Wednesday 23 April saw the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets take stock of the effectiveness of the implementation of the ‘plastic tax’ at a time when the European Commission and the European Parliament are defending the adoption of new EU own resources.
The ‘plastic tax’ was “the first new own resource [adopted] since the 1980s”, as Parliament’s co-rapporteur on own resources Danuše Nerudová (EPP, Czech) pointed out, reviewing its implementation should enable the EU to avoid making the same mistakes when adopting new own resources.
Introduced in 2021 (see EUROPE 12849/13), the ‘plastic tax’ brought in more than €7 billion for the EU budget in 2023, or 4% of total EU revenue. It has been calculated on the basis of the volume of waste: for each tonne of non-recycled plastic packaging waste at the end of its life, Member States must pay €800.
In September 2024, an initial report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) revealed errors in forecasting waste volumes and the fact that the Directive on packaging and packaging waste had been incorporated into national legislation too late (see EUROPE 13483/2).
As a result, the majority of Member States had budgeted for smaller sums than they actually received. Two different methods were used to calculate the tax: one based on market data, the other on waste volume. “Only 14 Member States sent in data based on both methods”, stressed the ECA.
Lefteris Christoforou, the member of the Court responsible for the audit, also stated on Wednesday 23 April that the fall in plastics production that the ECA had expected had “not occurred”. The ‘plastic tax’ has the dual advantage of increasing own resources in the EU budget and reducing the EU’s environmental impact.
Sandra Gómez López (S&D, Spain), Parliament’s other co-rapporteur on own resources, called on the European Commission to carry out “exhaustive inspections” to encourage Member States to finally transpose the ‘plastic tax’. Hélder Sousa Silva (EPP, Portuguese) raised the issue of the sanctions to be applied in the event of non-compliance with the Directive by Member States.
The Court of Auditors and several MEPs have raised the issue of waste exports, which, according to Danuše Nerudová, “must not be used to circumvent the rules”. These exports must be carried out “in accordance with the provisions of the Directive”, and “in accordance with national legislation”, said the Court of Auditors, which called on the EU to “ensure that plastics are properly recycled”.
The Court called on the European Commission to learn from what happened with the ‘plastic tax’ when preparing new own resources. In its opinion, it will be necessary to ensure the quality and harmonisation of the data available. “Some own resources have not been implemented because we did not have satisfactory data”, the Commission said, adding that Member States would have to be asked to “improve the quality of their data” before new own resources could be implemented in the future. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)