36 Amendments of René REPASI related to 2023/0085(COD)
Amendment 112 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) While unfair commercial practices, including misleading environmental claims, are prohibited for all traders pursuant to Directive 2005/29/EC84 , an administrative burden linked to substantiation and verification of environmental claims on the smallest companies could be disproportionate and should be avoided. To this end, microenterprises should be exempted from the requirements on substantiation of Article 3 and 4 unless these enterprises wish to obtain a certificate of conformity of explicit environmental claims that will be recognised by the competent authorities across the Union. _________________ 84 Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to- consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive) (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22) as amended.
Amendment 136 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 37
Recital 37
Amendment 151 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 46
Recital 46
(46) Environmental labelling schemes established by private operators, if too many and overlapping in terms of scope, may create confusion in consumers or undermine their trust in environmental labels. Therefore, Member States should only allow that new environmental labelling schemes are established by private operators provided that they offer significant added value as compared to the existing national or regional schemes in terms of environmental ambition of the criteria to award the label, coverage of relevant environmental impacts, and completeness of the underlying assessment. Member States should set up a procedure for the approval of new environmental labelling schemes based on a certificate of conformity drawn up by the independent verifier. This should apply to schemes established in the Union and outside of the Union, including existing schemes.
Amendment 167 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 54
Recital 54
(54) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should be able to benefit from the opportunities provided by the market for more sustainable products but they could face proportionately higher costs and difficulties with some of the requirements on substantiation and verification of explicit environmental claims. The Member States should provide adequate information and raise awareness of the ways to comply with the requirements of this Directive, ensure targeted and specialised training, and provide specific assistance and support, including financial, to SMEs wishing to make explicit environmental claims on their products or as regards their activities. Member States actions should be taken in respect of applicable State aid rules. To ensure a level playing field for SMEs across the European Union, Member States should engage in regular dialogue about the support measures for SMEs in place on regional and national levels respectively.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 66
Recital 66
(66) In order to assess the performance of the legislation against the objectives that it pursues, the Commission should carry out an regular evaluation of this Directive, at least every two years, and present a report on the main findings to the European Parliament and the Council. In order to inform an evaluation of this Directive, Member States should regularly collect information on the application of this Directive and provide it to the Commission on an annual basis.
Amendment 175 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 67
Recital 67
(67) Where based on the results of the monitoring and evaluation of this Directive the Commission finds it appropriate to propose a review of this Directive, the feasibility and appropriateness of further provisions on mandating the use of common method for substantiation of explicit environmental claims, the extension of prohibition of environmental claims for products containing hazardous substances except where their use is considered essential for the society, or further harmonisation as regards requirements on the substantiation of specific environmental claims on environmental aspects or environmental impacts should also be considered.
Amendment 178 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 68
Recital 68
(68) The use of the most harmful substances should ultimately be phased-out in the Union to avoid and prevent significant harm to human health and the environment, in particular their use in consumer products. Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council90 prohibits the labelling of mixtures and substances that contain hazardous chemicals as ‘non-toxic’, ‘non- harmful’, ‘non-polluting’, ‘ecological’ or any other statements indicating that the substance or mixture is not hazardous or statements that are inconsistent with the classification of that substance or mixture. Furthermore, any products containing such hazardous chemicals shall not advertise any green claims, unless they have been proven to be essential for society and rely on the use of these chemicals. Member States are required to ensure that such obligation is fulfilled. As committed in the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability the Commission will define criteria for essential uses to guide its application across relevant Union legislation. . _________________ 90 Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1).
Amendment 180 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 68
Recital 68
(68) The use of the most harmful substances should ultimately be phased-out in the Union to avoid and prevent significant harm to human health and the environment, in particular their use in consumer products. Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council90 prohibits the labelling of mixtures and substances that contain hazardous chemicals as ‘non-toxic’, ‘non- harmful’, ‘non-polluting’, ‘ecological’ or any other statements indicating that the substance or mixture is not hazardous or statements that are inconsistent with the classification of that substance or mixture. Member States are required to ensure that such obligation is fulfilled. As committed in the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability the Commission will define criteria for essential uses to guide its application across relevant Union legislation. . _________________ 90 Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1).
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Directive applies to explicitall environmental claims made by traders about products or traders in business-to- consumer commercial practices that are not already addressed by equivalent or stricter provisions in sectorial legislation.
Amendment 238 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
(2) ‘explicit environmental claim’ means an environmental claim that is in textual form or contained in an environmental label. Claims that are not exclusively environmental but include, for example, social or quality aspects, fall into the scope of environmental claims;
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 a (new)
(2 a) Claims, based on carbon offsetting, that a product has a neutral, reduced, compensated, or positive greenhouse gas emissions’ impact on the environment shall be prohibited. Claims should only reflect the real environmental impacts of products, services and companies. Where offsetting mechanisms are employed, these may be mentioned without suggesting that they alter or minimize the environmental impact of the product, service or company in question. A detailed description of the offsetting mechanism used must be included;
Amendment 253 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8
(8) ‘environmental label’ means a sustainability label covering only or predominantartially environmental aspects of a product, a process or a trader;
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) identify whether improving environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance subject to the claim leads to significant harm in relation to environmental impacts, including on climate change, resource consumption and circularity, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, pollution, biodiversity, animal welfare and ecosystems, where this is the case, advertisement of the claim shall not be permitted;
Amendment 343 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h
(h) separate any greenhouse gas emissions offsets used from greenhouse gas emissions as additional environmental information, specify whether those offsets relate to emission reductions or removals, and describe how the offsets relied upon are of high integrity and accounted for correctly to reflect the claimed impact on climatewithout suggesting that they alter or minimize the environmental impact of the product, service or company in question, but nevertheless including a detailed description of the offsetting mechanism used;
Amendment 349 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
(h a) prohibit products containing hazardous substances from displaying Green Claims, unless the use of these products is proven as being essential to society and they cannot be produced without said hazardous substances
Amendment 350 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h b (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h b (new)
(h b) Take into account social aspects and ensure that ambiguous terms like ‘fair’ or ‘sustainable’, which, as per Article 2, point (r), of Directive 2005/29/EC, can also refer to social sustainability or social fairness are only used on products or by traders for which the term is appropriate on both environmental and social grounds.
