Environmental compliance… the latest developments

What are the latest developments concerning environmental legislation globally? We’ve picked out some highlights for you for June 2021.

ENVI Committee takes the lead on new EU Battery Regulation

The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) has taken the lead on the new EU Battery Regulation, as decided by the Conference of Presidents at its meeting on 29 April.

However, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), which was previously in charge, will remain co-advisory, as will the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). These two committees are also given exclusive competence for certain aspects of the Regulation.

Amendments to articles that fall within the exclusive competence of the IMCO or the ITRE Committee will be decided upon solely in these committees and will be directly included in the ENVI Committee’s report without being voted on there.

The responsible rapporteur in the ITRE Committee has already submitted an initial draft report, which is to be voted on together with further amendments on 15 July. Articles that fall within the exclusive competence of the ENVI Committee, as well as all articles with shared competence will be finally voted on by the ENVI Committee. The corresponding draft report by rapporteur Simona Bonafé is expected to be available in October. The vote in committee is planned for January with the final vote in plenary to follow one month later.

Landbell Group company European Recycling Platform (ERP) will continue to engage in the ongoing legislative procedure for the new Battery Regulation.

Stakeholder workshops to support revision of EU Packaging Directive

Consultancy firm Eunomia will be hosting six stakeholder workshops in June on its impact assessment study which supports the European Commission’s revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). The workshops’ aim is to inform selected stakeholders about the latest results of the impact assessment and to gather feedback about the impact of the proposed measures.

The six stakeholder workshops deal with the following topics:

1. Compostable packaging

2. Recyclability

3. Underpinning measures, green public procurement, enforcement and hazardousness

4. Recycled content

5. Waste prevention

6. Reusable packaging

Landbell Group has registered and will participate in all of the workshops.

The European Commission is expected to release its proposal for a directive or regulation in the first quarter of 2022. It recently became public that the original timetable for publication at the end of 2021 cannot now be met (see article from last COMPASS).

Amendments to German Packaging Law, WEEE Law and Treatment Regulation

The amendments to the German Packaging Law (VerpackG) have been approved. After the country’s Lower House approved the corresponding bill on 6 May, the Upper House gave its green light on 28 May. The revised law can now enter into force as planned on 3 July.

Throughout the parliamentary procedure, members of parliament made some changes to the draft adopted by the German government. For example, the approval authority will be empowered to request an assessment of a scheme’s financial capacity by the Central Packaging Register to support decision-making in the approval process. In addition, the “insolvency-proof security” to be provided by the schemes was deemed to be “adequate” if the period to be secured does not exceed three months.

Furthermore, on 7 May, the German Upper House gave the green light for the amendments to the country’s WEEE law (ElektroG), which was passed by parliament in April (see article from the last COMPASS).

Both laws now introduce requirements for online marketplaces and fulfilment service providers to check the compliance of their sellers with their extended producer responsibilities. In case of non-compliance they must stop their distribution of the products marketed by the affected sellers.

Landbell Group offers compliance solutions for packaging and EEE, and online solutions for companies placing small amounts of packaging onto the market via its EasyShop.

The Upper House also approved the new regulation on requirements for the treatment of WEEE (Treatment Regulation), but made some minor amendments to the version passed by the government (see article from the April issue of COMPASS).

New consultation on EU’s Textile Strategy

The European Commission has launched a new public consultation on its planned Strategy for Sustainable Textiles. Stakeholders have until 4 August to fill out and submit the 24-page questionnaire which asks for ideas to increase the competitiveness, sustainability and circularity of the textile sector.

The Textile Strategy is part of the European Commission’s Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the Industrial Strategy – all of which identified textiles as a priority sector in which the European Union can lead the global transition towards carbon neutrality and circularity.

The strategy is expected to be published in the third quarter of 2021.

For more information, please contact us.