Negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission (trilogue) will resume on Thursday 21 September on the November 2021 proposal for a regulation to tighten the rules on the shipment of waste within the European Union and to non-OECD countries (see EUROPE 12834/3).
For this second trilogue, the discussions should not be too political, according to the revised mandate given to the Spanish Presidency of the Council by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 13 September.
An inaugural trilogue at the end of May enabled the negotiators to present their positions, adopted respectively on 24 May by the Council (see EUROPE 13187/2) and in January by the Parliament (see EUROPE13101A4).
When it comes to this extremely technical legislation, which will have huge implications for national administrations, the Member States are primarily concerned with practicality and legal consistency.
Negotiations will focus on the objectives, definitions and common formulations to be found for the language regime of the electronic data system, bilateral agreements with EFTA countries and exports to OECD countries. The issue of transparency of information for the public, which Parliament wishes to include in the regulation, could be addressed.
The most difficult issues, such as the ban on the export of plastic waste - a demand dear to the hearts of Parliament’s negotiators, led by Danish MEP Pernille Weiss (EPP) -, the obligations of exporters and penalties for breaches of the rules will be saved for the third trilogue. The date of 26 November is being considered. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)