No destroying unsold goods: EU countries agree on green product rules

The EU’s 27 countries have agreed a common position on the revamp of the bloc’s sustainable product rules, following strenuous negotiations about a sweeping ban on the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.

Consumer products like clothing are considered to be a burden on the climate, with some estimates stating that up to 10% of global CO2 emissions are textile-related. 

To reduce the waste associated with consumer products and boost their reuse in some shape or form, the EU’s executive launched a reform of the product rules framework in 2022 – known as the Ecodesign regulation.

On Monday (22 May), the EU27 agreed their joint position on the reform ahead of negotiations with the European Parliament. 

“The Ecodesign regulation will make sure that products sold in the EU market are fit and ready for the green transition,” Ebba Busch, the Swedish minister in charge of the negotiations among the EU countries, said in Brussels on Monday.

The Swedes’ job, getting 27 capitals to agree to a common text, had been made much more challenging following a Franco-German push to outlaw the destruction of unsold textiles, footwear, and clothes.

The departure from the original proposal from the European Commission delayed negotiations at ambassador level in Brussels, leaving a compromise that gave most countries room to complain.

At the heart of the Ecodesign rules will be the new “digital product passport” that will display information about a given product’s environmental sustainability. Brussels argues that this will help consumers make more informed choices.

The law itself contains no actual product requirements, but instead creates a broad framework for future product standards to be adopted in Brussels. Exemptions were created for vehicles, medicine and foodstuffs. 

“In the future, products must be energy-efficient and also durable, repairable, reusable and recyclable in order to be offered on the EU’s internal market,” explained Sven Giegold, a former green EU lawmaker who now handles the negotiations on behalf of Germany.

Yet, he complained, public attention was elsewhere despite the importance of the rules for the EU’s climate goals. 

The European Parliament has yet to adopt its own position on the law, after which closed-door negotiations can begin to finalise the Ecodesign regulation. 

Council divided

The EU27 agreed on their position in broad strokes only, in part due to the push to ban the destruction of unsold goods, with many countries voicing some level of discontent.

“While it is a very delicate compromise, we believe that it offers a fair balance between the various wishes expressed by the delegations,” noted Sweden’s Busch. 

On environment, ambition was kept high.

“The council has overall maintained the level of ambition on environmental sustainability,” said Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius.

While some EU countries perceive the proposed empowerment of the European Commission as the sole standard-setter as an infringement on their turf, Sinkevičius sought to calm the room.

“This does not mean preparing the work without member states,” he added.

The Council, representing the member states, instead wants to have its fair say in the process of creating sustainable product rules: The 27 agreed to create a group of experts selected by the capitals to take part in the decision-making process.

But the agreement left Italy, and some of its allies, deeply unhappy.

“We have contributed actively to the negotiations of the text,” noted Adolfo Urso, the Italian minister of business and ‘Made in Italy’ (FDI/ECR).

Italy is home to a large number of textile producers and fashion companies – with a turnover of about €56 billion before the pandemic – many of which are SMEs.

The minister complained that the agreement “does not altogether seem to reflect the balance between the various interests at play”.

Cutting red tape – excluding medium-sized companies from the sustainability rules forever instead of the transitional period of four years – would increase the industry’s competitiveness “especially at this time,” Urso noted.

He submitted his grievances to the Council in a statement circulated to other EU member states and made available to EURACTIV. Several EU countries voiced their support for the Italian position, including Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.

Germany, for its part, wasn’t entirely happy with the agreement either. Berlin, too, submitted a document with extra wishes. “Germany sees further need for improvement in the context of the upcoming negotiations with the Parliament,” the statement reads.

Suggested changes include putting public procurement to task with stricter sustainability standards as well as a clamp-down on the construction product sector – EU countries should be barred from exempting construction products from the product rules, Germany argues.

Asked why the 27 signed up to a compromise they were clearly unhappy with, Germany’s Giegold said: “That’s called a compromise.”

All eyes are now on the European Parliament, where the Italian socialist EU lawmaker Alessandra Moretti must get the hemicycle on board in order to begin the final negotiations with the Council.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

 

 

 

 

cover photo:The EU's 27 countries have agreed to support stricter rules on product sustainability, including a ban on destroying unsold clothes and footwear. [EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET]