In their economic agenda published on Monday, 1 September, France and Germany have called for the ‘REACH’ Regulation and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive to be simplified.
These recommendations are included in the ‘Single Market and Simplification’ section—one of the major strategic areas mentioned in this agenda, the aim of which is to “to put the Franco-German engine to work at the international, the EU and the bilateral level[s]”.
One of the objectives targeted by these two countries is to strengthen competitiveness by simplifying sectoral regulations. In the case of environmental law, France and Germany are not going against the simplification agenda advocated by the European Commission, that being to reduce the administrative burden without deregulating.
The ‘REACH’ (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation [and Restriction] of Chemicals) Regulation and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive—a revision of which was formally adopted in November 2024 (see EUROPE 13519/16)—are among the new simplification initiatives that France and Germany have requested.
The European Commission is expected to propose a revision of ‘REACH’ by the end of 2025 (see EUROPE 13640/12); on the subject of this regulation, France and Germany talk about pragmatism and laud digitalisation as a vector for efficiency. They specify that it will be necessary to “[e]nsure that information and data requirements continue to be practical, tiered and substance-specific”.
See the Franco-German Economic Agenda: https://aeur.eu/f/i8q (Original version in French by Florent Servia)