The Member States discussed the proposed regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and the management of end-of-life vehicles at the Environment Council on Tuesday 17 December. The regulation aims to improve sustainability and circularity in the automotive sector.
Further guidance was needed on the scope of the legislation and the level of environmental protection, according to the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council, which recently presented a first new version of the Commission’s proposal.
The Hungarian Presidency organised the discussion around four questions: - do the Commission and the Member States agree on a broader range of obligations?; - the Council of the EU has asked for guidance on trade and on the targets to be set for the manufacture of new cars; - should steel recycling be included in the regulation?; - clear rules are needed on end-of-life vehicles, particularly on parts to be recycled.
The scope of application. The Commission has tempered some of the proposals put forward by the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, defending for example a gradual and proportionate approach to heavy commercial vehicle companies, which would not be affected by all the requirements applied to private cars.
The extension of the scope of application is the subject of debate between Member States, particularly with regard to the loss of competitiveness and the administrative burden that this would entail.
What level of recycling? “Less than 20% of plastic is recycled from end-of-life vehicles”, said European Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall. The European Commission is maintaining its target of 25% recycled content for plastics in new vehicles. Not all countries support the 25% target. Germany, for example, has decided that “15% recycled content after 72 months would be acceptable”. France, on the other hand, supports the strengthening of “re-use and recycling requirements”. As with other issues, some countries are advocating the idea of a feasibility study to assess the possibility of increasing recycling targets.
Steel recycling. While some Member States would like the “reasonable steel target” to be set directly in the regulation, the European Commission considered this solution to be “premature”. There is currently “not enough data to decide on a target level for companies”, it says. However, Ms Roswall added that the institution had undertaken to carry out a feasibility study on this point “as soon as possible after the adoption of the regulation”. Stimulation of recycled steel and decarbonisation of major industrial sectors will also be targeted.
Several Member States considered that it would be necessary to study the feasibility of targets for recycled steel before including it in the legislation. Denmark and Austria, for example, have high ambitions in this area.
Removing parts. Clear rules will be needed to facilitate the removal of parts from end-of-life vehicles while improving the quality of derived products, according to the European Commission. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)