Commission 2018 work programme includes proposal on fairness in platform-to-business relations and a new Deal for Consumers

The Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans presented the Commission Work Programme for 2018, entitled: An agenda for a more united, stronger and more democratic Europe”. Most measures were announced previously by Mr Juncker during the State of the Union speech in September.

FEDMA highlights the following in the Communication itself, on digital: The Commission has already tabled 24 legislative proposals to complete the Digital Single Market since May 2015. To date, only six of those proposals have been adopted by the co-legislators. The Commission states that the priority must now be to deliver on the pending proposals as swiftly as possible, notably on the Electronic Communications Code, the proposed copyright reform, and the Digital Content Directive. Europe needs reinforced cooperation on spectrum management with the aim of achieving world-class, very high-speed fixed and mobile networks (5G), and also increased coordinated availability of spectrum by 2020 under consistent regulatory and economic conditions. To help complete the Digital Single Market, the Commission aims to present a proposal on fairness in platform-to-business relations, an initiative on countering fake news and revised guidelines on significant market power in the electronic communications sector.

On Consumer law: The Commission will present a New Deal for Consumers to enhance judicial enforcement and out-of-court redress of consumer rights and facilitate coordination and effective action by national consumer authorities. In the Annex I – new initiatives.

It is important to note that the Commission will table all legislative proposals no later than May 2018. This will allow the European Parliament and Council the time and space to complete the legislative work before the preparatory work for the June 2019 European elections will kick off.