On Wednesday 28 November, the Council adopted its position on the recast regulation on persistent organic pollutants (POP), the UN-agreed list of highly toxic substances.
The recast proposal will ensure that the Regulation is aligned with the Lisbon Treaty and the latest amendments to the Stockholm Convention in 2015 and 2017, which provides the global legal framework for eliminating the production, use, import and export of persistent organic pollutants. The previous text dates from 2004.
According to the Council, several amendments will improve the alignment of the Regulation with the general EU chemicals legislation and bring greater clarity, transparency and legal certainty to all parties involved in the implementation of the Regulation.
The Regulation will also transfer certain tasks from the European Commission to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
Thanks to this agreement, the Austrian Presidency will be able to start negotiations with the European Parliament, which adopted its position on the European Commission's proposal of 22 March 2018 on 15 November. According to the Council, a first inter-institutional negotiation meeting is expected to be held on 4 December. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)