Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2015)596 - Amendment of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2015)596 - Amendment of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2015)596  |
| date | 02-12-2015 |
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
1.1General Context
The Union’s economy currently loses a significant amount of potential secondary raw materials which are found in waste streams. In 2013, total waste generation in the EU amounted to approximately 2.5 billion tons of which 1.6 billion tons were not reused or recycled and therefore lost for the European economy. It is estimated that an additional 600 million tons could be recycled or reused. By way of example, only a limited share (43%) of the municipal waste generated in the Union was recycled, with the rest being landfilled (31%) or incinerated (26%). The Union thus misses out on significant opportunities to improve resource efficiency and create a more circular economy.
With respect to waste management, the Union also faces large differences amongst its Member States. In 2011, while six Member States landfilled less than 3% of their municipal waste, 18 landfilled over 50%, with some exceeding 90%. This uneven situation needs to be redressed as a matter of urgency.
The proposals to amend Directive 2008/98/EC on waste 1 , Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste 2 , Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste 3 , Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles 4 , Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators 5 and Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment 6 form part of a Circular Economy Package which also includes a Commission Communication "Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the Circular Economy".
1.2Grounds for and objectives of the proposal
Recent trends suggest that further progress on resource efficiency is possible and that it can bring major economic, environmental and social benefits. Turning waste into a resource is an essential part of increasing resource efficiency and closing the loop in a circular economy.
The legally binding targets in EU waste legislation have been a key driver to improve waste management practices, stimulate innovation in recycling, limit the use of landfilling, and create incentives to change consumer behaviour. Taking waste policy further can bring significant benefits: sustainable growth and job creation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, direct savings linked with better waste management practices, and a better environment.
The proposal to amend Directive 2008/98/EC responds to the legal obligation to review the waste management targets in that Directive. The proposals which form part of the Circular Economy Package and amend the six Directives mentioned above build in part on the proposal that the Commission tabled in July 2014 and subsequently withdrew in February 2015. They are in line with the objectives of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap 7 and the 7th Environment Action Programme 8 , including full implementation of the waste hierarchy 9 in all Member States, decline in absolute and per capita waste generation, ensuring high quality recycling and the use of recycled waste as a major, reliable source of raw materials for the Union. They also contribute to the implementation of the EU Raw Materials Initiative 10 and address the need to prevent food waste. In addition, these proposals simplify the reporting requirements included in all six Directives.
2. RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
2.1Studies
The proposals and the accompanying impact assessment assess technological, socio-economic and cost-benefit aspects related to the implementation and further development of EU waste legislation. A supplement to the Impact Assessment was produced to analyse the potential effects of additional variants of the main policy options defined in the Impact Assessment.
2.2Internal consultation
Within the Commission an Impact Assessment Steering Group composed of various Commission services (SG, ECFIN, GROW, CLIMA, JRC, and ESTAT) followed the preparation of the legislative proposals.
2.3External consultation
An indicative list of issues to be tackled was developed by the Commission and the first interviews with key stakeholders started in February 2013. An online public consultation in line with the minimum standards for consultation was launched in June 2013, closing in September 2013. 670 responses were submitted, reflecting high public concern about the waste management situation in the EU and high expectations for EU action in this area. A specific consultation of Member States was held between June and September 2015 as well as a broader consultation on the circular economy.
2.4Impact assessment
An impact assessment report and an executive summary were published together with the proposal adopted in July 2014 11 . The impact assessment, which remains valid as the main analytical basis for the revised legislative proposals, evaluates the main environmental, social and economic impacts of various policy options to improve waste management in the EU. Various levels of ambition are assessed and compared to a 'baseline scenario' in order to identify the most appropriate instruments and targets while minimizing costs and maximizing benefits.
The Commission’s Impact Assessment Board delivered a positive opinion on the impact assessment on 8 April 2014, while making a number of recommendations to fine-tune the report. The Board requested to further clarify the problem definition and the need for new mid-term targets, strengthen the arguments in favour of a landfill ban from a subsidiarity and proportionality point of view and of uniform targets for all Member States, and explain in more detail how the varying performances of Member States are taken into account in the proposal.
Contents
The impact assessment led to the conclusion that a combination of Options will bring the following benefits:
– Administrative burden reduction in particular for small establishments or undertakings, simplification and better implementation including by keeping targets ‘fit for purpose’;
– Job creation – more than 170.000 direct jobs could be created by 2035, most of them impossible to delocalize outside the EU;
– GHG emission reduction – more than 600 millions of tons of green house gas could be avoided between 2015 and 2035;
– Positive effects on the competitiveness of the EU waste management and recycling sectors as well as on the EU manufacturing sector (better extended producer responsibility schemes, reduced risks associated with raw material access);
– Reinjection into the EU economy of secondary raw materials which in turn will reduce the dependency of the EU on raw materials imports.
An analytical note supplementing the impact assessment was issued together with the legislative proposal. In this note, a number of additional options and variants were analysed with the aim to better take into account the different starting positions of each Member State.
3. LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSALS
3.1Summary of the proposed action
– Alignment of definitions;
– Increase of the preparing for re-use and recycling target for municipal waste to 65% by 2030;
– Increase of the preparing for reuse and recycling targets for packaging waste and the simplification of the set of targets;
– Gradual limitation of the landfilling of municipal waste to 10% by 2030;
– Greater harmonisation and simplification of the legal framework on by-products and end-of-waste status;
– New measures to promote prevention, including for food waste, and re-use;
– Introduction of minimum operating conditions for Extended Producer Responsibility;
– Introduction of an Early Warning System for monitoring compliance with the recycling targets;
– Simplification and streamlining of reporting obligations;
– Alignment to Articles 290 and 291 TFEU on delegated and implementing acts.
3.2Legal basis and right to act
The proposals amend six Directives addressing the management of different wastes. The proposals to amend Directive 2008/98/EC, Directive 1999/31/EC, Directive 2000/53/EC, Directive 2006/66/EC and Directive 2012/19/EU are based on Article 192(1) TFEU, whilst the proposal to amend Directive 94/62/EC is based on Article 114 TFEU.
Article 11(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC sets down a 50% target for preparing for re-use and recycling of household and similar waste and a 70% target for preparing for re-use, recycling and other material recovery of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste by 2020. Pursuant to Article 11 i, by 31 December 2014 at the latest, the Commission had to examine those targets with a view to, if necessary, reinforcing them and considering the setting of targets for other waste streams, taking into account the relevant environmental, economic and social impacts of setting the targets. According to Article 9(c), the Commission had to set, by the end of 2014, waste prevention and decoupling objectives for 2020, based on best available practices including, if necessary, a revision of the indicators referred to in Article 29 i. Finally, pursuant to Article 37 i, in the first report that intervenes by 12 December 2014, the Commission had to assess a number of measures including producer responsibility schemes for specific waste streams, targets, indicators and measures related to recycling, as well as material and energy recovery operations that may contribute to fulfilling the objectives set in Articles 1 and 4 more effectively.
Article 5(2) of Directive 1999/31/EC sets down three targets for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills and bans the landfilling of certain waste streams. The last target for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfills has to be met by the Member States by 16 July 2016. Pursuant to Article 5(2), it shall be re-examined by 16 July 2014 with a view to confirming or amending it in order to ensure a high level of environmental protection and in light of the practical experience gained by Member States in the pursuance of the two previous targets.
Article 6(1) of Directive 94/62/EC sets down targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste which, pursuant to Article 6(5), shall be fixed every five years based on the practical experience gained in Member States and the findings of scientific research and evaluation techniques such as life-cycle assessments and cost-benefit analysis.
3.3Subsidiarity and proportionality principle
The proposals are in conformity with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union. They are limited to amending the abovementioned Directives by providing a framework establishing shared objectives, while leaving Member States free to decide about precise implementation methods.
3.4Explanatory documents
The Commission considers that documents explaining Member States' measures transposing the Directives are necessary in order to improve the quality of information on the transposition of the Directives.
Waste legislation is often transposed in a highly decentralised manner in the Member States, including on the regional or local level and in multiple legal acts, depending on the administrative structure of a Member State. As a result, in transposing the amended Directives Member States may have to amend a wide variety of legislative acts at national, regional and local levels.
The proposals amend six different waste Directives and affects an important number of legally binding obligations, including a comprehensive amendment of the targets contained in Directive 2008/98/EC, Directive 1999/31/EC and Directive 94/62/EC and a simplification of Directive 2000/53/EC, Directive 2006/66/EC and Directive 2012/19/EU. This is a complex review of waste legislation that will potentially affect a number of pieces of national legislation.
The revised targets for waste management contained in the amended Directives are inter-connected, and should be carefully transposed into national legislation and later on incorporated into national waste management systems.
The proposed provisions will affect a wide range of private and public stakeholders in the Member States and will have an important impact on future investments in waste management infrastructure. The complete and correct transposition of the new legislation is essential to guarantee that their objectives (i.e. protecting human health and the environment, increased resource efficiency, and ensuring the functioning of the internal market and avoiding obstacles to trade and restriction of competition within the EU) are achieved.
The requirement to provide explanatory documents may create an additional administrative burden on some Member States. However, explanatory documents are necessary to allow effective verification of complete and correct transposition, which is essential for the reasons mentioned above, and there are no less burdensome measures to allow efficient verification. Moreover, explanatory documents can contribute significantly to reducing the administrative burden of compliance monitoring by the Commission; without them, considerable resources and numerous contacts with national authorities would be required to track the methods of transposition in all Member States.
In view of the above it is appropriate to ask Member States to accompany the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the provisions of the Directives amending EU waste legislation and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments.
3.5Delegated and implementing powers of the Commission
The delegated and implementing powers of the Commission are identified and the corresponding procedures for adoption of these acts are established in paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22 of Article 1 of the proposal concerning Directive 2008/98/EC, paragraphs 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 of Article 1 of the proposal concerning Directive 94/62/EC, paragraphs 6 and 7 of Article 1 of the proposal concerning Directive 1999/31/EC and the amendments proposed in Articles 1 and 3 of the proposal concerning Directives 2000/53/EC and 2012/19/EU.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATION
The proposals will not have an impact on the European Union budget and is therefore not accompanied by the financial statement provided for under Article 31 of the Financial Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No1605/2002).