GLE Europe - Legal Intelligence

20 August to 3 September 2026 | Read online

Good morning from the GLE Editorial desk. The recess ended and the compliance dates arrived together. From 1 September every VAT-registered business in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, and the largest companies must issue them, which ends PDF-by-email for business-to-business invoicing in scope. Nine days after that the Data Act stops being a data-sharing regime and becomes a design obligation: connected products placed on the EU market after 12 September must be built so users can reach their own data directly. In Madrid the Council of Ministers approved a complete replacement of the 2009 Asylum Law and a reform of the Ley de Extranjería, making Spain the first large member state to put the European Migration Pact into national legislation. Brussels meanwhile ran its Digital Services Act machinery to the end for the first time, with Temu's remediation plan due on 28 August after a two hundred million euro fine. And the Recovery and Resilience Facility deadline fell on 31 August with billions still unabsorbed across Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commission has refused to move it.

Joel Gordon, Editorial · Global Law Experts

Quick digest

The one big thing: France's mandatory e-invoicing regime starts on 1 September. Every VAT-registered business must be able to receive, large companies and ETIs must also issue, and invoices must pass through an accredited platform under article 289 bis of the Code général des impôts.

The active regulatory move: Spain approved a new Asylum Law and a reform of the Ley de Extranjería on 25 August, transposing the reception conditions directive and building in a twelve-week border procedure with a 72-hour triage period.

The forward-looking risk: the Data Act's access-by-design duty reaches connected products placed on the market after 12 September, so anything from vehicles to industrial sensors must be designed for direct user access to its data.

Jurisdictions covered

France · Spain · Poland · Germany · Italy · Denmark · Finland · Hungary · Bulgaria · Romania · European Union

Lawyers featured in this edition

Kristian Østberg · Jordi Sot Ball-Llosera · Philippe Buerch · Nikolaus Sauerschnig · Edwin H.J. Slager

What mattered this fortnight

France · Tax and Commercial

France Switches On Mandatory Electronic Invoicing From 1 September, and Every Business Must Be Able to Receive

From 1 September every business registered for VAT in France, from micro-entreprise to grande entreprise, must be able to receive electronic invoices, with no exception by size. Large companies and ETIs must also issue them and transmit transaction and payment data from the same date, while SMEs and micro-enterprises have until 1 September 2027 to issue.

Why it matters for counsel: The legal basis is article 289 bis of the Code général des impôts, which requires that issuing, transmission and receipt run through an accredited platform. Invoices must be in a structured format such as Factur-X, UBL or CII, so a PDF sent by email no longer satisfies the requirement for business-to-business invoicing in scope. Non-compliance carries a fine of fifteen euros per invoice, capped at fifteen thousand euros a year, and the loi de finances 2026 tightened the penalty regime. This is the largest change to French commercial back-office practice in years. For foreign groups with French subsidiaries the work is contractual as much as technical: invoicing clauses, intra-group billing flows and platform selection all need to be settled, and the receive obligation applies from Tuesday.

Read the full analysis →

European Union · Technology and Product Regulatory

The Data Act's Access-by-Design Duty Reaches Connected Products Placed on the Market After 12 September

Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 applies the Article 3(1) obligation to connected products and their related services placed on the market after 12 September 2026. Article 3(1) requires those products to be designed and manufactured so that product and related service data are, by default, easily and securely accessible to the user.

Why it matters for counsel: The rest of the Data Act has applied since September 2025, so this is the hardware design obligation biting for the first time, and it is unusual in reaching how a product is built rather than only how data is shared. Anything from connected vehicles to industrial sensors placed on the Union market after that date must be built for direct user access, free of charge, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format where technically feasible. The operative concept is placing on the market, defined in Article 2(22) as the first making available in the Union, which means products shipping either side of the September line fall under different regimes. Non-EU manufacturers selling into the Union are equally in scope, and the interaction with trade secret protection is where the argument will be.

Read the full analysis →

Spain · Immigration and Public

Spain Approves a New Asylum Law and Extranjería Reform, the First Big Member State to Legislate the Migration Pact

The Council of Ministers on 25 August approved two draft laws adapting Spain to the European Pact on Migration and Asylum: a complete replacement of the 2009 Asylum Law rather than an amendment, and a reform of Organic Law 4/2000, the Ley de Extranjería.

Why it matters for counsel: The new Asylum Law transposes Directive (EU) 2024/1346 on reception conditions, applicable since 12 June 2026, and builds in the border procedure of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348. Two features matter for practitioners: a maximum twelve-week border procedure during which applicants remain at the disposal of the authorities before formal entry, and a 72-hour triage period, extendable only by judicial decision, for identification, biometrics, vulnerability screening and routing into the right procedure. The Extranjería reform implements the Pact's movement rules so protection seekers stay available during determination of the responsible member state or during relocation. Ministry consultations and mandatory reports come next, including from the General Council of the Judiciary, before Parliament. Every immigration bar in the Union now has a template to argue from.

