The fourth evaluation on the EU Code of Conduct confirms that the European Commission's initiative on tackling illegal hate speech online delivers successful results and that a way faster response to racist and xenophobic hate speech content notified is being provided.

The Commission published a regulation imposing definitive safeguard measures on imports of steel products. The measures will take effect on 2 February and will replace the provisional ones in place since July 2018. They concern 26 steel product categories and consist of tariff-rate quotas above which a duty of 25% will apply.

Our objective is simple, we need to keep working together to fight against disinformation and its dissemination online, said Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, kicking off a conference in Brussels on 29 January, organised by the EU executive. The event that brought together more than 400 representatives of online platforms, advertising sector, academia and journalists, was titled ‘Countering online disinformation: Towards a more transparent, credible and diverse digital media system’.

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, arrives in Nicosia, Cyprus today to meet with Nicos Anastasiades, President of the Republic of Cyprus, and participate in a Citizens' Dialogue on the Future of Europe and tomorrow's megatrends.

75 countries - the European Union and 47 other members of the WTO decided today to start negotiations to put in place global rules on electronic commerce. The prepositions will be aimed at enhancing opportunities and addressing challenges of e-commerce in both developed and developing countries. Then, the negotiations are intended to result in a multilateral legal framework that consumers and businesses, especially smaller ones, could rely on to make it easier and safer to buy, sell and do business online.

Up to €800m will be invested in key European energy infrastructure projects with major cross-border benefits, after Member States voted on a Commission proposal, the EU press service reported. The funding comes from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the European support programme for trans-European infrastructure.

The Commission presented last Wednesday, for the first time, a comprehensive report on investor citizenship and residence schemes operated by a number of EU Member States, warning of risks such schemes create, the EU press service reported. The report maps the existing practices and identifies certain risks such schemes imply for the EU, in particular, as regards security, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.

Yesterday evening in Davos, the European Commission was awarded the 2019 Circular Economy prize by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders as recognition of the work done to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy that protects the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions while delivering opportunities for jobs, growth and investment

Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, is kicking-off today the Women4Cyber initiative in Brussels, which was launched by the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) in November last year. With the help of the 28 Founding Members, i.e. 28 female leaders coming from the public sector, the private sector and academia, the project aims to increase the involvement of women in the development and promotion of European cybersecurity.

The European Commission announced on Tuesday it has fined the card scheme Mastercard €570 566 000 for limiting the possibility for merchants to benefit from better conditions offered by banks established elsewhere in the Single Market, in breach of EU antitrust rules.