Latest news with #EUregulations
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Meta to Stop Selling Political Ads in the EU
Meta plans to stop selling political and issue-focused advertising in the European Union ahead of the start of new regulations in the bloc. Bloomberg's Kurt Wagner explains what's behind the move with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on 'Bloomberg Tech.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Zawya
5 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Meta to halt political advertising in EU from October, blames EU rules
Meta Platforms will end political, electoral, social issue advertising on its platform in the European Union in early October because of the legal uncertainties due to EU rules targeting political advertising, the U.S. social media company said on Friday. Meta's announcement echoed Alphabet unit Google's decision announced last November, underscoring Big Tech's pushback against EU rules aimed at reining in their power and making sure that they are more accountable and transparent. The European Union legislation, called the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation and which will apply from Oct. 10, was triggered by concerns about disinformation and foreign interference in elections across the 27-country bloc. The EU law requires Big Tech companies to clearly label political advertising on their platforms, who paid for it and how much as well as which elections are being targeted or risk fines up to 6% of their annual turnover. "From early October 2025, we will no longer allow political, electoral and social issue ads on our platforms in the EU," Meta said in a blog post. "This is a difficult decision - one we've taken in response to the EU's incoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, which introduces significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties," it said. Meta said TTPA obligations create what it said is an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU. It said the EU rules will ultimately hurt Europeans. "We believe that personalised ads are critical to a wide range of advertisers, including those engaged on campaigns to inform voters about important social issues that shape public discourse," Meta said. "Regulations, like the TTPA, significantly undermine our ability to offer these services, not only impacting effectiveness of advertisers' outreach but also the ability of voters to access comprehensive information," the company added.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Small Ivory Coast cocoa firms say EU deforestation rules might bankrupt them
ABIDJAN, July 24 (Reuters) - Small players in Ivory Coast's cocoa industry say they fear they will go out of business due to the cost of complying with new European Union regulations on the import of commodities linked to deforestation. The proposed law, which aims to end the estimated 10% of global deforestation fuelled by EU consumption, requires companies importing goods such as cocoa, soy, beef and coffee to prove their supply chains do not contribute to the destruction of the world's forests, or face hefty fines. In order to meet the regulations, Ivory Coast has opted for a digitalised sales and purchasing system to facilitate verification. However, cooperatives and small local exporters are concerned they will not be able to compete with Western multinational companies, which have better financial and human resources to handle the additional cost and workload. Two sources at Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council regulator said around 900,000 out of 1 million cocoa farmers had already received their digital ID cards, which will also serve as bank cards. Under the new system, farmers will be paid via mobile money operators by exporters after buyers or cooperatives deliver their beans to ports - effectively cutting out the usual cash payments to middlemen. "With this card, the traceability of Ivorian cocoa is 100% guaranteed," one of the sources told Reuters, adding that all the data on farmers will be stored online. The second source said the new system, which was tested on a sample of producers, cooperatives and exporters, would be rolled out and become mandatory from October 1. The EU has delayed the launch of the law by a year, to December 2025, following complaints from trading partners, and cut back on reporting rules after industry criticism. "Compliance with the regulation requires investments that we cannot make," said the director of an Ivorian trading company who fears it could go bankrupt. The president of a cocoa export cooperative said multinationals planned to spend at least 200 CFA francs ($0.3604) per kilogram to comply with this regulation - a cost cooperatives are unable to bear. Cocoa players say the new rules might kill off vulnerable cooperatives or local exporters if Ivory Coast's government doesn't step in to protect them. "We are not opposed to traceability and sustainability. What we are criticizing is that the EU only protects its own industry and citizens, not those of other countries, and this regulation will kill local businesses," the director of an Ivorian export company told Reuters. "If we don't get help from the government, there won't be any cooperatives or local exporters left in two years," the director of another cocoa cooperative said. "We'll all disappear." The company leaders all declined to be identified to avoid the possibility of pressure or threats to their businesses. ($1 = 555.0000 CFA francs)
RNZ News
7 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
'I'm so very sorry this cost has been put upon you', minister tells beef exporters