Amendment 358 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point i
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point i
(i) include all primary information available to the trader for environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance, which are subject to the claim;
Amendment 375 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. Where it is demonstrated that significant environmental impacts that are not subject to the claim exist but there is no widely recognised scientific evidence to perform the assessment referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1, the trader making the claim on another aspect shall take account of all available information and, if necessary, update the assessment in accordance with paragraph 1 once widely recognised scientific evidence is available.
Amendment 378 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Amendment 410 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Member states shall ensure that concrete rules for the substantiation and communication of green claims are developed in a transparent process under the consultation of relevant stakeholders, including national experts, consumer organisations and other civil society actors. This process should also involve further harmonisation as regards requirements on the substantiation of specific environmental claims on environmental aspects or impacts such as durability, reusability, reparability, recyclability, recycled content, use of natural content, including fibers, environmental performance or sustainability, bio-based elements, biodegradability, biodiversity, waste prevention and reduction.
Amendment 449 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 4
Article 5 – paragraph 4
4. Where the eExplicit environmental claim is related to future environmental performance of a product or trader it shall be prohibited unless they include aspecific time-bound commitments, for improvements inside own operations and value chainswhich the trader making the claim shall lay out a concrete road-map detailing how they intend to fulfil this commitment, the credibility of which must be verified by the relevant authority. Provisions should be put in place for the subsequent progress to be monitored through a regular assessment by the relevant third party competent authority.
Amendment 469 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 490 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2 – point f
Article 5 – paragraph 6 – subparagraph 2 – point f
Amendment 501 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 7
Article 5 – paragraph 7
Amendment 562 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 4
Article 8 – paragraph 4
4. From [OP: Please insert the date = the date of transposition of this Directive] any new environmental labelling schemes established by public authorities in third countries awarding environmental labels to be used on the Union market, shall be subject to approval by the Commission prior to entering the Union market with the aim of ensuring that these labels provide significant added value in terms of their environmental ambition including notably their coverage of environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance, or of a certain product group or sector, as compared to the existing Union, national or regional schemes referred to in paragraph 3, and meet the requirements of this Directive. Environmental labelling schemes established by public authorities in third countries prior to that date may continue to award the environmental labels which are to be used on the Union market, provided they meet the requirements of this Directive.
Amendment 572 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1
Member States shall ensure that environmental labelling schemes established by private operators after [OP: Please insert the date = the date of transposition of this Directive] are only approved if those schemes provide significant added value in terms of their environmental ambition, including notably their extent of coverage of environmental impacts, environmental aspects or environmental performance, or of a certain product group or sector and their ability to support the green transition of SMEs, as compared to the existing Union, national or regional schemes referred to in paragraph 3, and meet the requirements of this Directive.
Amendment 580 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
Article 8 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 3
Member States shall notify the Commission when new private schemes are approved. The Commission shall monitor national and regional schemes and make a complete list publicly available, with the aim of avoiding the parallel existence of multiple schemes covering the same aspects in different regions across the European Union.
Amendment 586 #
(c) the evidence the scheme will provide significant added value as set out in in paragraph 4 for environmental labelling schemes established by public authorities in third countries, or in paragraph 5 for environmental labelling schemes established by private operators;
Amendment 590 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 7
Article 8 – paragraph 7
7. The Commission shall publish and keep-up-to date a list of officially recognised environmental labels that are allowed to be used on the Union market after [OP: Please insert the date = the date of transposition of this Directive] pursuant to paragraphs 3, 4 and 5. This list should be freely available and open to access and presented in an understandable manner by all consumers, including especially vulnerable consumers.
Amendment 711 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Article 12 – paragraph 1 b (new)
Amendment 719 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 3
Article 13 – paragraph 3
3. Where there is more than one competent authority in their territory, Member States shall ensure that the respective duties of those authorities are clearly defined and that appropriate communication and coordination mechanisms are established to ensure efficient and complete procedures.
Amendment 721 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 1
1. Competent authorities of the Member States designated in accordance with Article 13 shall undertake regular checks at least once per year of the explicit environmental claims made and the environmental labelling schemes applied, on the Union market. The reports detailing the result of those checks shall be made available to the public online.
Amendment 743 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 6
Article 16 – paragraph 6
6. Member States shall ensure that practical information is made available cost free without undue delay in an easily accessible and easily understandable manner to the public on access to the administrative and judicial review procedures referred to in this Article.
Amendment 789 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) ensuring that new private environmental labelling schemes concerning products or traders already covered by existing schemes are approved by the Member States only if they provide significant added value as compared to the existing schemes;
Amendment 793 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 21 – paragraph 3 – point b
Amendment 799 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 21 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 21 – paragraph 3 – point c