Page 59 - European Union

African Union to get full G20 membership; announcement likely during summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hosting the G20 summit, has made it a priority to grant the African Union full membership

India, EU ask WTO not to adopt ruling on ICT import duties till Dec 18

India and the European Union have again asked the WTO's dispute settlement body not to adopt a ruling against New Delhi's import duties on certain information and technology products till December 18 as both sides are engaged in bilateral talks to resolve the matter. Earlier, the two regions sought time till September 19 by making a similar request in June. The WTO's dispute settlement body (DSB) will meet on September 19 in which it would consider adopting a draft decision shared by India and the European Union (EU). "We consider that the draft DSB decision, if adopted, would facilitate the resolution of the dispute," according to a communication of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). For that meeting, they urged the DSB not to adopt the WTO's dispute settlement panel's ruling of April 17, which stated that India's import duties on certain information and technology products are inconsistent with the global trade norms. As per the rules of the WTO, the panel's ruling will have to

European Commission Prez Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Delhi for G20 meet

She was received at the airport by the Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Anupriya Singh Patel

Industry seeks govt intervention on data requirements for EU's carbon tax

Indian industry from sectors like steel has flagged its serious concerns over the 'burdensome' work of data reporting requirement to comply with the European Union's carbon tax decision and has urged the government to take up the matter with the EU, an official said. The issue was flagged in a meeting called by the commerce ministry on September 6. The government and industry held discussions on implementation issues regarding the European Union's move to impose carbon tax or carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Industry is of the view that the data sharing exercise is burdensome as the EU is seeking a lot of information. "Second, the industry also stated that the EU is also seeking commercially sensitive information. They want reduction in this reporting requirement. We discussed all those issues as to how that reporting will be done, we are trying to understand their problems," the official added. According to think tank GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava, CBAM imposes massive

Ukraine war will be main topic of discussion, says EU official ahead of G20

G20 is a major international grouping that brings together the world's major economies

EU targets Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft in digital crackdown

The European Union on Wednesday targeted Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies. The six companies were classed as online "gatekeepers" that must face the highest level of scrutiny under the 27-nation bloc's Digital Markets Act. The act amounts to a list of do's and don'ts that seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering new digital markets, with the threat of whopping fines or even the possibility of a company breakup. It's part of a sweeping update to the EU's digital rulebook that's starting to take force this year, and comes weeks after a companion package of rules aimed at keeping internet users safe, the Digital Services Act, started kicking in. It's "time to turn the tables and ensure that no online platform behaves as if it was too big to care,' European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who's in charge of the bloc's digital policy, said ahe

Govt meets steel industry to discuss readiness to comply EU's carbon tax

Top officers of government and industry representatives from the steel sector on Wednesday held discussions on implementation issues regarding the European Union's move to impose carbon tax, sources said. The meeting was called by the commerce ministry and was chaired by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal. Senior officials from ministries of Finance, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Power, Steel and Mines participated in the meeting besides the steel and engineering sector. They also said that India and the EU would soon decide on a schedule to discuss the matter during the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting. The meeting was a follow-up of a similar meeting held in May where the industry was asked to be ready for the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). The Wednesday's meeting comes amid the CBAM being implemented by the European Union (EU), which would have an adverse impact on India's exports of metals such as iron, steel and aluminium product

TVS Motor eyes European market with launch of new Apache RTR 310 bike

Priced at Rs 2.42 lakh, the bike has been positioned competitively considering its BMW counterpart costs Rs 2.85 lakh

Microsoft, Apple want Bing, iMessage off the EU's gatekeepers list: Details

Both Microsoft and Apple argue that their services are not large enough to justify the subjection to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA)

Big tech braces for EU's biggest clampdown on anti-competitive practices

Big Tech is bracing for the European Union's biggest ever clampdown on anti-competitive practices in the digital economy, potentially provoking a new wave of legal battles

UK Foreign Secretary to visit China today, will raise human rights issues

This is the first visit of a UK Foreign Secretary to China in over five years

EU Summit to discuss membership of Ukraine in October: EU Council President

He also recognised that the aspiring members need to adopt the "fundamental" EU values and called for full implementation of the rule of law in full respect of the EU's diversity

Awaiting India's response on setting up dispute settlement mechanism: EU

The European Union on Saturday said it is awaiting India's response to its proposal for setting up of a dedicated dispute settlement mechanism under the bilateral investment protection pact that is being negotiated along with an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) by the two sides. The EU's Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis told a small group of journalists that both sides are engaged in "intensive" negotiations on the proposed FTA and that "progress" has been made on various issues. But at the same time the top EU official, currently on a visit to India, noted that there is "still a lot of work ahead of us". Asked when the FTA can be sealed, he said the main focus has been on "substance over deadlines". To a question, Dombrovskis said there is no direct impact of New Delhi's trade ties with Moscow on the India-EU trade negotiations, adding: "In a sense, we do not see new topics emerging which could be obstacles for the FTA in this ...

Steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal seeks non-tariff barriers on imports from US, EU

Indian steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal wants the government to counter American tariffs and Europe's carbon tax with a similar levy, to level the playing field for companies like his

Govt fixes sugar exports quota at 5,841 tn for EU under TRQ scheme

India on Friday notified sugar exports of 5,841 tonnes to the European Union under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme for 2023-24 (October 2023 to September 2024). TRQ is a quota for a volume of exports that enters the European Union (EU) with relatively low tariffs. After the quota reaches its limit, a higher tariff is applicable to additional shipments. "The Director General of Foreign Trade hereby allocates quantity of 5,841 MT for export of sugar to EU from India under TRQ for the year 2023-24 (October 2023 to September 2024)," an official notification said. It said that a Certificate of Origin, if required, for preferential export of sugar to EU, shall be issued by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai on the recommendation of APEDA regarding the entity and quantity for which it is eligible. The quota will be operated by the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) as the implementing agency for the export of TRQ items to

Firefighters in Greece discover another body, death toll reaches 21

Authorities battling a major wildfire in northeastern Greece that has been described as the European Union's largest single recorded fire have recovered another body, the fire department said Friday, bringing the total death toll from wildfires in Greece this week to 21. The fire department said firefighters recovered the body of a man from the Dadia forest national park, which lies near the border with Turkey, on Thursday. Eighteen bodies were discovered Tuesday near a shack in an area near the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis and the body of one more person had been found Monday in a forest. In central Greece, a man was found dead Monday in a sheep pen after reportedly trying to save his livestock from an advancing wildfire. With no reports of missing people in northeastern Greece, authorities suspect the bodies found in the area are those of migrants who may have crossed into the country recently from the nearby border with Turkey. Greece's Disaster Victim Identification Team

PM Modi lays wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier, receives Guard of Honour

Beginning his official engagements during a day-long official visit to Greece, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Athens on Friday.Prime Minister Modi also received a guard of honour following the wreath-laying ceremony.PM Modi on Friday arrived in Greece for his maiden visit at the invitation of his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. At the Athens International Airport, PM Modi was received by Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.He received a rousing welcome upon his arrival at the Hotel Grande Bretagne with the Indian Community gathered at the hotel breaking out into chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai,' 'Modi, Modi.'The members of the Indian Community were ween waiving the tricolour and some of them were also beating drums to mark PM Modi's visit, the first Indian Prime Minister in the last 40 years to visit the country.At the hotel, PM Modi interacted with children and their parents. A little girl offered PM Modi a Greek headdress and

PM Modi lands in Greece amid chants of 'Bharat Mata ki jai', 'Modi, Modi'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome upon his arrival at the Hotel Grande Bretagne with chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai,' 'Modi, Modi'

As Europe cracks down on Big Tech, here are things that will change

Starting Friday, Europeans will see their online life change. People in the 27-nation European Union can alter some of what shows up when they search, scroll and share on the biggest social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Amazon. That's because Big Tech companies, most headquartered in the U.S., are now subject to a pioneering new set of EU digital regulations. The Digital Services Act aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content. Here are five things that will change when you sign on: YOU CAN TURN OFF AI-RECOMMENDED VIDEOS Automated recommendation systems decide, based on people's profiles, what they see in their feeds. Those can be switched off. Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, said users can opt out of its artificial intelligence ranking and recommendation systems that determine which Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories and search results to show. ..

PM Modi arrives in Greece on first prime ministerial visit in 40 years

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Greece on Friday for talks with the European country's top leadership to strengthen bilateral ties. Modi arrived here in the Greek capital from South Africa where he attended the 15th BRICS Summit and held bilateral meetings with several world leaders to further cement India's relations with those countries. Modi is here at the invitation of Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "I have the honour to be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Greece after 40 years," Modi had said. The last high-level visit to Greece took place in September 1983 when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi travelled to the country. India and Greece enjoy civilisational ties, which have strengthened in recent years through cooperation in areas like maritime transport, defence, trade and investments and people-to-people ties. Prime Minister Modi will hold talks with Prime Minister Mitsotakis to discuss ways to further deepen the relationship. He is also exp