NZ beef exporters will need to prove to the EU that their products have not come from land that was recently deforested. Photo:/File via CNN Newsource The agriculture minister has apologised to New Zealand's top beef exporters for extra costs they will likely face due to new anti-deforestation rules for European Union imports. Those sending agricultural products - like beef, leather or logs in New Zealand's case - will have to prove that their products have not come from land that was recently deforested . Despite fierce opposition from New Zealand industry groups and government officials, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) appeared to be going ahead. From the end of the year, all exporters to the EU will be required to prove land used for forests has not been cut down for animals to graze on since 2020. The regulation was amended to exclude sheep products in 2022 and its implementation was delayed last year . But the beef, meat and wood processing sectors were preparing for the new incoming requirements . It was announced this week that the Meat Industry Association, Beef and Lamb New Zealand and an analytics firm were developing aerial and satellite-generated farm maps, in addition to compiling the movement of livestock. The New Zealand Deforestation Map initiative was to help the sector prepare the documents and data needed with each shipment of their products going to the EU from 31 December. The regulation was expected to affect $213 million in beef and leather exports to the EU and $100m of New Zealand wood products. Agricultural Minister Todd McClay. Photo: Neil Mackenzie Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Trade and Investment Todd McClay told the red meat sector conference in Ōtautahi/Christchurch on Tuesday that companies should get prepared for the incoming new rules. Agriculture Minister Todd McClay speaking at the Red Meat Sector Conference in Christchurch on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ/Monique Steele "Well done for preparing. I'm so very sorry this cost has been put upon you, because in my view it is unnecessary," he said. "Since we came to government, I have consistently said to the European Union we have standards, the equivalent to yours if not higher, so you should not be putting costs upon every single producer in New Zealand, and we have been looking for ways to find exemptions or to changes, or to get the cost down." McClay wrote to the European Commission last year, and said he met the European Commissioner in Brussels last month who suggested other countries were also trying for exemptions, like France. "You'd figure when the EU member states don't like something, perhaps there's a change coming," he said. But he said New Zealand already had native forest protection rules that resulted in penalties or prosecutions for offending. "They have nothing to worry about in New Zealand. You're not allowed to deforest native forests in New Zealand. "Ultimately I as the government can give an absolute assurance that it doesn't happen because we prosecute, we go and find these things." He said it will likely impose "unreasonable" costs on producers, making it a barrier to trade, even while there was a free trade agreement with the EU now in force . "So you need to keep preparing in case they don't get there, but we're gonna keep banging the table." Photo: Supplied / Hamish Best Industry analytics firm Prism Earth was a partnership between Silver Fern Farms and Lynker Analytics launched to meet the increased demand for carbon traceability, its website said. Prism Earth was now using satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR and artificial intelligence to map farms and identify grazing areas, forests and track animals via the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) programme. Also speaking at the red meat industry event, managing director Matt Lythe said the challenge was to accurately understand the conversion of land and animal movements. "Every consignment will need to have a due diligence statement that essentially monitors every NAIT tag, every animal and its passage through the New Zealand landscape and the grazing process through all its dimensions, and whether it's past deforested land or not," he said. "There are some record-keeping requirements that need to be held in place for five years, so it's a reasonably onerous obligation on us all to achieve." Lythe said its modelling showed there were just under 14,000 hectares of beef production farmland to October 2024 where forests had been removed, and 1600 "affected NAIT" farms. "So headline number, just under 14,000 hectares have had forest removal," he told the conference. The main types of removal were pine rotation, followed by woodlots then shelterbelts. The modelling showed 32 hectares of indigenous forest were removed, affecting 24 farms. "I've highlighted the indigenous loss as really the key critical area that we're focusing on," he said. "Thirty-two hectares of indigenous forest in New Zealand has been removed that breaches that European rule." Owners of farms deemed to have been deforested would need to demonstrate to Prism that the removal of trees was not to convert land for agricultural use. Lythe said farmers could mitigate the risk of cattle crossing into deforested land through fencing or other controls, and demonstrate that the removal of trees was due to either animal welfare, erosion control, health and safety or conservation and biodiversity protection. The New Zealand Deforestation Map would be updated before December, and updated every year. The Meat Industry Association was then expected to engage with the wider sector. 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Bloomberg
21-07-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Germany's Merz Criticizes Plan to Make Car-Rental Firms Buy EVs
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized plans that newspaper Bild said the European Union is working on that would prohibit car-rental firms and large corporations from buying non-electric vehicles for their fleets from 2030. Under the deliberations, companies like Sixt SE and Europcar Mobility Group SA would only be allowed to purchase electric vehicles from that date, Bild reported on Sunday, citing EU sources it didn't identify.
