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The EU Copyright Directive allows “fair compensation” for copyright owners. As a result, several Member States have imposed national levy systems.

In Italy, manufacturers and importers have to pay a private copy levy upon their sales. The liability moment is when the goods are put on the market. Distributors are also liable when the manufacturer or importer does not comply. Manufacturers and importers have to report their sales quarterly. The following copyright levies apply:
- Data CD-R/RW: EUR 0.15 700 Mb.
- DVD+R/RW: EUR 0.41 4.7 Gb.
- Blu Ray/RW: EUR 0.41 25 Gb.
- Memory card: EUR 0.03/Gb 5 Gb and more.
- USB Stick: EUR 0.10/Gb >256 Mb to <4 Gb.

Furthermore, the following duties apply:
- Memory or hard disk inserted into a multimedia (audio/video), Walkman or other multimedia devices from EUR 3.22 to 1 GB to EUR 32.20; memory or hard disk inserted into MP3 music player or other Hi-Fi devices from EUR 0.64 for up to 128 Mb to EUR 12.88 (EUR 12.88 will increase by EUR 2.76 every 10 Gb) for 30 GM and more.
- Computer with integrated burner: EUR 2.40 per piece; computer without integrated burner: EUR 1.90 per piece and recording devices with no integrated memory or hard disk: 5% of price.
- Memory or Hard disk inserted into devices having communication as main purpose (mobile phone): EUR 0.90 per piece.

Ireland requires companies to show a connection with Ireland to apply for a .ie domain. A connection can be shown by a passport, by company registered in Ireland or by providing a service to Irish customers. Evidence that the company will be relocating to Ireland in the near future is also accepted.

The European de minimis threshold for import duties is harmonized. Goods with a value of up to 128 SDR / 150 EUR / 186 USD are exempted from customs duties. The VAT de minimis threshold is not harmonized within the EU and can vary between 10 and 22 EUR, i.e. Member States can decide on a value within this range to grant an exemption on VAT for imported goods.

According to Irland's de minimis rule, goods with a value of up to 19 SDR / 22 EUR / 27 USD are exempted from VAT.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. The Directive covers any type of infringement of third-party rights, including intellectual and industrial property rights and personality rights.

The limitations on liability in the Directive apply to clearly delimited activities (mere conduit, caching and hosting) carried out by internet intermediaries, rather than to categories of service providers or types of information. While it was not considered necessary to cover hyperlinks and search engines in the Directive, the Commission has encouraged Member States to further develop legal security for Internet intermediaries.

Since not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, the national case law is divergent and leads to legal insecurity on an EU level.

The Statutory Instrument No.68 implements the E-Commerce Directive into Irish law in an almost verbatim fashion. It provides, however, that the regulation cannot affect the power of any court to make an order against an intermediary service provider requiring the provider not to infringe, or to cease to infringe, any legal rights. It does not extend this exception to administrative authorities.

Under the Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws which implemented the Directive have been overturned.

In Ireland, the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 requiring 13 to 25 months data retention is still in force notwithstanding the ECJ ruling.

It is reported that the steps required to obtain business visas in Ireland are exceedingly numerous.

There are labour market tests for Contractual services suppliers (CSS) and Independent services suppliers (ISS). However, the so-called Green Card Employment Permit, which is designed to attract highly skilled people into the labour market, does not require a labour market test. ICT professionals dominate a "shortage list" for finding foreign workers, but are not necessarily exempted from a labour market test. There are no labor market tests for intra-corporate transferees (ICT).

In the European Union, there is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principle in the US. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test”. This is a clause in the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.

Ireland copyright law provides for fair dealing, that is a work may be used by anyone for the purposes of research or private study without the permission of the author, provided the use is conducted in a way which does not prejudice the rights of the copyright owner.

There is no formal screening process for foreign investment in Ireland. However, investors looking to receive government grants or assistance through one of the four state agencies responsible for promoting foreign investment in Ireland are often required to meet certain employment and investment criteria. These screening mechanisms are transparent and do not appear to impede investment, limit competition or protect domestic interests.

Every Irish company must have at least one director who is resident in the European Economic Area (EEA), unless either:
- The company has filed a non-resident bond to the value of EUR 25,000 with the Companies Registration Office;
- The company holds a certificate from the Companies Registration Office confirming that the company has a real and continuous link with one or more economic activities in Ireland.

The European Regulation No. 1042/2013 amending the Council Implementing Regulation No. 282/2011, declares that from January 2015, all supplies of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services will be taxable at the place where the customer belongs. These include, inter alia:
- images or text, such as photos, screensavers, e-books and other digitised documents e.g. PDF files;
- music, films and games, including games of chance and gambling games, and of programmes on demand;
- online magazines website supply or web hosting services distance maintenance of programmes and equipment;
- supplies of software and software updates advertising space on a website.

Both EU and non-EU suppliers have to register for VAT purposes and comply with the relevant obligations of the Member State where the customer is established, has his/her permanent address or usually resides. This may be burdensome as there are 81 VAT rates across the 28 EU countries and the rates may vary between 3% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary) across member states. Furthermore, member states impose varying thresholds at which companies must begin paying VAT, ranging from EUR 0 to EUR 60,000.

As an alternative to obtaining multiple VAT registrations in each Member State where a supplier has a customer, affected suppliers may be able to opt to account for VAT across the EU via a a web-portal in the Member State in which they are identified. Hence, the system, known as the Mini One-Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme, allows taxable persons to avoid registering in each Member State of consumption.

Casinos and drawing games are not allowed. Online gambling sites can operate after an authorization by the Gambling Supervisory Department of the State Tax Authority.

A .hu domain can only be applied for a citizen of the EU, a natural person domiliciled in Hungary or an established company/entity in the EU. Second level domains can, however, be applied for foreign persons or entities.

The European de minimis threshold for import duties is harmonized. Goods with a value of up to 128 SDR / 150 EUR / 186 USD are exempted from customs duties. The VAT de minimis threshold is not harmonized within the EU and can vary between 10 and 22 EUR, i.e. Member States can decide on a value within this range to grant an exemption on VAT for imported goods.

According to Hungary's de minimis rule, goods with a value of up to 19 SDR / 22 EUR / 27 USD are exempted from VAT.

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. According to the AVMS Directive on-demand services are not subject to any explicit, strict content quota, but Article 13 imposes on Member States the obligation to ensure that on-demand service providers promote European works. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.

Hungary has implemented Article 13 by imposing on video-on-demand (VOD) providers the obligation to reserve a share of European works in their catalogue.