“It’s virtually impossible to approve the reform of the asylum law given the current composition of the Spanish parliament. In the lower house, the government does not have a sufficient majority; in the Senate, the opposition holds an absolute majority. In practice, the 72-hour screening process is currently impossible due to a lack of material and human resources at border crossings.”

Andres de Ceballos Cabrillo · Immigration, Vic Legal · Spain

Read the full analysis →

European Union · Platform Regulation

Temu's Remediation Plan Fell Due 28 August, the First End-to-End Test of the DSA's Article 75 Machinery

The Commission fined Temu two hundred million euros on 28 May, the largest Digital Services Act fine to date, for failing properly to assess the systemic risk of illegal products on its marketplace. Under Article 75, Temu had until 28 August to submit an action plan setting out how it will remedy the breach.

Why it matters for counsel: The Commission's finding was specific: Temu relied on generic e-commerce risk information rather than platform-specific evidence, and underestimated how likely EU users were to encounter illegal items. That is the evidential standard every marketplace should now measure its own risk assessment against. What follows is the part nobody has seen before. The European Board for Digital Services has one month to issue an opinion on the plan, after which the Commission decides whether it suffices and sets implementation deadlines, with periodic penalty payments available if the platform then fails to comply. The Board's opinion is expected in late September, and it will be the first public indication of what the Commission will accept as adequate remediation.

Read the full analysis →

European Union · Public and EU Funds

The Recovery Fund Deadline Fell on 31 August With Central European Billions Still Unabsorbed

Member states had until 31 August to complete every milestone and target under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, with the Commission having until 31 December to make final payments. The Commission ruled out extending either date in its communication of 30 June 2025.

Why it matters for counsel: Money not backed by a completed milestone on that date is money lost. More than 315 billion euros had been disbursed against over 2,000 milestones, with more than 335 billion still available. Absorption has been markedly uneven: figures reported as at November 2025 put Hungary at roughly nine per cent of its allocation, Bulgaria at 29 and Poland at 35, against an EU average of 54, with Poland and Romania facing the largest remaining sums. Those percentages are as at that date and should be read as such. The consequences are already practical: accelerated public procurement, disputes over whether a milestone was in fact completed, and clawback exposure for beneficiaries whose projects are stranded. Anyone advising on EU-funded work in the region needs an answer this month on who carries the gap.

Read the full analysis →

Western Europe

Germany · Tax

Germany's Cabinet Adopts the Jahressteuergesetz 2026, Now Before the Bundestag

The annual tax bill was adopted on 12 August. Capital-gains relief for foreign shareholders holding ten per cent or more switches from advance certificates to post-transaction refunds, the licence-payment exemption threshold rises from ten thousand to one hundred thousand euros, platform-reporting duties extend to non-EU providers, and from 2027 electronically delivered assessments become the default with late-payment interest doubling to 3.6 per cent a year. Foreign shareholders planning a German exit should model the cash-flow cost of refunding after the event rather than certifying before it.

European Union · Consumer and Environmental

The Greenwashing Rules of Directive 2024/825 Apply From 27 September

Generic environmental claims such as eco-friendly or carbon neutral are banned unless substantiated, sustainability labels must rest on a certification scheme or public authority, and durability and repairability information becomes mandatory before sale. The transposition deadline was 27 March 2026, so the patchwork of which member states have actually transposed is itself advice territory. Audit live marketing copy for generic green claims now, and check whether your own member state has actually transposed.

Eastern Europe

Poland · Tax

Poland's Finance Ministry Proposes Five-Year Tax Rulings in a Tax Code Overhaul

Key assumptions published in August would give individual tax rulings a five-year validity with a free simplified renewal, extend withholding tax opinions from 36 months to five years, and strengthen the protective effect of established interpretative practice. Family-foundation amendments published on 6 August would raise the headline rate from fifteen to nineteen per cent, and new ruling application forms take effect on 4 September. Existing rulings will not automatically extend, so check which of your clients rely on one and when it currently lapses.

Poland · Planning and Environmental

Poland's Spatial Planning Amendment Brings Its Next Tranche Into Force on 1 September

The Act of 30 April 2026 amending the Planning and Spatial Development Act, published at Dz.U. 2026 poz. 781, is staggered from 1 July 2026 to 1 January 2027, and the provisions listed for 1 September fall inside this fortnight. Relevant to development, environmental and mining practices with Polish sites in the pipeline. Read article 5 of the amending act against any Polish site in the pipeline before assuming the planning position is unchanged.

Nordic & Baltic

Finland · Employment

Finland Requires Jobseekers to Publish a Job-Search Profile From 1 September

The final stage of the TYKE reform enters force in this window. A jobseeker must publish and maintain a profile on the official Työmarkkinatori platform, and the employment authority may publish it on their behalf. It completes a staged 2026 reform that already tightened benefit sanctions in March and replaced unemployment support with the yleistuki in May. Employers advising on benefit-linked obligations should confirm staff know the profile is now published, not optional.

