The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will impose an additional 25 per cent tax on energy-intensive goods exported from India to the EU, a new report said on Wednesday.

This tax burden would represent 0.05 per cent of India’s GDP, according to the report titled “The Global South’s Response to a Changing Trade Regime in the Era of Climate Change” by the independent think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

These findings are based on data from the past three years (2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24). CBAM is the EU’s proposed tax on energy-intensive products, such as iron, steel, cement, fertilizers, and aluminium, imported from countries like India and China. The tax is based on the carbon emissions generated during the production of these goods.

The EU argues that this mechanism creates a level playing field for domestically manufactured goods, which must adhere to stricter environmental standards, and helps reduce emissions from imports. But other nations, particularly developing countries, are worried this would harm their economies and make it too expensive to trade with the bloc.

The move has also sparked debate at multilateral forums, including UN climate conferences, with developing countries arguing that, under UN climate change rules, countries cannot dictate how others should reduce emissions.

Avantika Goswami, who leads CSE’s climate change programme, said that India’s CBAM-covered goods exports to the EU accounted for 9.91 per cent of its total goods exports to the bloc in 2022-23. She said 26 per cent of India’s aluminium and 28 per cent of its iron and steel exports were destined for the EU in 2022-23. These sectors dominate the basket of CBAM-covered goods shipped from India to the EU.

In 2022-23, the exports of CBAM-covered goods to the EU made up about one-fourth (25.7 per cent) of India’s total such goods exported globally, which is significant for the industries operating in these sectors. Currently, hydrogen and electricity are not exported from India to the EU. Of India’s total goods exported worldwide, CBAM-covered goods exports to the EU constitute only about 1.64 per cent.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

London:

European Union (EU) regulators on Monday opened a new investigation into Apple’s support for alternative iOS marketplaces in Europe under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), adding that the App Store’s “steering” policies violate the DMA meant to encourage competition.

Margrethe Vestager, who heads competition policy in Europe, said their preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering.

“Steering is key to ensure that app developers are less dependent on gatekeepers’ app stores and for consumers to be aware of better offers,” she said in a statement.

The EU regulators said they are concerned as Apple’s new business model makes it too hard for app developers to operate as alternative marketplaces and reach their end users on iOS.

“We will look into Apple’s new business model – the commercial terms Apple imposes on app developers who want to reach end users on the iOS platform,” said the regulators.

The regulators also said that they have adopted their first preliminary findings in a case of non-compliance.

“And it is again about Apple. About the many ways in which their new terms fall short of the DMA requirements regarding steering users to options outside the Apple App Store. As they stand, we think that these new terms do not allow app developers to communicate freely with their end users, and to conclude contracts with them,” they added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Brussels:

EU antitrust regulators on Monday opened their first investigations under the Digital Markets Act into Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms for potential breaches of the landmark EU tech rules.

“The (European) Commission suspects that the measures put in place by these gatekeepers fall short of effective compliance of their obligations under the DMA,” the EU executive said in a statement.

The EU competition enforcer will investigate Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model’.

The Commission also launched investigatory steps relating to Apple’s new fee structure for alternative app stores and Amazon’s ranking practices on its marketplace.

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Paris:

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said France would not rest until the right to abortion, now protected by the French constitution in a world first, was guaranteed in the EU’s rights charter and around the globe.

Macron spoke as hot wax was sealed to a constitutional amendment to formerly inscribe the right to abortion.

The ceremony on International Woman’s Day came after parliament gave its final assent earlier this week.

“France today becomes the only country worldwide whose constitution explicitly protects the right to abortion in all circumstances,” Macron said in front of the justice ministry in the Place Vendome in central Paris.

But “we will not rest until this promise is held everywhere in the world.”

Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, but Macron last year pledged to better protect it after the US Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the United State’s half-century-old right to the procedure, leaving it up to individual states to decide.

In a historic vote, a rare congress of both houses of France’s parliament on Monday gave a green light towards making terminating a pregnancy a “guaranteed freedom” in the basic text, sparking celebration among feminists.

“Today is not the end of the story. It’s the start of a fight,” Macron said.

In Europe, “nothing is set in stone any longer and everything has to be defended,” he said, alluding to “reactionary forces” in other parts of the continent.

“This is why I wish for this guaranteed freedom to resort to an abortion to be inscribed in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights,” he said.

The sealing ceremony came a year to the day after the president promised to constitutionalise the right.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti turned the handle of a 300-kilo (660-pound) 19th century press to stamp a green wax seal on a ribbon attached to the official amendment document.

The sealing is a purely ceremonial procedure, and the amendment will only come into force after its publication in the “Journal Officiel” of new laws.

‘Serve as an example’

The constitutional change has been backed by most of the French public, even if some conservatives remain against it, arguing it’s not a constitutional issue.

No country had so far as clearly safeguarded the right to a pregnancy termination in its basic text, according to Leah Hoctor, of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Some countries allude to the right, while others explicitly mention abortion, but only in certain circumstances.

Neil Datta, of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, said the French move sent a strong signal.

It “could give momentum to improving abortion legislation, just as the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the United States gave some to anti-abortion groups worldwide,” he said.

France “could serve as an example for progressives in all countries of Europe and beyond to define a course,” he said.

Even without amending the constitution, “they could… improve their legislation.”

National Assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet — the first woman in the post — read out the result of Monday’s historic vote, with 780 lawmakers in favour and 72 voting against.

More than 20 of her fellow women parliament speakers from around the world were also in Paris to attend the ceremony.

The last time the seal was used was in 2008, when lawmakers only just approved wide-sweeping amendments under former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Those changes included limiting a president’s time in office to two terms, as well as better safeguards for press independence and freedom.

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Istanbul, Turkey:

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Ankara could “part ways” with the European Union if necessary when asked about the contents of a European Parliament report on Turkey.

The report, adopted earlier this week, said Turkey’s accession process with the 27-member bloc cannot resume under current circumstances and called for the EU to explore “a parallel and realistic framework” for its ties with Ankara.

Turkey has been an official candidate to join the EU for 24 years, but accession talks have stalled in recent years over the bloc’s concerns about human rights violations and respect for the rule of law.

“The EU is trying to break away from Turkey,” President Erdogan told reporters ahead of a trip to the United States. “We will make our evaluations against these developments and if necessary, we can part ways with the EU.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said earlier this week that the European Parliament report contained unfounded allegations and prejudices and took “a shallow and non-visionary” approach to the country’s ties with the EU.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)