7th 2019 the Council of the EU formally adopted a setof principals intended to set a minimum standard of protection forwhistleblowers across all EU member states.

At a high-level, member states must;

Member states have until December 2021 to adopt the new rulesinto their national legislation. The precise implementation ofthese rules will vary between member states. 10 of the 27 memberstates, and indeed the UK, already have some whistleblowerprotections within their national legislation, and some memberstates may choose to further enhance protections forwhistleblowers.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Employment and HR from European Union

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EU Whistleblowing Directive - Employment and HR - European Union - Mondaq News Alerts

The European Union will seek a sweeping overhaul of key patents that have fueled court battles between car makers and technology companies, the EUs technology chief said Wednesday.

Margrethe Vestager said regulators will consider reforms to further improve the framework in place for standard-essential patents and work on industry-led initiatives to reduce frictions and litigation that has dogged industries such as cars seeking to add communications technology, she told a Wednesday press conference.

The EU move could help resolve lengthy legal battles, such as Nokia Oyjs effort to get Daimler AG to pay more for mobile technology used in cars. Companies often seek court help to determine whether certain technology patents are valid and how much should be paid for licensing technology seen as essential for an industry. The EU has often been asked to weigh in on how much is fair for key technology.

Read more | First EU citizens may be vaccinated against Covid-19 by December end

Theres quite a lot of litigation back and forth and in the short-term we would want to push for industry to figure out how to set up foras to enable discussions and mediation so that maybe to a bigger degree it can be solved out of court, Vestager said.

The current system to set up so-called standard essential patents deemed key to certain technology is not very transparent, she said. This is why we will consider a very close consultation with anyone involved whether we should set up a third-party essential reality check so someone outside of your business can rule on whether a parent is really important or not.

Its important that there be broad agreement in an industry on the right patents for an essential patent instead of many, she said.

Read the original post:
EU seeks overhaul of key patents to ease technology court fights - Hindustan Times

In the past ten years, the number of forcibly displaced people has nearly doubled. In 2019, the number of peopleforced to flee (inside and beyond the borders) grew to 79.5 million the highest ever recorded. Refugee situationscontinue to increase in scope, scale and complexity, whereas durable solutions provided to refugees are at levels that fall well below needs.

The Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways translates the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) into a global plan for action to build the structures to increase the number of resettlement and complementary pathways places. It also seeks to expand the number of engaged countries and improve the availability and predictability of third country solutions for refugees. The Strategy foresees resettlement of one million refugees and admission of two million through complementary pathways by 2028. More specifically, the Strategy calls for an incremental increase of 10,000 resettlement admissions per year. The global resettlement admissions target was set at 70,000 refugees for 2020 and at 80,000 for 2021. It will be reaching 150,000 refugees by 2028.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a serious impact with border closure and travel restrictions and placed a significant obstacle in securing third country solutions for refugees in 2020. The pandemics toll on European countries has been significant. Despite the major challenges caused by COVID-19, EU Member States remained engaged with UNHCR to find ways to keep resettlement programmes running: scores of refugees with emergency protection needs have been able to depart for resettlement; and innovative modalities have been adopted to maintain resettlement processing. UNHCR welcomes the support and assistance provided by EU Member States and local communities to refugees.

With the resumptions of travel and admissions since June 2020, UNHCR stands ready to support States in their efforts. UNHCR is very pleased to see several arrivals to EU countries, including from the Niger Emergency Transit Mechanisms and calls on countries to assist and expedite departures in order to continue evacuations from Libya.

UNHCR welcomes the Pact on Migration and Asylum and looks forward to working with Member States and the EU. The Pact is a foundation for growing resettlement and complementary pathways in 2021 and beyond in reflection of the goals of the Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.

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UNHCR Recommendations to the European Union: Resettlement Needs and Key Priorities for 2021, October 2020 - World - ReliefWeb

The Ambassador of the European Union in Ecuador Charles-Michel Geurts says that the consulates of the Schengen Member Countries are working to extend the validity of visas issued to Ecuadorians from two to four years.

In an interview for El Comercio, Ambassador Geurts talked about several issued regarding EU and Ecuador, including the possible abolishment of the visa regime for Ecuadorians, now that Ecuador issues biometric passports to its citizens.

Ecuador is following the necessary steps, including the implementation of the biometric passport that will be a necessary requirement at the time when processing starts, he noted regarding the requirements that Ecuador needs to meet in order for it to achieve a visa liberalization agreement with the EU.

On the other hand, as a transitory measure, work is being done with the consulates of the Member States to extend the duration of the visas (from 2 to 4 years) so that they have multiple entries, he added as per the validity of Schengen Visas issued to Ecuadorian passport holders.

The South American country has recently requested for visa-free regime for its citizens more frequently.

Only last week, Ecuadors Foreign Minister Luis Gallegos Chiriboya held a virtual meeting with the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johnson during which meeting was also discussed the issue of visa liberalization for Ecuador.

Minister Luis Gallegos Chiriboya held a virtual meeting with Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for the Interior of the European Union, where he presented Ecuadors request to this bloc for the exemption of the short-term visa in the Schengen area, the MFA said in a tweet in their official Twitter account.

