New ecodesign rules for sustainable products soon to be submitted to plenary vote
On 15 June 2023, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) adopted its final report on Establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC (also known as Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation). The report was prepared by MEP Alessandra Moretti (Italy, S&D), rapporteur for ENVI – lead Committee on the file. It was adopted by 68 members in favour, 12 against, and with 8 abstentions.
The Council of the EU had adopted its General Approach on the text towards the end of May. As a next step, the report will be submitted to vote in the European Parliament’s plenary session on Wednesday 12 July. The interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) will then start.
In both the European Parliament’s final report and Council’s General Approach, Annex I, which sets out the product parameters to be used for setting performance and information requirements for products in the scope of the Regulation, still includes the references to packaging of the initial Commission proposal (points i and p), risking to create overlapping requirements with the future Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
The European Commission’s proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) was published on 30 March 2022 as part of the Commission’s Circular Economy Package I. The objective of the proposed Regulation is to set a framework for the establishment of ecodesign requirements (both information and performance requirements) that products will have to satisfy to be allowed on the EU market.
The ESPR will repeal the existing Ecodesign Directive and extend its scope beyond energy-related products. While the ESPR will provide a general framework setting rules, detailed product requirements will be adopted as a second step. The Commission will adopt and regularly update a working plan, setting out product priorities for which ecodesign requirements should be laid down. On the basis of this working plan, it will then adopt delegated acts for those priority products, which will impose requirements related to, for instance, product durability, reusability or reparability.
What did you miss?
- 30 March 2022: Publication of Circular Economy Package I, including Commission’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation proposal
- 31 January 2023 - 12 May 2023: Public consultation on list of priority products to be covered by future Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation
What’s next?
- 12 July 2023: European Parliament plenary vote on final report on Establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC
- Q3-Q4 2023: Start of the interinstitutional negotiations
- Q1 2024: Expected adoption of Commission working plan setting priority products