The European Commission has launched a second public consultation within the work on the Circular Economy. To recap, the consultation is organised in the context of a Commission study looking into obstacles to the functioning of waste markets, which was launched in January this year.
The overall aim of the consultation is to ‘obtain a better understanding of the nature and the extent of regulatory failures causing undue distortions to EU waste markets for recycling and recovery.’
- Identification of the main perceived regulatory failures;
- Obstacles to the functioning of waste markets connected to the application of EU waste legislation or other EU legislation;
- Obstacles to the functioning of waste markets arising from national, regional or local rules or requirements and decisions which are not directly linked to EU legislation (note in particular that they ask whether the design and implementation of EPR schemes lead to competition distortions or market access problems for producers and waste operators)
- Final questions (including views on differences between Member States as regards the functioning of their waste markets, suggestions for solutions to address obstacles and regulatory failures etc).
It will be open for input until 4 September 2015. A first stakeholder event on this matter was organised in May, and another stakeholder conference to discuss the issues addressed in the consultation will take place on 12 November 2015.
Please find the questionnaire here and attached, and more information about the consultation here.