The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted the report by Alessandra MORETTI (S&D, IT) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC.
The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:
Objective
This Regulation should establish a framework to improve the environmental sustainability of products, in order to make sustainable products the norm and to reduce their overall environmental footprint over their lifecycle. Ecodesign requirements, to be specified by the Commission in delegated acts, should also address product recycling.
Ecodesign requirements
When establishing ecodesign requirements in delegated acts, the Commission should allow economic operators sufficient time to adjust to the new requirements, taking particular account of the needs of micro-enterprises and SMEs.
When developing ecodesign requirements, the Commission should take into account the objectives of the Union in relation to:
- the climate, in particular the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest;
- the environment, including biodiversity, resource efficiency and security and reduction of the environmental, material and consumption footprints, and staying within the planetary boundaries;
- non-toxicity, energy efficiency and other related EU objectives;
- the do no significant harm principle;
- relevant international agreements;
- the prioritisation of measures in accordance with the waste hierarchy established by Directive 2008/98/EC.
In carrying out the impact assessments, the Commission should provide an assessment of (i) the expected reduction of the environmental, carbon and material footprints by the new ecodesign requirements; and (ii) any relevant consequences for human health.
Durability and reparability of products
The Commission should ensure that manufacturers: (i) do not limit the durability of a product making it prematurely obsolete; (ii) do not limit the reparability of products by impeding the disassembly of key components or limiting access to repair information and spare parts exclusively to authorised repairers.
Information requirements
Members strengthened certain provisions relating to the information rights of consumers and end-users.
The report stated that consumers and end-users must be provided with clear and easily understandable information to encourage sustainable consumption patterns and ensure that appropriate action is taken when a product reaches the end of its life.
All information relevant for a purchasing decision shall be provided to the consumers prior to the purchase of a product on the product’s packaging, in the digital product passport, on a label or on a free access website of application, as appropriate. Information that is essential to the health, safety, and rights of end-users should be provided in physical format with the product and be accessible through a data carrier included on the product.
Where appropriate, information requirements on the performance of the product related to reparability should take the form of a reparability score to enable end-users to easily compare the performance of products.
Members also strengthened the provisions relating to the Ecodesign Forum by making its functioning more transparent and by enabling the Eco-design Forum to propose to the Commission to prepare ecodesign requirements for a particular product group. take into consideration.
Comparison platform
No later than 12 months after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission should set up and maintain a publicly accessible online tool allowing stakeholders to compare information included in the product passports stored by the economic operator.
Prioritisation and planning
The current proposal allows the Commission to define, in the working plans, the products for which ecodesign requirements should be established as a priority.
Members consider that for the period 2024-2027, the Commission should consider prioritising the following product groups in the first working plan: (i) iron, steel; (ii) aluminium; (iii) textiles, notably garments and footwear; (iv) furniture, including mattresses; (v) tyres; (vi) detergents; (vii) paints; (viii) lubricants; (ix) chemicals; (x) energy related products, the implementing measures for which need to be revised or newly defined; (xi) ICT products and other electronics.
The work plan should be made public and presented to the European Parliament before its adoption. The Commission should justify its decision if it chooses not to give priority to any of the product groups listed.
Self-regulation measures
Self-regulation measures should include an explanation as to how the self-regulation measures improve the environmental sustainability of products in line with the objectives of this Regulation and ensures the free movement in the internal market more quickly or at a lesser expense than a delegated act.
Destruction of unsold consumer products
One year after the date of entry into force of the Regulation, the destruction of unsold consumer products by economic operators should be prohibited for the following product categories: (a) textiles and footwear; (b) electrical and electronic equipment. This provision would not apply to SMEs, but the Commission could, by means of delegated acts, provide that the ban on the destruction of unsold consumer products applies to medium-sized enterprises, micro-enterprises and SMEs.