When movement restrictions were first announced across Europe due to the coronavirus outbreak, e-commerce was singled out as the big winner. Although it might have seemed an obvious prediction at the time, the situation surrounding the outbreak also raised concerns among some experts that the whole e-commerce structure could collapse due to the unprecedented demand with consumers being left no choice but to shop online.

European environmental programmes encourage or impose measures that reduce air pollution. Air quality standards have been established which compel national governments and urban areas to implement measures to reduce pollutants emitted by traffic.

In the face of the current Coronavirus pandemic that has shocked the world over recent months and weeks, governments at local, regional and national level are being forced to make some unprecedented decisions to protect the health an well-being of society, whilst simultaneously trying to avert a local/global economic meltdown.

The Decree that was adopted by the Italian Government on the 8th March to help combat the Coronavirus outbreak continues to restrict movements in the whole territory of Lombardy and in the 14 provinces of Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Marche, which include the following 14 cities:

The European Union has recently published a paper which acts as a guideline for border management measures to protect health and safety and ensure the availability of good and essential services across the European Union.