What Else Should You Know?

If you’ve made it to this article, you should have a pretty good idea of the priorities of the packaging value chain and what keeps us busy at EUROPEN. But you know that there is always more than meets the eye. Here is what else you should know about:  

 Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) 

• 30 March 2022: Publication of the European Commission’s legislative proposal  

• Responsible European Parliament Committee: ENVI; Committees for opinion: IMCO, ITRE 

• 28 March 2023: ITRE Committee vote on its final opinion 

• 24 April 2023: IMCO Committee vote on its final opinion 

• 22 May 2023: Adoption of the Council’s General Approach at the Competitiveness Council  

• 15 June 2023: ENVI Committee vote on its final report 

• 12 July 2023: Plenary vote on the European Parliament’s ESPR report 

• 30 August 2023 – ongoing: Interinstitutional negotiations  

• Q1 2024: Expected adoption of the Commission’s working plan 2024-2027 establishing priority products in scope of the Regulation  

 Green claims Directive 

• 22 March 2023: Publication of the European Commission’s legislative proposal 

• April 2023: Start of discussions in Council, both at the Working Party on the Environment and at the Working Party on Consumer Protection and Information 

• Responsible European Parliament Committees: ENVI & IMCO (jointly); Committee for opinion: AGRI 

• 23 May 2023: ENVI and IMCO Committee debates on the file 

• 11 October 2023: Publication of ENVI & IMCO rapporteurs’ joint report 

• 27 October 2023: Deadline for AGRI amendments 

• 09 November 2023: Deadline for ENVI & IMCO amendments  

• 24 January 2024: AGRI Committee vote on its final opinion 

• 14 February 2024: ENVI & IMCO Committees’ vote on their final report 

 Regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution  

• 16 October 2023: Publication of the European Commission’s legislative proposal 

• The Commission’s proposal aims to prevent microplastic pollution from the unintentional release of plastic pellets. It lays down obligations for the handling of plastic pellets at all stages of the supply chain to prevent losses, and includes requirements on:  

• Best handling practices for operators 

• Mandatory certification and self-declarations 

• A harmonised methodology to estimate losses  

• Tailored/lighted requirements for SMEs 

European Commission work programme 2024 

• 17 October 2023: Publication of the European Commission’s work programme 2024 

• New initiatives to be published in 2024, the last year of this Commission’s mandate, are available here. This document also includes an overview of:  

• Evaluations and fitness checks for 2024,  

• Proposals and initiatives to rationalise reporting requirements (adopted by the Commission since March 2023 and proposals to come)  

• Pending proposals (published but not yet adopted, e.g. PPWR proposal and WFD review proposal), and 

• Withdrawals (which the Commission intends to withdraw within six months) 

 

More to come in the next months… stay tuned!