The European Union is the source of 70-80% of the legislation governing everyday life and business practices of European businesses. EPTDA’s member companies are vulnerable to change in many policy areas, such as the environment, energy, trade and consumer protection, which can influence the industry’s competitiveness and profitability.
With the aim of informing its members about such potential effects, EPTDA launched its EU Legislation Monitoring report series back in 2007. Primarily focusing on topics like the metric directive, energy-saving, waste management, work health & safety, chemical use and pollution, EPTDA has gained tremendous expertise and insight into legal developments at EU level. The association has published almost 60 EU Legislation Monitoring reports till date.
Today, the association is further sharpening its focus on pressing issues in European legislation affecting Distributors and Manufacturers. These include e-commerce, counterfeiting, the Late Payments Directive, the Small Business Act, distribution law in the EU, advertising and employment.
While the industrial and production sectors, which account for 16% of the global GDP, are important contributors to economic growth, they also account for one-fifth of carbon emissions and use 54% of the world’s energy resources. Therefore, it is critical for industrial enterprises to solve the decarbonization concerns as soon as possible.
By using data analytics, business leaders across the manufacturing sector and all the supply chain can significantly reduce their carbon emissions – as well as improve efficiency, reduce costs, and drive innovation.
Like many other industries, supply chain and logistics is undergoing significant transformation, which brings with it both danger and opportunity. New technologies, new market entrants, new customer expectations, and new business models have all emerged in the last months. There are a variety of methods for the industry to respond to these issues – some evolutionary and others revolutionary.
In the summer of 2020, there was a lull in the steel mills – due to the pandemic, demand had collapsed. Since then, industrial production in Europe has been picking up again and the steel demand is growing, but steel manufacturers are still not keeping up with production. So, we are in a situation of clear lack of inventories, at a time when demand began to rise.
The EPTDA’s members should know that the rise in input costs is being driven by the perception that supply chain constraints will not ease in the short term, industry executives said in a recent survey. Actually, input prices rose at their fastest pace in almost a decade in the eurozone’s manufacturing sector in February, according to the Manufacturing Business Survey released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
The EU Monitoring Report includes the European Commission’s approach to helping supply chain companies.
Even though we wish to enter the era of the “new normal” more rapidly, 2021 will be the year of transition. Specialists in the international logistics sector are more reserved and do not share the general optimism about the recovery of the global economy, according to a survey conducted recently by Transport Intelligence.
This perspective of logistics specialists is in contrast to the optimism of financial analysts. The latter expect that 2021 will be a year of strong recovery for the global economy. For example, the World Bank expects global GDP to grow by 4% this year, while Morgan Stanley estimates an even higher growth of up to 6.4%.
The EU Monitoring Report includes supply chains and logistics trends in 2021.
EPTDA members need to know that the worst-case scenario is if following Brexit, the UK is no longer part of the EU’s customs union. Then customs checks may be required for goods entering and leaving the EU, resulting in increased costs or delays. Tariffs could be applied to goods and services provided to and from the EU, affecting the profitability of the contracts in the future. Currency fluctuations are another potential consequence of Brexit. They will make financial forecasting in the short to medium term difficult for those paid in foreign currencies under any of their contracts.
The EU Monitoring Report includes top challenges in the Logistics industry, tips on what can businesses do to prepare, and opportunities in the logistics sector.
Logistics firms and supply chain industry overall have been directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because they facilitate trade and commerce and help businesses get their products to customers, supply chain disruptions to the sector caused by the pandemic could, therefore, impact competitiveness, economic growth, and job creation.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown, among other things, how difficult European cooperation can be sometimes, especially in policies where the EU has limited powers to support Member States.
At the beginning of the crisis, their reactions to the pandemic were oriented towards limiting or restricting circulation and focusing on national resources in order to contain the spreading of the virus. The European solidarity did not make its presence felt too quickly, but in the end the Member States concluded that the challenges posed by the current situation require a concerted response from them and in coordination with the European institutions.
It is difficult to predict the exact consequences of Coronavirus. But Gartner’s experts think that organizations might begin to see impacts across the supply chain.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has released the new Incoterms 2020 regulations that define responsibilities of buyers and sellers operating in the international trade system. Delivery conditions were reviewed by 500 experts from more than 40 countries.