Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act)
This regulation establishes a harmonized legal framework for the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence systems in the European Union. It categorizes AI systems based on risk levels—unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal—imposing mandatory conformity assessments, transparency obligations, and risk management systems for high-risk AI. It prohibits specific AI practices that pose a clear threat to fundamental rights, such as biometric categorization based on sensitive traits or predictive policing, and introduces strict rules for general-purpose AI models.
Directive (EU) 2024/1760 (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive)
This directive mandates that large companies operating in the EU identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for negative impacts on human rights and environmental standards within their operations, their subsidiaries, and their established business chains. It requires firms to adopt and implement a transition plan for climate change mitigation consistent with the Paris Agreement and establishes civil liability mechanisms for companies that fail to comply with these due diligence obligations.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation)
This act sets the framework for establishing ecodesign requirements for specific product groups to improve their circularity, energy performance, and other environmental sustainability aspects. It introduces the “Digital Product Passport,” which requires detailed information on product composition and repairability to be accessible to consumers and supply chain actors. The regulation grants the Commission power to set requirements regarding durability, reusability, upgradability, and the presence of substances that inhibit recycling.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 (Shipments of Waste)
This regulation overhauls the procedures and control regimes for the shipment of waste, with a primary focus on ending the export of waste to non-OECD countries unless they demonstrate the capacity to process it in an environmentally sound manner. It mandates digitized information exchange for waste shipments and introduces stricter criteria for intra-EU shipments to ensure that waste destined for recovery is managed within the framework of circular economy principles, preventing illegal dumping and cross-border contamination.
