ITRE and IMCO draft opinions on the ESPR published (GEN - 1442.00)

GEN – 1442.00. The rapporteurs for opinion in the Parliament’s IMCO and ITRE committees have published their drafts opinions on the proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The perspectives in the two documents are quite different.

Background

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) proposal was submitted on 30 March 2022 to the Council of the EU and the European Parliament for co-decision. In the Parliament, the file was delegated to the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Two additional committees are providing opinions:

the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE),
the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).

ITRE draft opinion

The rapporteur for opinion in the ITRE committee is Ms Maria Spyraki (EPP, Greece). Her draft opinion was published on 9 November 2022.

The document is on the whole quite balanced and reflects much of the feedback from Eurovent and other energy-related industry associations. Ms Spyraki suggests building on the experience of the current Ecodesign instrument, which works because it regulates ‘measurable, verifiable parameters of the product based on a clear and transparent methodology’. She further stresses the importance of harmonised requirements at EU level, requirements that add value to users and do not jeopardise safety (e.g. Amendments 23 and 26), recognition that sustainability parameters can be interdependent and affect each other (e.g. Amendment 22), the need to avoid burdensome replications of information in existing databases (e.g. Amendment 14), and appropriate transition times after the publication of new requirements (e.g. Amendment 7).

Her draft opinion will be considered by the ITRE committee on 28 November 2022. The deadline for other ITRE committee members to submit amendments to the ITRE draft opinion is 1 December 2022.

IMCO draft opinion

The rapporteur for opinion in the IMCO committee is Mr David Cormand (Greens/EFA, France). His draft opinion was published on 10 November 2022.

Mr Cormand did not consult with any industry representatives. The focus of his opinion is on sustainability at any cost, even should it have a negative impact on the competitiveness of economic actors and the functionality of the products from the perspective of the user (e.g. Amendment 48). He also suggests deleting the free movement provisions in Article 3 of the ESPR proposal and allowing Member States to set more stringent requirements and restrict the entry and use of certain products based on environmental objectives (Amendments 40 and 41), thereby undoing one of the four fundamental freedoms of the Single Market. Mr Cormand seems keen on certain horizontal requirements and one-size-fits-all approaches instead of product-by-product requirements. He elaborates Ecodesign requirements on durability and repairability (Amendments 49), an EU-wide repair score (Amendment 56), and a durability index (Amendment 57).

Next steps

After the adoption of the ITRE and IMCO opinions in the weeks to come, the focus will move to the report in the main committee – the ENVI committee. The ENVI rapporteur is Ms Alessandra Moretti (S&D, Italy). Her draft report should be published in the weeks ahead and be considered in the ENVI committee on 12 January 2023.

In the Council of the EU, discussions are taking place within the Working Party on Energy and the Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth. The Competitiveness Council held an open session on 29 September 2022, a recording of which can be viewed here. The broad lines have been helpfully summarised by our partner Orgalim in the attached document GEN – 1442.03.