European Commission wants to exclude SMEs from regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses

The EU Member States were in for a major surprise when the Committee of Permanent Representatives discussed the regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses on Wednesday 2 April.

The European Commission, which had excluded SMEs from its proposal, threatened to oppose the text if the Council of the EU and the Parliament came to an agreement on this issue during their negotiations, according to two diplomatic sources. As part of its simplification objectives, the European Commission argued that the administrative burden would be too great for SMEs.

The Commission intends to use Article 294(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU to oblige the EU Council to act unanimously “on amendments on which the Commission has delivered a negative opinion”. 

However, 26 of the 27 Member States have aligned themselves with the Polish Presidency’s compromise, including the certification requirement for small businesses handling more than 1,000 tonnes of plastic pellets per year. As Germany has not aligned itself, after expressing strong reservations, recourse to Article 294 could jeopardise the agreement. 

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have made provision for exemptions to give medium-sized businesses (36 months) and small businesses (60 months in the Parliament's mandate, 48 months in the EU Council’s) time to comply. 

The Council of the EU believes that excluding SMEs would run the risk of excluding “small businesses that handle large quantities” of plastic pellets, a source told Agence Europe last December (see EUROPE 13539/12). 

A second interinstitutional meeting (‘trilogue’) will take place on Tuesday 8 April. At the first meeting, the European Parliament defended a broader scope for the text, calling in particular for the “total elimination” of plastic pellets rather than merely “limiting their loss”.

Again according to Parliament, the revenue from sanctions against polluters must “be used to support projects aimed at cleaning up areas polluted by plastic” (see EUROPE 13569/10). (Original version in French by Florent Servia)