Simplification of some requirements and reduction of administrative burden in waste and industrial emissions legislation (Omnibus VIII on environmental legislation)
PURPOSE: to provide for limited and targeted modifications to certain directives in the field of the environment with regard to the simplification of some requirements and the reduction of the administrative burden.
PROPOSED ACT: Directive 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: a solid body of Union environmental law now exists. The Commission is committed to ‘stress-test’ all EU laws under its current term of office. The content of this proposal (and others in the ‘omnibus’ package) represents the initial outcome of the Commission’s ongoing ‘stress-testing’ in the environment area built on extensive engagement with stakeholders with stakeholders.
The omnibus package addresses legislation related to the circular economy, the operation of industrial installations, the management of geospatial data, and environmental permitting.
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 in Directives 2008/98/EC, 2010/75/EU, (EU) 2015/2193 and (EU) 2024/1785 of the European Parliament and of the Council whilst maintaining the policy objectives of the European Green Deal, and the Sustainable Finance Action Plan.
CONTENT: the proposed directive aims more specifically to make targeted amendments to the following instruments:
(1) Directive 2008/98/EC on waste
The proposal:
- provides for the removal of the SCIP database, which is considered little used, redundant with the information obligations provided for by the REACH regulation and is intended to be replaced by digital product passports and new labelling requirements;
- harmonises the frequency of producer declarations under extended producer responsibility (EPR) in all Member States to reduce administrative burdens, particularly for companies operating in several countries and SMEs;
- removes the authority given to the Commission to establish indicators for monitoring waste prevention, due to the lack of mandatory application requirements.
(2) Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial and livestock rearing emissions (IED)
The proposal:
- allows several installations in the same Member State, under the control of the same operator or belonging to the same company to be covered by a single environmental management system;
- repeals the requirement to include in the environmental management system a chemical inventory of the hazardous substances present in or emitted from the installation;
- repeals the auditing requirement for environmental management system, as well as the obligation to develop indicative transformation plans to be included in the environmental management systems;
- gives more time to operators to prepare and implement the environmental management system by postponing such deadline from 2027 to 2030;
- exempts organic poultry farms from the scope of the directive and adjust the conversion rate used to calculate the livestock unit level of an installation with regard to unweaned piglets.
(3) Directive (EU) 2015/2193 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the atmosphere from medium combustion plants
The proposal:
- introduces more flexibility for the authorisation of installations using oxy-fuel combustion, leaving the competent authorities some latitude to assess compliance with emission limit values;
- provides for the establishment of a specific exemption from compliance with certain emission limit values for combustion plants firing gas with more than 20 % (by volume) of hydrogen along with safeguard measures would ease permitting of medium combustion plants and industrial emission installations using hydrogen combustion while maintaining a high level of environmental protection;
- reduces the administrative burden stemming from unnecessary reporting requirements for certain recent back-up generators by setting a threshold for a minimum number of operating hours of such generators below which the frequency of periodic measurements would be lowered.
(4) Directive (EU) 2024/1785 amending Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) and Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste.
Three provisions contained in Directive (EU) 2024/1785 trigger the need to start revising all IED permits in July 2026 (as this is the deadline for transposing this directive and no transitional provisions are applicable).