Water legislation
UWWTD: negotiations in trilogue started
The European
Commission, the Council and the European Parliament have started negotiations
amongst themselves (trilogue) to agree on the final text of the future Urban
Wastewater Treatment Directive, both on the political and the technical levels.
The draft of the final UWWTD (recast) is expected in February 2024.
Water and agriculture
Pesticides: Parliament votes against water protection
in SUR rejection
The European Parliament's
plenary rejected the report of the Environment Committee (ENVI) on the
Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products Regulation (SUR). This follows the
submission of hundreds of amendments to weaken the ENVI report. Furthermore,
MEP's refused to refer the report back to the ENVI Committee. In practice, this
means that the SUR is dead and all our efforts were in vain. Member States
still need to decide whether they want to adopt a common approach or stop all
work on this topic.
EurEau regrets the
Parliament vote, as the ENVI report contained valuable provisions to improve
the protection of drinking water resources from pesticide contamination. You can read more here.
Pesticides:
Glyphosate authorisation extended
The European Commission has adopted the Implementing Regulation to renew
the approval of glyphosate for another 10 years, as Member States failed to
agree on a common position.
We will continue to keep an eye on the
situation. You can read our position here.
The Commission’s statement, the Q&A page and the Commission’s glyphosate webpage.
Nitrates Directive: Commission initiates evaluation process
The Commission
launched the evaluation of the Nitrates Directive by publishing a Call for
Evidence and a Public Consultation. This process may result in the revision of
the directive.
A strong and
effectively implemented directive is paramount for the protection of drinking
water resources.
The call for evidence and the public consultation are here.
Water and the environment
Chemical companies called upon to stop
producing PFAS
Top chemical
firms from around the world are being called upon to stop producing PFAS
chemicals, liking their continued manufacture and use to asbestos. The Investor
Initiative on Hazardous Chemicals (IIHC),
which is coordinated by ChemSec, informed the companies that they are leaving
themselves open to potentially costly health liabilities, like those faced by
companies that used asbestos after its health impacts were known.
Given their
persistence, mobility and the inherent difficulty of effectively removing them
from the urban water cycle, all uses of PFAS should be phased out rapidly and
PFAS themselves be banned.
You can read
more about water and PFAS here,
and more from ChemSec on this here.
Industrial Emissions Directive: Compromise reached in trilogue
The European
Parliament, Commission and Council agreed on a final version of the revised
Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) in late November, following trilogue
negotiations. The agreed text will oblige competent authorities to set the
lowest achievable emission limits and issue binding water consumption targets
when delivering permits to industrial facilities.
The compromise text
is expected to be adopted by formal votes in Parliament and Council early next
year.
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation: MEPs want PFAS ban
The European
Parliament’s plenary adopted the Environment Committee report on the Packaging and
Packaging Waste Regulation. While many provisions were weakened,
MEPs approved the ban for the use of the “forever
chemicals” PFAS and for Bisphenol A in food packaging.
EurEau strongly supports control-at-source measures
for these substances which are difficult to remove once they a released in the
water cycle.
Member States still have to adopt their position
before launching trilogue negotiations to agree the final provisions.
The text adopted by the EP Plenary is here.
Taxonomy: acts
published
The Taxonomy
Environmental Delegated Act and the amendments to the Climate Delegated Act
were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 21 November.
Pharmaceuticals
Legislative Package: Amendments tabled
Members of
the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee tabled amendments to the proposed Pharmaceuticals Directive and Regulation in November, showing a sharp split on
environmental aspects between the EPP, ECR and ID bloc and other political
groups. Most right-leaning MEPs moved to weaken or delete environmental
protection clauses from both texts. Amendments from other groups, by contrast,
largely preserved or reinforced these elements, with some introducing
additional requirements for medicines containing priority substances listed in
the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
In its
initial proposal, the Commission most notably obliged relevant authorities to
refuse market authorisation for pharmaceuticals whose environmental impact
assessment does not meet criteria laid out in the draft Directive and
Regulation.
Negotiations
over compromise amendments in ENVI are now set to take place ahead of a
Committee vote scheduled in March 2024.
Water as an essential service
Resilience: CER;
Commission defines essential services in Delegated Act
Pursuant to Article 5
of the Critical Entities Resilience Directive, the Commission adopted a
Delegated Regulation establishing a non-exhaustive list of essential services
based on the sectors identified in the annex to this Directive. This list will be
used by competent authorities for the purpose of conducting risk assessments
and to identify critical entities.
The delegated act
will have no impact on the inclusion of drinking water and wastewater
operators.
The Delegated Act is here.
Resilience: CI; Commission
Blueprint on disruptive Critical Infrastructure cross-border incidents
The Council is
currently discussing a Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation for a
Critical Infrastructure (CI) Blueprint in order to enhance the EU's
coordination to respond to disruptions of CI with significant cross-border
relevance. The Blueprint aims to improve awareness,
facilitate public communication and coordinate effective response to such incidents.
The proposed Blueprint is here.
Resilience: Security;
Commission Communication on threats from civilian drones
The Commission
presented a Communication on countering threats posed by unlawful and dangerous
use of drones that are designed for civil use.
The Communication is
accompanied by two JRC handbooks containing practical guidance on key
technical aspects of the EU
Drone policy.
To the Communication
and the handbooks here.
Resilience: CEN
adopted Workshop Agreements on critical infrastructures
CEN/CWA
18028:2023 addresses gaps in the
definition of electronic messages format exchanged during a crisis whereas CEN/CWA
18024:2023 provides requirements and recommendations for a
standardised set of information that can be used by affected CI to inform
national competent authorities.
Gigabit
Infrastructure Act (Broadband)
The Council
adopted its general approach on 5 December 2023. The Parliament adopted its
position in September. Trilogues started the very same day.
The exception
of drinking water infrastructure from the regulation has been maintained and
supported by all institutions. Furthermore, the Parliament but especially also
the Council, have underlined and strengthened the exceptions for critical
national infrastructure and critical infrastructure from the regulation.
