Environmental compliance

What are the latest developments? We’ve picked out some highlights for September 2025:

Circular Economy Act and WEEE Directive: Commission launches consultation and evaluation
E-waste tax: Commission proposal in new MFF
Battery Due Diligence: Council confirms delay
EU waste legislation and EPR: Commission explores simplification
Environmental law: major implementation deficits in 4th EIR report

Circular Economy Act and WEEE Directive: Commission launches consultation and evaluation

Public consultation

The European Commission has launched a public consultation and call for evidence for the upcoming Circular Economy Act, which is expected in 2026.

Open until 6 November 2025 via the Have Your Say portal, the consultation seeks stakeholder input to shape a legislative framework aimed at scaling up the circular economy across the EU.

The Circular Economy Act is set to provide the EU with a more coherent legal framework for circularity, building a Single Market for secondary raw materials, supporting circular business models, and reducing dependency on primary raw materials.

It will also aim to boost investment in recycling and reuse, harmonise product design obligations, and stimulate demand through green public procurement and the right to repair.

WEEE evaluation

In further preparation to the forthcoming Circular Economy Act, the Commission has published a detailed evaluation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which will feed directly into the upcoming proposal.

According to the report, the current WEEE Directive remains relevant and coherent, but has failed to meet several key goals, most notably on collection rates and the recovery of critical raw materials.

Only three Member States met the 65% collection target for WEEE in 2022.

The evaluation found that nearly 50% of all e-waste remains uncollected, with low recycling rates and uneven implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules.

The Commission plans to revise the Directive to close these gaps, improve material recovery, and ensure better enforcement, particularly focusing on freeriders and online sales.

E-waste tax: Commission proposal in new MFF

On 16 July, the European Commission presented its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, outlining a nearly €2 trillion investment plan.

Alongside major funding programmes, and a new Competitiveness Fund, the proposal includes a package of new “own resources” to finance the EU budget. Among them is a potential tax on non-recycled electronic waste.

The e-waste levy would apply a uniform rate per kilogram of uncollected and unrecycled e-waste in each Member State.

Circular and budgetary goals

The goal is to encourage better collection and recycling of critical raw materials, while contributing to the EU’s budgetary needs in a way that aligns with green and circular priorities.

The Commission estimates revenues from this source of up to €15 billion per year.

The idea takes inspiration from the plastic packaging levy introduced in the last MFF, and reflects the Commission’s wider push to integrate circularity and fiscal sustainability.

However, the proposal is still in an early conceptual phase and will require agreement from all Member States and the European Parliament.

Caution

Landbell Group cautions EU policymakers against such a proposal, particularly in its current form.

It is important to develop ways to boost e-waste collection. However, the planned tax risks creating a double burden on producers that already finance EPR systems and are made financially liable for material losses beyond their control.

Instead, positive incentives to improve collection rates would be much more suitable. Producers should not be held accountable for such material losses, particularly in Member States where public infrastructure is lacking.

Furthermore, the question remains whether revenues would be sufficiently earmarked to support system improvements, public awareness or enforcement.

More fitting alternatives could include:

• rewarding overperformance at Member State level, and
• ensuring any new fiscal mechanism is directly linked to measurable environmental benefits and fair distribution of responsibilities

Next steps

The Commission’s proposal for a new MFF now enters interinstitutional negotiations, requiring support from all Member States and consent from the European Parliament. This process usually spans more than 18 months.

Battery Due Diligence: Council confirms delay

On 18 July, the Council of the EU formally adopted a new law postponing the application of due diligence obligations under the EU Battery Regulation by two years, from August 2025 to August 2027.

This “stop-the-clock” measure, previously endorsed by the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee, is part of the broader Omnibus IV simplification package. It aims to give battery producers and exporters more time to prepare for the upcoming requirements.

Under the Regulation, battery manufacturers are required to implement environmental and social due diligence systems, verified by third-party auditors, to mitigate adverse impacts across the supply chain.

However, industry stakeholders had raised concerns over the lack of authorised verification bodies and limited implementation guidance.

In response, the Commission will now publish detailed guidelines at least one year before the obligations enter into force.

The Commission has also published a delegated act establishing new rules for calculating and verifying recycling efficiency and material recovery from waste batteries.

The act, which entered into force on 24 July 2025, introduces harmonised methods for recyclers to measure performance and report results to national authorities.

It specifically targets the recovery of critical raw materials, such as cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, and lead.

The new methodology covers batteries containing lead-acid, lithium, nickel-cadmium and other chemistries.

It supports the ambitious recovery targets already laid out in Annex XII of the Battery Regulation, including a 70% recycling efficiency target for lithium batteries by 2030 and recovery rates of up to 95% for certain metals by 2031.

The delegated act is based on technical recommendations from the Joint Research Centre and aims to level the playing field for recyclers across the EU by enforcing consistent measurement criteria.

EU waste legislation and EPR: Commission explores simplification

As part of its broader drive to reduce regulatory burdens under the Competitiveness Compass, the European Commission has launched a new call for evidence for a forthcoming regulation to simplify environmental legislation.

The planned proposal, often referred to as the Environmental Omnibus Regulation, aims to reduce administrative complexity in the areas of waste, product and industrial emissions law, while maintaining existing environmental objectives.

Key areas under review include reporting and notification obligations under the Waste Framework Directive, as well as the harmonisation of provisions for extended producer responsibility (EPR).

In particular, the Commission is looking to streamline EPR rules for authorised representatives and facilitate reporting obligations across Member States.

Other measures under consideration include scrapping duplicative reporting, further digitalisation of reporting processes, and reducing permitting challenges for infrastructure projects.

The public consultation runs until 10 September 2025, and the final proposal is expected in Q4 2025.

Industry and civil society stakeholders are invited to provide feedback through the Commission’s Have Your Say portal.

Environmental law: major implementation deficits in 4th EIR report

The European Commission has published its fourth Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), revealing substantial gaps in how Member States are applying EU environmental law.

While some improvements are noted, most countries continue to fall short across key areas including waste management, circular economy, water and air quality, nature protection, and climate adaptation.

According to the Commission, poor implementation of EU environmental legislation costs the European economy around €180 billion each year, mainly through health impacts and environmental degradation.

The report identifies a persistent investment gap of €122 billion annually, with Germany and France alone advised to increase their environmental spending by roughly €20 billion per year to meet EU obligations.

Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall underlined the urgency of acting on the findings, calling implementation a “high-value investment” with major benefits for both environmental protection and economic competitiveness.

The Commission sees improved enforcement as essential to safeguarding Europe’s natural resources and securing a level playing field in the Single Market.