Environmental compliance

Environmental Omnibus

ENVI amendments on Authorised Representative and reporting frequency

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) is advancing work on two Environmental Omnibus proposals concerning:

• The planned suspension until 2035 of Authorised Representative (AR) requirements for EU-based producers selling into Member States where they are not established, and
• The harmonisation of EPR reporting at a maximum frequency of once every 12 months

Authorised Representative

On the suspension of the obligation to appoint an AR, proposed amendments to rapporteur Ingeborg Ter Laak’s draft report (see July’s Compass here) reveal a wider range of positions within ENVI.

Among the amendments, The Left proposes rejecting the suspension altogether, while Ter Laak had proposed limiting it to micro and small enterprises.

The Greens and S&D propose to limit the suspension further to micro enterprises in the textiles sector, while maintaining AR requirements for established EPR systems.

Both groups also propose shortening the suspension period compared with Ter Laak’s draft report.

For third-country producers, the S&D proposes mandatory ARs for textile producers, while Renew MEPs propose the same for producers under WEEE and single-use plastics.

Reporting frequency

On reporting frequency, proposed amendments also point in different directions.

While rapporteur Solís Pérez’s draft report retained the Commission’s proposed maximum reporting frequency of once every 12 months and added a centralised digital reporting mechanism (see also July’s Compass here), a Greens amendment would broaden this approach by allowing either a centralised EU mechanism or a network of interoperable national digital systems.

By contrast, The Left proposes, on environmental grounds, changing the proposed maximum frequency to a minimum of once every 12 months, thereby allowing Member States to require more frequent reporting where necessary.

ENVI is provisionally scheduled to adopt a position on the AR file on 1 October and on the reporting file on 4 November 2026.

Following the Parliament’s plenary votes, scheduled for 5 October and 11 November respectively, trilogue negotiations could begin, with the Council position already established and the institutions aiming to finalise the Environmental Omnibus by the end of 2026.

Batteries Regulation

JRC study and delegated regulation on recycled content methodology

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published a study proposing harmonised rules for calculating and verifying recycled content in batteries under Article 8 of the Batteries Regulation.

The study assesses different traceability and chain-of-custody models across complex battery supply chains and identifies plant-level mass-balance approaches with credit allocation as the most workable option, balancing traceability, verification, resource efficiency and administrative burden.

The JRC study also develops detailed calculation and verification approaches for two such models.

The findings are feeding into the Commission’s draft delegated regulation on recycled content, which will set the methodology for calculating and verifying the share of recycled cobalt, lithium, nickel and lead in batteries.

The draft is open for stakeholder feedback until 9 September 2026, ahead of minimum recycled-content thresholds applying from 2031 and becoming more stringent from 2036.

Non-collected e-waste levy

Council discussions set to move to political level

Negotiations on the proposed EU levy on non-collected e-waste are expected to move to the political level after the summer.

The levy forms part of the Commission’s proposed new own resources for the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034 and would be calculated based on the amount of e-waste not collected in each Member State.

The proposal remains under technical discussion in the Council Working Party on Own Resources, including discussions on the methodology for calculating non-collected e-waste.

The latest technical discussions took place in July. Once this work is completed, the file is expected to move further to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) and subsequently to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), where unanimity among Member States is required for the adoption of new EU own resources.

A Council general approach is currently expected for mid-October, as the Irish Presidency wants to present a new draft of the budget package in October, before the European Council meets on 15 October.