FRA introduced its role as partner, based on its experience in other EU Member States under the Grants’ Programmes. The meeting also provided an opportunity for the Hungarian authorities, the FMO and FRA to introduce the teams that will work under the Roma Programme. The meeting took place on 13 January.

The note includes links pointing to the original legal sources.

Since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU as of 1 February 2020, British nationals are now third-country nationals. From 1 January 2021, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement govern legal relations between the EU and the UK.

FRA being an observer to on-site missions is part of its broader support to the Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism. This also includes an annual analysis for the Commission on the fundamental rights situation in the evaluated Member States in the field of return and external borders, and training future evaluators. This year’s Fundamental Rights Report took stock of the recommendations delivered to Member States in the context of Schengen evaluations. It confirmed the added value of the mechanism in monitoring and supporting fundamental rights compliant application of EU law.

January 14, 2021 About the EUIPO

Update from the Executive Director of the EUIPO

The Executive Director of the EUIPO, Christian Archambeau, has released a new video update on the latest developments at the Office.

Mr. Archambeau gave an update on current filing trends at the EUIPO and reviewed progress on the SME-focused initiatives at the Office, including the recently launched SME Fund as well as an SME portal and a new easy e-filing tool that will be up and running shortly.

Watch the video

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) issued today a call for experts to join a Practitioners Network on Pension Tracking Systems (Network) to strengthen and complement EIOPA’s expertise with regard to the internet-based applications that provide citizens with an overview of their future retirement income, based on their entitlements from all pension schemes in which they participate.

The expertise gathered from the Network should benefit current work of EIOPA to identify best practices for the set-up of a National Pension Tracking System tool following the call for advice from the European Commission.

The Network will share technical expertise and collect evidence, in particular with regard to the following:

• the mapping of functional features for the individual to have a simple, attractive and comprehensive view of his/her income at retirement;
• the outline for the presentation of the information in the tracking tool, including the summary of key information;
• an appropriate implementation approach for launching the tracking tool and the accompanying communication initiatives;
• the identification of the relevant data points from pension products across the different sources, for example state-run pensions, occupational pensions, personal pensions and the relevant sources/entities;
• the design, set-up costs and governance of the framework, including parties responsible for holding of data, the interface for accessing the system, etc.  
• ensuring the consistency in the estimates and projections of an individual’s financial position at retirement;
• the interconnectivity with the European Tracking Service;

The members of the Network are expected to be highly knowledgeable professionals with extensive practical experience with the design, use and/or management of pensions tracking system tools developed both within and outside the European Economic Area. In particular, EIOPA seeks representatives from public entities, pension funds associations, companies, non-profit organisations and the European Tracking Service.

Members will be selected for a one-year term, with the possibility of the extension for one more year. The requirements, selection process and conditions are specified in more detail in the call for experts.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, 31 January 2021 23:59 CET.