The proposed EU ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products’ Regulation, which will establish a framework for setting ecodesign and information requirements for all products except food, feed and medicines, will be debated by MEPs on Thursday 12 January, after having been the subject of a second ministerial exchange of views in late December (see EUROPE 13075/5).
MEP Alessandra Moretti (S&D, Italian), rapporteur for this dossier, welcomes the Commission’s proposal presented at the end of March (see EUROPE 12922/1), but wants to strengthen its scope, particularly in social terms, according to her draft report which will guide the discussion in the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Here are the main points:
Include the social sustainability of products. The rapporteur believes that in addition to setting ambitious environmental requirements, this ‘European Green Deal’ legislation should also include social aspects, as the Deal is also supposed to support economic growth, job creation and social inclusion. Therefore, Ms Moretti proposes to broaden the scope of the regulation to also cover social sustainability of products and due diligence aspects along the value chain.
Priority products. With regard to the development of ecodesign requirements, based on a prioritisation in the European Commission’s work programme, the MEP says that the Commission should justify its decision, if it chooses not to prioritise any of the product groups already identified as having the most negative impacts, namely: iron, steel, cement, aluminium, textile articles (including clothing and footwear), furniture (including mattresses), tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, energy-related products and ICT (information and communication technology) products.
The rapporteur also wants to strengthen the provisions on the right to information for consumers and end-users.
A forum on ecodesign that is a force for proposal. Furthermore, the rapporteur wants to strengthen the provisions on the Ecodesign Forum by making its functioning more transparent and by allowing this body to propose to the Commission to develop ecodesign requirements for a particular product group - proposals which the Commission would be obliged to take into consideration.
No to self-regulation. The draft report deletes the possibility of creating new self-regulatory measures, but introduces a transitional provision whereby Directive 2009/125/EC on the ecodesign of energy-related products would continue to apply to voluntary agreements or other self-regulatory measures adopted before the entry into force of the future regulation.
Destruction of unsold goods. Ms Moretti says that making the ban on the destruction of unsold products conditional on a future delegated act would delay action. She calls for a cross-cutting ban on the destruction of unsold goods for textiles and electronics.
See the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/4uf (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)