Negotiators from the European Parliament, led by Biljana Borzan (S&D, Croatian), the Council of the EU and the European Commission will meet again on the evening of Tuesday 19 September to negotiate “to the finish” the March 2022 proposal for a directive aimed at empowering consumers in the green transition by making informed choices at the time of purchase (see EUROPE 12922/4).
The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), meeting in Brussels on Friday 15 September, provided a mandate to press ahead with the inter-institutional negotiations (trilogue) in the hope that this trilogue would be conclusive. The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU made this one of its priorities, putting the issue on the agenda of the informal meeting of European consumer ministers in Bilbao in July (see EUROPE 13229/8).
This proposal aims to amend EU legislation to give consumers a right to information on the lifespan and reparability of products (amendment of Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights) and to better protect them against non-credible environmental claims (greenwashing) and premature product obsolescence (amendment of Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices).
The issues still to be resolved as part of an overall compromise package include: - definitions; - inclusion of certain practices on the blacklist of prohibited unfair practices; - compulsory labelling of the commercial guarantee of product durability in addition to the legal guarantee, a demand that is important to Parliament (see EUROPE 13180/17, 13151/10); - the deadlines for transposing the directive, which the Council wishes to extend to 24 months (see EUROPE 13174/10); - consistency with the regulatory framework proposed by the Commission to combat misleading environmental claims and greenwashing by setting minimum requirements and common criteria for the substantiation and communication of ‘green’ claims by companies (see EUROPE 13147/6). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)