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<span style="font-size:9pt">2</span>
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European Regional Bureau Newsletter: 29 June 2019 – 5 July 2019
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<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Internet Access</span>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: Western Balkans regional roaming agreement enters into force as of this week</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Western Balkans regional roaming agreement officially</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEX-19-3529_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">entered</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> into force on 1</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light';vertical-align:super">st</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> July, representing a significant drop in the prices that users from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will pay when roaming within the region.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">As a result of the agreement, consumers will see their calling costs become eight times cheaper, and costs for data dropping on average from €3/MB to €0.20/MB, said a Commission</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEX-19-3529_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">press release</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The agreement was initially</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4242_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">signed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> by the Western Balkan ministers on 4 April in Belgrade and was welcomed as an important signal of “tangible regional cooperation” in the region by Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Digital Society and Economy.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Spain: Curbing depopulation through access to Internet</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The European Commission shared more information this week about its plans to boost fast-speed WiFi in Spain.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Responding to a parliamentary question asked back in April 2019 by Spanish MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero, who recalled the work of the Spanish government in ensuring Internet access for rural areas to revitalise local economic activity and reverse the effects of depopulation, of which 53% of Spanish territory is at risk, the Commission recalled the funding support it has provided to 734 Spanish municipalities, each awarded 15,000 vouchers to install WiFi hotspots, through the WiFi4EU programme.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">According to MEP Rodríguez-Piñero (PSOE, S&D), currently 86.4% of Spanish households have access to the Internet according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), however, only 28.4% of rural areas have access to speeds above 100 Mbps, a gap that is due to the weak incentive for private companies to install the necessary fibre-optic cable.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Commission</span> <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/questions/reponses_qe/2019/001953/P8_RE(2019)001953_EN.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">answered</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> to the MEP earlier this week it remains committed to bridging the digital divide, and that in the next programming period, the EC will continue its support through the Connecting Europe Facility, the InvestEU Programme and Structural Funds to enhance digital connectivity at regional and rural level.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Newly appointed European top jobs and reshuffling Commission of portfolios</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">After three days of intense negotiations, the European Council agreed on Tuesday July 2</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light';vertical-align:super">nd</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> a package for the EU’s top jobs with the unexpected nomination of Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s Defence Minister, as European Commission President.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Other nominees include Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel (Renew Europe) who was voted by the Council’s members as their new president, replacing Donald Tusk; Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell (S&D) was nominated as the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, and Christine Lagarde (EPP), nominated President of the European Central Bank.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The European Parliament, which will have to validate this set of candidates, has appointed Italian Socialist David Sassoli, a former journalist and MEP, as President.</span> <p class="list_paragraph" style="text-align:justify" awml:style="List Paragraph">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: The European Parliament elects key digital posts</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The European Parliament has</span> <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sed/doc/news/flash/22641/List of committees_for CoP_rev3_en.pdf?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=8f89f043e6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_04_08_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-8f89f043e6-190379937"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">released</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> the full Committee membership list, with new faces like the former German Justice Minister Katarina Barley in the LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs), the German Pirate MEP Patrick Breyer in JURI (Legal Affairs).</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Other old faces like former Commissioner Andrus Ansip in the IMCO Committee (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) feature among the list of newcomers.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The EPP Group has been the first to release the</span> <a href="http://www2.eppgroup.eu/fr/press-release/EPP-Group-picks-speakers-for-Parliament's-committees"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">list</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> of Committee Coordinators, an influential position as it grants its holder the responsibility of whipping votes for their respective political group in the Committee. The EP’s other political groups are expected to announce their key posts before the end of July.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Eurojust and Europol have released their third joint</span> <a href="file:///C:\Users\Blanca\Downloads\common_challenges_in_combating_cybercrime_2018.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">report</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> addressing developments and common challenges in the fight against cybercrime.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The report classifies the challenges into five categories which include loss of data, loss of location, challenges associated with national legal frameworks, obstacles to international cooperation and challenges of public-private partnership.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The study concludes that electronic evidence will gain a prominent role in the future years. It also highlights how the borderless nature of cyberthreats requires a high level of coordination and specialisation amongst all parties involved, and it finally calls for an international comprehensive legal framework to face fundamental problems such as access to cloud data and encryption.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: European Commission releases country reports on Internet openness</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The European Commission published on 5 July the annual Country Reports from National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) on compliance with the provisions on open Internet.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">These papers serve as the basis for the European Regulators for Electronic Communications’ (BEREC) Report on the implementation of the Internet neutrality rules expected later this year.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Although not all reports are available in English, some interesting results</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=60715"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">includes</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> providers in the Netherlands now having a “better understanding of the requirements laid down in the net neutrality regulation”. Conversely, the Irish regulator points out that the absence of enforcement powers undermining the effect of the legislation in the country.</span> <p class="list_paragraph" style="text-align:justify" awml:style="List Paragraph">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">France: National Assembly adopt first draft of new hate speech law</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On 4 July, French MPs</span> <a href="http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/15/dossiers/lutte_contre_haine_internet"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">amended</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> the draft online hate speech law, setting it on course for a final vote on Tuesday next week before heading to the Senate.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">All amendments put forward by the government and Rapporteur Laetitia Avia were accepted, while some MPs raised concerns about the risks of bypassing judges in removing lawful content.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The new amendments would broaden the scope to include posts denying crimes against humanity, while also including a legal provision ensuring that illegal content deleted by platforms can be saved for one year for research or prosecution purposes.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Netherlands: Stricter 5G standards for telecom providers</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Dutch government</span> <a href="https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/brieven_regering/detail?id=2019Z13859&did=2019D28527"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> earlier this week in a note sent to the parliament that it will improve 5G security requirements for telecom providers to reduce risks of security bridges.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The note outlines that the government is releasing “additional security measures” later this year in an effort of making operators comply with stricter security rules.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Amongst the proposed measures: stricter requirements for providers of services or infrastructure relevant to “critical” parts of the telecoms network, and constant interlocution between the Dutch government and the telecoms operators in order to assess potential risks of hacking and espionage.</span> <p class="list_paragraph" style="text-align:justify" awml:style="List Paragraph">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Germany: Facebook fined €2 million for breaching hate speech law</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Federal Office for Justice (BfJ), a department of the German Justice Ministry,</span> <a href="https://www.bundesjustizamt.de/DE/Presse/Archiv/2019/20190702.html"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> earlier this week the imposition of a 2 million euros fine to Facebook for breaching the German’s Network Enforcement Act, a legal provision against illegal online content.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">According to the BfJ, the fine is the consequence of Facebook’s misleading</span> <a href="https://de.newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/07/facebook-veroeffentlicht-netzdg-transparenzbericht/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">2018 Transparency Report</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> content as the social media giant did not report on the real number of complaints about illegal content received.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The fine represents the first time an EU Member State sanctions an American social media giant for not being transparent about how it deals with hate speech.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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