European Commission trims environmental and water legislation

The European Commission has proposed a package of measures to simplify environmental and water legislation. The simplification package consists of six legislative proposals and includes industrial emissions and extended producer responsibility. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden for businesses and strengthen the EU’s competitiveness. Environmental and water organisations are afraid the simplifications will weaken existing water laws. This legislative proposal from the Commission will now be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for adoption.

European Commissioner Jessika Roswall for Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy stated on LinkedIn that there is no conflict between high environmental standards and competitiveness. “The two go hand in hand. Many companies are directly dependent on functioning ecosystems, such as clean water. At the same time, some of today’s environmental laws are unnecessarily complicated, especially for small businesses, and lead to a lot of administration without providing corresponding environmental benefits. This needs to change if we want to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and productivity.”

Extended producer responsibility (EPR)

One of the proposed simplifications concerns extended producer responsibility (EPR). According to these rules EU-based companies have to appoint an authorised representative to fulfil their obligations. It means companies must set up this system in every Member State where they are not established and sell products. The Commission proposes to suspend this obligation for European producers while further streamlining of the EPR schemes under the Circular Economy Act is pending. According to the European federation of national water services EurEau any postponement of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes would put at risk financing for advanced treatment technologies needed to safeguard ecosystems and drinking water sources.

Alleviate administrative burden industrial emissions

The European Commission aims to enable companies to have more flexibility under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) in implementing environmental management systems. “For instance, the requirement to include transformation plans will be removed. More time will be given to operators for the preparation of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). There will be no need for independent audits for EMS. Farmers and aquaculture operators will be exempted from certain reporting obligations, therefore alleviating administrative burden. Moreover, the scope of farming activities will be simplified and duplications for organic farms reduced,” states the European Commission in a Press Release.

Getting permits will be easier

The proposal wants project developers to benefit from simplified and accelerated procedures, including single points of contact, digitalisation and faster procedures. ‘These measures will speed up key projects necessary for the EU economy. In addition, the proposal includes a toolbox with additional accelerating measures for strategic sectors and projects that contribute to decarbonisation or resource efficiency, including affordable housing.’ MEP Thomas Bajada, rapporteur of the water resilience strategy warns on LinkedIn that “Europe’s water resilience cannot be built while weakening the very laws that protect our water.”

Better access to geospatial data

The last proposal in this omnibus package aims to align current technical requirements for geospatial data under the INSPIRE Directive with the horizontal legislation governing public sector high value geospatial data. This simplification will lower compliance costs for public authorities and facilitate access to high value geospatial data sets for all public and private users.

Eighth omnibus package

The European Commission expects that the environmental omnibus package can save businesses approximately €1 billion per year, bringing the annual administrative savings stemming from the omnibuses and other simplification initiatives the Commission has already presented to almost €11 billion per year. This Environmental Omnibus package marks the eighth omnibus proposal. The Commission set a course to simplify EU rules to make the EU economy more competitive and more prosperous, with a clear target to deliver an unprecedented simplification effort by achieving at least 25% reduction in administrative burdens, and at least 35% for SMEs until the end of 2029.