On 4 May 2026, the European Commission published its long-awaited simplification review of the EU Deforestation Regulation (hereinafter, "EUDR"), as mandated under Article 34(1a) of the December 2025 amendment (Regulation (EU) 2025/2650). In addition, the Commission published a  package of non-legislative measures consisting of updated Frequently Asked Questions (hereinafter “FAQ”), updated Guidelines and a new draft Annex I, which is currently openfor feedback. The Commission confirmed that there will be no further changes to the main text of the Regulation, and that there will be no further delay of the EUDR.

Following publication in the Federal Law Gazette onMarch 16, 2026, the umbrellaact for critical infrastructure protection (“KRITIS Umbrella Act”,“KRITISDachG”) entered into force the following day. Germany has therebyimplemented the Critical Entities Resilience (“CER”) Directive (EU) 2022/2557with a delay of just under a year and a half. An earlier attempt atimplementation failed due to the collapse of the traffic-light coalition andthe resulting new elections, which caused the draft bill to fall victim toparliamentary discontinuity.

The KRITISDachG supplements the cybersecurityprovisions in the NIS2 Implementation and Cybersecurity Strengthening Act(“NIS2UmsuCG”) with regulations on the physical protection of criticalinfrastructure, thereby establishing uniform federal minimum requirements forthe first time. Following the attack on Berlin’s power infrastructure, thedraft law became politically contentious. However, no significant changes weremade compared to the previous government’s draft. The Federal Ministry of theInterior (“BMI”) estimates that approximately 1,700 critical facilities mustmeet all resilience requirements.

After protracted negotiations and nearly two months of political stalemate, the Council of the European Union ("EU") adopted the 20th sanctions package against Russia on 23 April 2026. The package, which the Commission had already presented on 6 February 2026, was originally intended to enter into force on 24 February 2026, the fourth anniversary of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Adoption initially failed due to the unanimity requirement in the Council, as a result of repeated vetoes by Hungary and Slovakia in connection with the dispute over the repair and recommissioning of the Druzhba oil pipeline through Ukraine. Only after completion of the repairs and the clearance of oil transit was the path cleared both for the EUR 90 billion EU loan to Ukraine and for the new sanctions package. With this package, the Union aims to further restrict Russiaís economic and financial wiggle room and to close loopholes enabling circumvention. In particular, the package targets Russiaís energy revenues, shadow fleet structures, financial and crypto services, and third-country actors involved in sanctions circumvention, thereby increasing pressure on Russia to engage in serious negotiations.

With the political agreement reached at the end of March 2026 on the reform of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (the "Union Customs Code" - UCC), the European Parliament and the Council are comprehensively modernising EU-wide customs law, thereby responding to profound changes in global trade, in particular the strong growth of e-commerce. The draft reform aims to further harmonise customs supervision, make it more data-driven, and enhance protection against unsafe or non-compliant goods. A central elemement of the reform is the establishment of a new EU Customs Authority and the creation of a new central digital platform ("EU Customs Data Hub"), which is intended to gradually replace the currently fragmented IT systems of the Member States and, for the first time, enable EU-wide real-time data exchange as well as consolidated risk analyses. The proposal also provides for far-reaching adjustments to the rules governing the incurrence of customs debt, as well as new provisions designed to ensure that e-commerce platforms involved in distance sales to consumers in the EU will in the future bear greater responsibility under customs law. Further elements include preferential treatment for particularly reliable economic operators and the abolition of the EUR 150 de minimus threshold, which is to be replaced by a handling fee for direct deliveries to end consumers.

In die Reihe der neuen Partnerschaften der EU fügt sich in diesem Jahr ein weiteres Highlight ein: der Abschluss eines neuen Freihandelsabkommens („FTA“) und die Gründung einer Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspartnerschaft zwischen der Europäischen Union („EU“) und Australien. EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen und der australische Premierminister Anthony Albanese gaben am 24. März 2026 in Canberra die politische Einigung über die Inhalte des Freihandelsabkommens bekannt; die Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspartnerschaft war bereits zuvor virtuell unterzeichnet worden. Nach den jüngst abgeschlossenen Abkommen – unter anderem mit den Mercosur-Staaten und Indien – trägt dieses Abkommen zur weiteren Diversifizierung des Netzwerkes der EU-Handelspartner in der strategisch wichtigen Regionen bei. Für die EU bringt das Freihandelsabkommen insbesondere eine weitgehende Abschaffung der Zölle auf Warenausfuhren, einen verbesserten Zugang zum australischen Markt für kritische Rohstoffe sowie erleichterte Bedingungen für dieTeilnahme an öffentlichen Ausschreibungen in Australien mit sich.

The international trade law firm Cattwyk is significantly expanding its presence in Brussels. On April 1, 2026, renowned international trade lawyer Yves Melin and his team of three counsels and two associates will join Cattwyk from the US law firm Cassidy Levy Kent (CLK). With this new addition, Cattwyk's Brussels office will grow to a total of ten lawyers.

“The urgency could not be greater,” declared EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Antwerp European Industry Summit on 11 February 2026, highlighting the profound challenges the European Union faces in an increasingly competitive global market and a rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape. In the light of these challenges, the EU has recognised the need for a more strategic and resilient industrial policy. The goal is explicit: by 2035, the EU aims to reverse the decline in industrial output and raise the manufacturing sector’s share to 20% of EU GDP. To support this transformation, the European Commission presented a draft of the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) on 4 March 2026, seeking to translate the industrial policy goals of the Clean Industrial Deal and the security policy principles set out in JOIN/2025/977 into binding legislation. The draft identifies several strategically significant sectors, including energyintensive industries, the production of netzero technologies, and the automotive industry. Across these areas, the EU aims to unlock industrial potential through measures such as minimum EU production share requirements as a condition for accessing public procurement and public support schemes, tighter rules on certain foreign direct investments, and streamlined administrative procedures.

In a press release dated 30 January 2026, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie – BMWE) announced a new package of measures, jointly adopted with the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle – BAFA), aimed at accelerating and simplifying export controls for military and dual‑use items. In light of the current security policy challenges, the package includes several revised and newly introduced General Authorisations (Allgemeine Genehmigungen – AGGen), which entered into force on 1 February 2026. The following article provides a brief overview of the most important changes.

The administration of numerous tariff quotas is based on the so-called “first-come, first serve” principle. For the application of a reduced customs duty rate under a tariff quota, the decisive factor is the time at which the customs declaration is accepted. The General Court of the European Union (GC) (Case T-177/25) has now clarified: A missing quota number cannot be added later in order to benefit from a quota that has already been exhausted and thus obtain a lower rate of duty. The quota number must be stated completely and correctly when the declaration is submitted – otherwise, the regular rate of duty applies.