Denmark · Financial Crime and Immigration

Denmark Expects Its Anti-Money-Laundering Package in Force on 15 September

Per the prosecution service's legislative overview, bill L 9 on a strengthened effort against money laundering amends the hvidvaskloven together with the financial business, payments and investment-firm acts. Bill L 17 tightens expulsion on unconditional sentences of a year or more and introduces electronic tagging. Both dates are listed as expected rather than confirmed. Treat 15 September as expected rather than fixed, and confirm both bills on Folketingstidende before advising a client to rely on the date.

Southern Europe

Italy · Artificial Intelligence and Criminal

Italy Definitively Approves Its AI Act Implementing Decrees, Including a New Criminal Offence

The Council of Ministers passed two legislative decrees on 4 August. The first sets organic rules on AI in policing, with the operator retaining decision authority, real-time biometric identification only in exceptional cases under judicial authorisation, a ban on untargeted biometric web scraping, and a new article 437-bis of the Penal Code for failing to secure high-risk AI. The second names AgID, ACN and the Garante as the responsible authorities. Any high-risk AI system used in Italy now carries criminal exposure for failing to secure it, so review who owns that duty internally.

Italy · Product and Environmental

Italy Introduces Compostable Packaging Requirements by Decree-Law

The same Council of Ministers approved a decree-law introducing biodegradable and compostable packaging requirements for fresh produce, catering and hospitality. It is a national instrument distinct from the EU packaging rules, and because decree-laws must be converted within sixty days the conversion clock is running now. The sixty-day conversion window is running, so track amendments rather than treating the decree-law text as final.

Member spotlight

Kristian Østberg

Ræder Bing Advokatfirma AS · Norway · Insurance

Head of Ræder Bing's insurance, shipping, marine and transport group in Oslo. He is ranked as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 and individually ranked in shipping dispute resolution by Chambers Europe 2025, having taken his Master of Law at the University of Oslo.

Read their GLE profile

Jordi Sot Ball-Llosera

Toda & Nel-lo · Spain · Compliance

Head partner of the compliance practice at Toda & Nel-lo, specialising in business and administrative law with a focus on crime prevention. He advises companies on corporate criminal risk models and leads the firm's compliance department, which has advised public and private sector clients since 1992.

Read their GLE profile

Philippe Buerch

Clarelis Avocats · France · Banking

Managing director of Clarelis Avocats, which he founded in 2018 on the Côte d'Azur with operations extending to Monaco, Geneva and Luxembourg. He began as a notary in 1991 and now specialises in banking law, cross-border financing and refinancing, real estate taxation and urban planning.

Read their GLE profile

Nikolaus Sauerschnig

Gheneff Rami Sommer Sauerschnig Rechtsanwälte · Austria · Criminal

Practising in economic and anti-corruption criminal law, administrative penal law, competition and corporate law, and media and personality protection. He holds an LL.M. in European and International Business Law from the University of Vienna and completed his court practice at the Vienna Higher Regional Court.

Read their GLE profile

Edwin H.J. Slager

Van Emstede & Slager Advocaten · Netherlands · Civil Litigation

A yachting and civil procedure specialist in Amsterdam, working in attachment law, contract law and debt collection. His practice covers yacht construction, sales and insurance disputes, and his firm has held a longstanding relationship with the Dutch watersports association HISWA.

Read their GLE profile

What we're tracking next

12 September: the Data Act's access-by-design duty starts to bite, and the first Article 38 complaints will show how seriously it is taken.

Late September: the European Board for Digital Services opinion on Temu's action plan, the first public sight of what the Commission will accept as adequate DSA remediation.

27 September: the greenwashing rules of Directive 2024/825 apply, against a transposition patchwork that is itself unresolved.

Open calls for commentary

We are building the next Europe edition and would value member takes on three questions. In France, after the first fortnight of mandatory e-invoicing, what actually broke and what should foreign groups with French subsidiaries have done in August? Across the Union, is your client's connected product placed on the market before or after 12 September, and who benefits from the ambiguity? In Central and Eastern Europe, what happens to a project whose recovery-fund milestone missed 31 August, and who carries the funding gap? Reply to this email with a short take and we will attribute it to you and your firm.

Contributors this fortnight

Kristian Østberg, Ræder Bing Advokatfirma AS, Norway
Jordi Sot Ball-Llosera, Toda & Nel-lo, Spain
Philippe Buerch, Clarelis Avocats, France
Nikolaus Sauerschnig, Gheneff Rami Sommer Sauerschnig Rechtsanwälte, Austria
Edwin H.J. Slager, Van Emstede & Slager Advocaten, Netherlands

GLE Europe: The Legal Developments Shaping Your Region This Fortnight