26 Amendments of Anna CAVAZZINI related to 2020/2077(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the transition to a resource-efficient and climate neutral economy based on the principles of a Circular Economy respects the planetary boundaries by shifting away from the dependency on the use of resources and raw materials, mass consumption and waste production;
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Whereas within the framework of the European Green Deal, ambitious legislation as outlined in the Circular Economy Action Plan released in March 2020 should aim at reducing the total environmental and resource footprint of EU production and consumption, with resource efficiency, zero pollution, non- exposure to harmful and toxic substances, and waste prevention as priorities; whereas trade policy is key to implement these aims;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas a Circular Economy aims at closing and slowing material, product and resources loops by reusing, sharing, repairing, upgrading, recycling, fostering interoperability and a longer lifetime of products;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Whereas the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the need for a resilient economy based on sustainable and shorter supply chains which Circular Economy will bring forward by closing and slowing down material, product and resources loops; whereas closed material loops and shorter supply chains will lead to less dependency on raw material imports and less waste export and thus contribute to the EU’s open strategic autonomy;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas closed material loops and shorter supply chains will eventually lead to value added within the EU's internal market, to innovation, employment and competitiveness while ensuring a high level of consumer protection and sustainability;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that trade policy is an essential tool for implementing the circular economy and the EU’s sustainability agenda globally and underlines therefore the importance of ensuring that trade and investment agreements do not contradict circular economy policies; considers it necessary to provide for carve-outs in trade agreements for relevant EU legislation on circular economy from the notion of trade barrier, as well as stronger and adequate legal environmental safeguards; underlines that increased recycling can reduce the EU’s reliance on imports of raw materials, and points to the need to decouple economic growth from resource extraction and use in order to ensure the long- term sustainability of global value chains; calls on the Commission to adapt the EU’s Raw Materials Strategy accordingly including the regular request of the EU to trade partners to abolish export duties on raw materials;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the single market is a powerful tool that must be used to develop sustainable and circular products and technologies and should reflect environmental, economic, social and ethical considerations;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas investing in circular production patterns and in the reuse and repair sector is a source of economic and social opportunities, creates jobs and drives industrial competitiveness;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the COVID19 crisis has demonstrated the need for a resilient economy based on sustainable and shorter supply chains;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas within the framework of the European Green Deal, ambitious legislation as outlined in the Circular Economy Action Plan released in March 2020 should aim to reduce the total environmental and resource footprint of EU production and consumption, with resource efficiency, zero pollution, non- exposure to harmful and toxic substances, and waste prevention as key priorities;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that producing and placing sustainable products on the internal market should be the norm and calls for a horizontal Sustainable Product Framework Directive setting mandatory minimum requirements at design, production and marketing stage for durability, interoperability, reparability, upgradability, reusability and recyclability for all products alongside further product- specific requirements; calls furthermore for such a comprehensive legislative proposal to be delivered timely and not to be further postponed in order to contribute to the economy recovery of the EU subsequent to the COVID19-crisis;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Considers that placing sustainable products on the internal market should be the norm and welcomes the proposals for mandatory minimum requirements for durability, interoperability, reparability, upgradability, reusability and recyclability for all products alongside further product- specific requirements and calls for these mandatory standards as well as for any future mandatory labelling requirements to be equally applied to imported goods in order to create a level playing field; calls to ensure removing double standards between products that producers from within the EU can place on the EU market and what they can export to third country markets;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. RIs convinced that the development of a comprehensive set of legislation on the circular economy would give the EU an advantage in developing relevant standards including at the international level; regrets the lack of international and European standards on waste quality as this hinders a viable trade policy that is conducive to the circular economy; calls on the Commission to present harmonised standards on waste quality and a legal definition of recyclable waste, and to include these in future FTAs;; recalls the Commission's commitment within the EU Green Deal for the EU to stop exporting its waste outside of the EU; supports therefore the announced revision of the rules on waste shipments and illegal exports."