According to the MFA, throughout the meeting, the Minister informed Commissioner Johnson that Ecuador is complying with the necessary requirements to reach an agreement, including the issuance of biometric passports to Ecuadorian citizens, which began on September 14.

Both, the Commissioner and the Minister agreed by the end of the meeting that the EU and Ecuador should work on the advancement of this process, while always taking into account the evolution of the Coronavirus pandemic and the obstacles that come with it.

Ecuador had hoped they could travel visa-free to the Schengen Area by mid-2020, but the country has yet to meet the criteria set by the EU. The Foreign Ministry hopes that the criteria will be met by 2021 so that Ecuadorians can travel visa-free later on the same year.

The visa liberalization may be a bit more complicated to be achieved than what the Ecuadorian authorities describe it to be. Aside from meeting all requirements, the Schengen Members must agree on granting Ecuador with visa-free entry by the end of the process, which may slow things down.

In the case of Kosovo, which has met all criteria in July 2018, the Schengen Members France and the Netherlands havent agreed to permit Kosovars to enter the territory visa-free, so the process has been put at a halt for almost three years now.

Go here to read the rest:
EU Ambassador in Ecuador: EU Is Working to Extend Validity of Schengen Visas From 2 to 4 Years - SchengenVisaInfo.com

There was a sense of optimism about the European Union's relationship with the African continent in March 2020 when EU development commissioner Jutta Urpilainen and EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced their new Africa Strategy.

"The European Union is Africa's first partner by all accounts: trade, investment, development, cooperation, security. We want this to remain, to scale it further and make it even more efficient," Borrell told journalists.

2020 was expected to be a crucial year for the two continents to develop their relationship.

The new strategy announcement was seen as acurtain-raiser with the a planned AU-EU summit rounding off the year.

In March, there were high hopes when Josep Borrell and Jutta Urpilainen announced the EU's new Africa-strategy

In October 2020, the heads of state from 55 African Union and 27 EU nations and their delegations were supposed to celebratethe new partnership at a summit in Brussels.

In addition, a successor to the Cotonou Agreement, which regulates economic relations between the EU and more than 70 former colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region, was to be hammered out.

Read more:EU begins tricky negotiations with developing states

With Germany holding the EU Council presidency from July to December, the country was expected to play a decisive role.

"Africa is an important aspect of our foreign policy," promised German ChancellorAngela Merkel during a keynote speech in May.

Things turned out differently than expected, though.

The EU-Africa summit has been postponed to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, while a proposition for a virtual meet-up failed to find support.

The new Africa strategy still hasn't been approved by EU member states.

And a replacement for the Cotonou Agreement, which expires in December 2020, is nowhere in sight.

"The EU is very much preoccupied with itself partly due to the COVID-19 crisis," says Mathias Mogge from VENRO, an umbrella organization for development NGOs in Germany."Partnerships with Africa have since faded into the background."

Read more:EU is silent on West Africa's political crises

But it's not just the Europeans who are pulling the hand brake. African nations are also frustrated with the current relationship with Europe.

"Relations between Europe and Africa were never fair. Despite terms like 'international cooperation,'it's an unequal exchange where Europe plays the role of a mentor and Africa plays the role of a school pupil," says Nigerian researcher Lynda Iroulo from the German-based GIGA Institute of African Affairs.

Those working for civil society in Africa have a similar view. According to a recent VENRO poll of 221 employees from various African NGOs, half of them said cooperation with Europe "does not work well"or "not at all."

Economic relations are a major point of dispute. With 31% of exports and 29% of imports, the EU is an important trading partner for Africa.

But the relationship is extremely unequal. European states import mainly raw materials from Africa while exporting valuable manufactured goods to the continent. African economies barely stand a chance of escaping a vicious dependence cycle.

"This lopsided structure doesn't help eliminate the continent's problems like high unemployment ratesand a large informal sector," says Robert Kappel, a political scientist focusing on Africa.

Migration is another hotly contested topic. The EU routinely pressures African countries to secure their borders to stem the influx of irregular migrants crossing into Europe. Those who do so are rewarded with hefty sums of money from Europe.

It's difficult for most Africans to legally migrateto Europeunless they belong to specific professional groups desperately needed by Europe.

"African governments are certainly not satisfied with this," Ghanaian migration expert Stephen Adaawentold DW last year.

Well-educated Africanreturnees are important for developing local economies. In addition, governments benefit from the remittances sent by citizens living abroad, Adaawen pointed out.

Also, the EU's new Africa Strategy has failed to draw much interest. The EU wants to work more closelywith Africa in five key areas: green transition, digital transformation, sustainable growth and jobs, peace and governance, and migration and mobility.

But, says Mathias Mogge von VENRO, the strategy is one-sided.

The last EU-Africa summit took place in Ivory Coast in 2017

"We would like to develop such strategies with the African Union, and African and European civil society. That way, it wouldn't look as if the EU was dictating something that Africans have to react to," he says.

Whether 2021 will now become the crucial year for EU-Africa relations depends on whether the planned AU-EU summit takes place early in the year.

Critically, leaders on both continents need to agree on the summit's objectives.

"Relations between Europe and Africa can't continue as is," says political scientist Kappel. "A completely new start is needed."

See the original post:
Africa-Europe relations: 2020 was a lost year - DW (English)