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Today, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published an Opinion on non-life cross-border insurance business of a long-term nature and its supervision. The Opinion is addressed to National Competent Authorities (NCAs) and outlines EIOPA’s expectations on the calculation of technical provisions and the governance for cross-border business.

The objective of this Opinion is to ensure the appropriate application of the legal requirements and consistent supervisory practices with regards to the calculation of technical provisions and quantitative information on non-life long-term business with distinctive features or a high degree of local specificities.

Press Release

1 February 2019 will be a milestone in the EU-Japan relationship.

On that date, the economic partnership agreement (EPA) will become effective, creating an open trading area covering over 600 million people and almost one third of the world’s total GDP.

Today, the EU and Japan notified each other of the completion of their respective ratification procedures. As a final step on the EU side, the Council adopted yesterday a decision on the conclusion of the EPA.

Japan also notified the EU of the completion of its ratification process for the strategic partnership agreement (SPA). On the basis of this notification, a large part of the SPA will be applied on a provisional basis, also as of 1 February 2019. The agreement will formally enter into force once it has been ratified by all EU member states.

Both agreements were signed at the EU-Japan summit on 17 July 2018.

Economic partnership agreement

The EPA is the biggest trade agreement concluded to date by the EU. 99% of the tariffs applied on EU exports to Japan, which currently amount to about €1 billion, will be removed.

The agreement will create new opportunities for EU agricultural exports, removing the existing Japanese tariffs on products such as cheeses or wines, while protecting EU intellectual property rights on Japanese markets. It will also open up services markets and significantly increase EU companies’ access to Japan’s procurement bids.

The EPA is based on the highest standards of labour, safety, environment and consumer protection. It is also the first trade agreement to include a specific commitment to the Paris climate agreement.

Strategic partnership agreement

The SPA is the first-ever framework agreement between the EU and Japan. It will strengthen cooperation and dialogue across a wide range of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. It highlights the shared values and common principles that constitute the basis for close and lasting cooperation between the EU and Japan as strategic partners. These include democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The agreement will strengthen cooperation in fields such as international peace and security, cyber crime, energy security, climate change mitigation, innovation and judicial and law enforcement cooperation.

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Responding to this paper

ESMA invites comments on all matters in this paper and in particular on the specific questions summarised in Annex 1. Comments are most helpful if they:

• respond to the question stated;
• indicate the specific question to which the comment relates;
• contain a clear rationale; and
• describe any alternatives ESMA should consider.

ESMA will consider all comments received by 20 February 2019.

All contributions should be submitted online at www.esma.europa.eu  under the heading ‘Your input – Consultations’.   

Publication of responses 

All contributions received will be published following the close of the consultation, unless you request otherwise. Please clearly and prominently indicate in your submission any part you do not wish to be publically disclosed. A standard confidentiality statement in an email message will not be treated as a request for non-disclosure. A confidential response may be requested from us in accordance with ESMA’s rules on access to documents. We may consult you if we receive such a request. Any decision we make not to disclose the response is reviewable by ESMA’s Board of Appeal and the European Ombudsman. The collection of confidential responses is without prejudice to the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011. Possible requests for access to documents will be dealt in compliance with the requirements and obligations laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Data protection 

Information on data protection can be found at www.esma.europa.eu under the heading Legal Notice. 

Who should read this paper? 

All interested stakeholders are invited to respond to this consultation. In particular, this paper may be specifically of interest to investment firms and professional clients as referred to in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 909/20142 (CSDR).

Today the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee approved the provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament on 8 November 2018 on the proposal for a European Accessibility Act (EAA). The proposal aims at making various products and services in the European Union more accessible for persons with disabilities. It is thought that more than 80 million people in the EU are affected by some degree of disability.

The new rules will bring benefits not only to tens of millions of Europeans, but also to many elderly people in the Union. Businesses will be able to provide services or to manufacture, sell or import products across the EU benefiting from uniform requirements at EU level.

Beate Hartinger-Klein, Federal Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection of Austria

The European Accessibility Act includes accessibility requirements for key products and services such as:

• phones, computers, payment terminals or self-service terminals for buying passenger transport tickets;
• consumer banking services;
• electronic communications services, including for example phone and Internet services;
• the 112 emergency number calls;
• access to audio-visual media services;
• e-books;
• e-commerce.

The directive also includes common accessibility requirements on the user interface and functionality design of products, as well as more specific accessibility requirements for some electronic consumer equipment. For consumer products covered by the directive, packaging, installation instructions and other product information are to be accessible.

In the case of services, there are some common requirements (e.g. on webpages) and, in addition, service-specific requirements. The directive requires that support services should also be accessible.

Some examples of more specific accessibility requirements included in the directive are: self-service terminals, such as, for instance, ticketing machines or ATMs, will have to provide the possibility to use personal headsets so that visually impaired persons be able to follow audio instructions.  Where a self-service terminal provides for visual modes of operation, it shall provide at least one mode of operation that does not require user perception of colour.

Micro-enterprises /fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover below €2 million/ that provide services are exempted from the directive and those providing products will be exempted from some obligations. As a whole, the directive avoids imposing a “disproportionate burden” on the economic operators.

Background and next steps

The Commission presented its proposal in December 2015. The negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament started in March 2018 and ended with a provisional agreement on 8 November 2018. Following today’s approval of the agreement by the Permanent Representatives Committee, the directive will be sent to the European Parliament for adoption in the plenary. The final adoption in the Council is planned to take place in a Council meeting next year.

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