By ratifying, on Thursday 11 January, several provisional agreements reached at the end of 2023 between the Parliament and the Council of the EU on environmental legislation concerning chemical substances, shipments of waste and industrial emissions, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) have worked to ensure that these legislative proposals have chance of becoming law before the European elections.
Chemical substances. Political agreement on the proposal for a Regulation on classification, labelling and packaging of chemical substances and mixtures (revision of the CLP Regulation) [rapporteur: Maria Spyraki (EPP, Greek) was approved by 70 votes to one with nine abstentions. The text aims to put in place harmonised rules applicable to all suppliers before their chemical products are placed on the market, taking into account the new hazard classes, to provide consumers and users with clear and legible information on the risks. It also provides for a temporary derogation for essential oils with regard to the classification of the hazards of more than one constituent substance (see EUROPE 13307/5).
Industrial emissions. MEPs confirmed (75 votes in favour, 4 against, 2 abstentions) their agreement on the proposed strengthening of the directive governing industrial emissions and on the corollary proposal for a regulation on the emissions portal [rapporteur: Radan Kanev, EPP, Bulgarian). Under this political agreement, large-scale intensive livestock farming will be included in the scope of application, although the ambition of the initial proposal will be lowered by excluding beef farms and raising the livestock unit thresholds above which the new rules will apply (see EUROPE 13303/1).
By 81 votes to one with no abstentions, the ENVI Committee also endorsed the agreement on the revision of the Shipments of Waste regulation [rapporteur: Pernille Weiss (EPP), Danish] to restrict waste exports, prevent illegal shipments and encourage recycling within the EU. Plastic waste may no longer be exported to non-OECD countries within two and a half years of the regulation coming into force (see EUROPE 13295/6).
The political agreement on the targeted revision of Directive 2012/19/EU on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) to bring this legislation into line with a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU [rapporteur: Anna Zalewska (ECR, Polish)] was unanimously approved (see EUROPE 13305/28, 13298/18). This ruling invalidated provisions that were unduly retroactive for producers of photovoltaic panels.
The European Parliament could vote on these four provisional interinstitutional agreements at its plenary session from 11 to 13 March - an indicative date at this stage.
See the provisional agreement on the CLP regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/acj ; the agreement on industrial emissions: https://aeur.eu/f/ack ; the agreement on the emissions portal: https://aeur.eu/f/acl ; and the agreement on the WEEE directive: https://aeur.eu/f/9w7 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)