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Highlights that ensuring non- exposure to chemicals and other harmful toxic substances is a pre-condition to a safe circular economy; Calls therefore on the Commission to take regulatory measures to eliminate chemicals and toxic substances from consumer products to ensure the highest level possible of safety for consumers;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that in the transition to a circular economy particular attention must be given to key supply chains where the EU’s environmental footprint is significant such as the textile value chain; highlights that for many value chains, such as the textile one, this will entail an absolute reduction of global textile production;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Reiterates its call to the Commission to implement the provisions of Directive 2014/53/EU on radio- equipment by adopting without delay the delegated act to introduce a common charger for mobile phones, tablets, e- books readers, and other small- and medium electronic devices as part of a global strategy to reduce electronic waste; asks the Commission to develop in parallel a decoupling strategy that ensures consumers are not obliged to buy new chargers with new devices to allow for greater environmental benefits;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. stresses that supply chain transparency and product traceability are important tools to implement the circular economy and the EU’s sustainability agenda including detailed information on upstream and downstream production process and environmental and social impacts that will drive more sustainable practices and provide information on whether products are aligned with the circular economy objectives; welcomes therefore the Commission’s intention to develop a digital product passport; calls, in this regard, for mandatory information requirements to apply throughout the supply chain, covering not only aspects such as durability and reparability, but also social and environmental conditions;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to empower consumers to further engage in sustainable consumption practices; calls for mandatory labelling on product durability, i.e. expected product’s lifetime, and reparability, and the development of a repair score, in addition to minimum information requirements both at advertising and pre-contractual stage; asks for both the legal guarantee rights and the reversed burden of proof rules to be extended based on the lifespan of products under Directive 2019/771, the introduction of direct producer liability, and for legislative measures to ban practices resulting in premature obsolescence vis-a-vis the seller to incentivise manufacturers to produce more sustainable and durable goods, and for legislative measures to ban practices which curtail the life of a product, such as preventing repairs, introducing a design fault or slowing performance of a device, resulting in premature obsolescence by adding those to the Annex I of the Directive 2005/29/EU;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. welcomes the Commission’s future legislative initiative on supply chain due diligence to ensure that companies have an obligation to respect human rights, the environment and good governance;
Amendment 41 #
4. CRecalls that in order for the EU to reach the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050, it is necessary to address the carbon footprint in EU’s demand for imported products; calls on the Commission to take concrete steps in differentiating products based on their carbon content also as a way to level the regulatory playing field; calls on the Commission to identify and abolish barriers that prevent or restrict market access for circular and C02-neutral products from outside the EU and to investigate the possibilities and benefits of reducing tariffs on certain products in order to encourage the development of the circular economy including in the context of the ongoing review of the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP);
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recommends further legislative measures to be adopted to tackle misleading green claims towards consumers by setting up procedures to substantiate them before a product is placed on the market, as well as by establishing a public European register listing authorised and banned environmental claims;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to ensure that all available trade instruments including FTAs reflect the objectives of the circular economy by including strong, binding and enforceable sustainable development chapters; suggests that the circular economy should be addressed in a cross-cutting manner in all relevant FTA chapters; calls on the Commission to make progress at the WTO with regard to the recognition of processes and production methods (PPMs) as an element to distinguish between products with a special focus on circular production methods;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Supports the establishment of an EU-wide ‘right to repair’; calls, in this context, for measures to provide unrestricted and free access to repair and maintenance information and to spare parts to all market participants, including to ensure those parts are priced the same way to authorized and independent repairers as well as consumers, to define a mandatory minimum period of time for the availability of spare parts and/or updates, a of software based on the expected lifetime of a product, a reasonable maximum time- limit for their delivery, and for repair to be given priority under the legal guarantee regim expressed in working days that cannot be longer than seven working days, and for repair to be given priority under the legal guarantee regime; adds that an effective right to repair must ensure affordable repair for consumers, also by establishing measures to impose a cap on the price of spare parts that should not exceed 30% of the product’s price;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encourages the Commission to engage with the EU’s trading partners to further support the objectives of the circular economy; reminds that sustainability does not only require ambitious measures related to environment, climate change or biodiversity but should also focus on human rights and social issues as exemplified in the SDGs; stresses that particular attention must be given to how less developed partner countries can be supported in benefitting from the circular economy in particular to the ways in which circular economy can contribute to improve labour and social standards worldwide; calls for an assessment of the impact of increased intra-EU recycling rates on countries strongly relying on waste imports.
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the importance of transparent and reliable information on product characteristics for consumers, businesses and market surveillance authorities, and welcomes the Commission’s intention to develop a digital product passport; calls, in this regard, for mandatory information requirements to apply throughout the supply chain, covering not only aspects such as durability and reparability, but also social, working and environmental conditions;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. CallsRegrets that public authorities do not make use of the existing possibilities for green and social procurement under the current legislative framework and still apply too often the lowest price criterion only; calls therefore for a revision of EU public procurement legislation introducing mandatory minimum targets, through defining a certain percentage for procurement based on environmental, social and ethical criteria, and introducing a hierarchy of award criteria, together with sector-specific targets., including for the purchase of second-hand, recycled and reconditioned products; asks also public authorities to lead by example by not purchasing single-use products; Adds that sustainable procurement should become the default choice with a “comply or explain” clause allowing for exemptions only on objective and justified grounds;