Legal assistant Viktorija Markovaite and trainee Ugnė Kačergytė compiled the material.
Environment
Commission introduces voluntary sustainability reporting standard for SMEs
Published: 31 July 2025
The European Commission has adopted a Recommendation introducing a voluntary sustainability reporting standard for SMEs (VSME). This standard, developed by EFRAG, the Commission’s technical advisory body for sustainability reporting, aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises respond to sustainability information requests from large companies and financial institutions, even though they are not required to report under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Technology
Commission publishes template for General-Purpose AI providers to summarise data to train their model
Published: 24 July 2025
The European Commission has released a standardised template to assist General-Purpose AI (GPAI) providers summarise data used to train their models. The template aims to enhance transparency in compliance with the upcoming AI Act and includes making the summary public. It outlines main data sources and supports stakeholders like copyright holders in understanding and asserting their rights.
Defence
18 initial Member States request at least €127 billion under the SAFE defence instrument
Published: 30 July 2025
The Commission welcomes the expression of interest from Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Finland to access loans under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument. SAFE is expected to mobilise up to EUR 150 billion in investment.
Trade
Commission activates customs surveillance to keep track of import and export of metal waste
Published: 24 July 2025
The European Commission has activated a customs surveillance system to monitor the import and export of metal waste and scrap, with a specific focus on ferrous metals (including steel), aluminium, and copper. This initiative aims to collect detailed and structured data on the movement of these materials in and out of the EU.
