Simplification of some requirements and reduction of administrative burden in the areas of batteries and industrial emissions reporting (Omnibus VIII on environmental legislation)
PURPOSE: to amend the Batteries Regulation and the Industrial Emissions Portal Regulation with a view to simplifying certain requirements and reducing administrative burdens.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: in the context of the Commission’s commitment to reduce reporting burdens and compliance costs, advance interoperability, and enhance competitiveness, it is necessary to adapt certain provisions set out in Regulations (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries and (EU) 2024/1244 on reporting of environmental data from industrial installations establishing an Industrial Emissions Portal of the European Parliament and of the Council whilst maintaining the policy objectives of the European Green Deal, and the Sustainable Finance Action Plan.
This proposal is part of a set of measures aimed primarily at reducing administrative formalities for economic operators.
CONTENT: the proposal provides for limited and targeted amendments to Regulations (EU) 2023/1542 and (EU) 2024/1244 in the field of the environment.
(1) Batteries regulation
- Amending producer definition for distance contracts: it is clarified that a manufacturer, importer or distributor or other natural or legal person that sells batteries in a Member State and is established in another Member State or in a third country, qualifies as a producer, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts.
- Adding a definition for substances of very high concern: it is proposed to better define the scope of the substances that need to be labelled by referring to substances of very high concern identified in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) and Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 (CLP).
- Exclusion of battery packs from removability and replaceability requirements: to achieve the right balance between safety and repairability, light means of transport (LMT) battery packs should be removable and replaceable by independent professionals, but at module level instead of cell level.
- Simplification of redundant reporting: the requirement for the Commission to review and publish a report on data from Member States should be deleted to allow for a more adaptable data review process. The Commission should retain the ability to assess data as needed and discretionarily determine the appropriateness of the publication of a report.
(2) Industrial emissions portal regulation
The Commission proposes:
- exempting livestock and aquaculture operators from reporting on water, energy and materials use;
- allowing Member States to exempt operators of livestock production and aquaculture installations from reporting on off-site transfers of waste, off-site transfers of pollutants in wastewater, production volume and number of operating hours, provided that this information can be gathered by Member States by other means. Should this condition be met, Member States will be allowed to report more information than releases to air, water and land on behalf of individual livestock and aquaculture operators.
The savings associated with the changes to the Regulations are estimated using the Standard Cost Methodology and include EUR 70 million for the Industrial Emissions Portal. For the Batteries Regulation, the benefit comes from clarifying the legal text.