Negotiators from the European Parliament, led by Alessandra Moretti (S&D, Italian), the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission made little progress in their second interinstitutional negotiating session (trilogue) on Tuesday 7 November on the ESPR ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products’ regulation, which will establish a framework for setting ecodesign and information requirements for almost all products placed on the EU market (see EUROPE 13241/15, EUROPE 12922/1).
At the end of the two-hour trilogue, the negotiators said that a great deal of technical work was still needed to reach an agreement.
Negotiations covered the ban on the destruction of unsold goods, dangerous substances of concern, the Commission’s work programme, comitology and consultation with the Member States.
Positions on the group of experts from the Member States, which the EU Council is very keen to be consulted on, are coming closer together, but a formula needs to be found at a technical level so that this specific consultation can be maintained without delaying the decision-making process, it being understood that a consultative forum is already provided for in the proposal for a regulation.
On the other points, the negotiators have not made much progress.
The EU Council is still opposed to including provisions on dangerous substances, as requested by the European Parliament, which wants to strengthen the approach to monitoring and restricting substances of concern in products. At best, a reference could perhaps be made in the text to other EU legislation on chemicals, such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), or CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals and Mixtures).
With regard to the destruction of unsold goods, Parliament’s call for an immediate ban on the destruction of unsold textiles, footwear and electrical and electronic equipment goes too far, according to the EU Council, which agrees to this for textiles only, with a four-year derogation for medium-sized enterprises and a general derogation for small and micro-enterprises.
As far as comitology is concerned, Parliament is still in favour of delegated acts, which allow it to have its say, whereas the EU Council has a preference for implementing acts.
With regard to the Commission’s work programme, the indicative list drawn up by the European Parliament for the development of priority ecodesign requirements (see EUROPE 13222/4) is not acceptable to the EU Council, which prefers to stick to a Commission communication.
The date for the third trilogue has been set for 4 December, with the three institutions hoping to be able to conclude negotiations on that date. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)