The event’s goal was to drive a discussion around good European practice, or specific national needs (depending on the situation), that could help set the right framework for these requirements to operate in future.
During the one day event, opened by the Maltese Presidency, EXPRA’s members shared their experience in navigating some of the EPR requirements proposed by the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) that is currently under review.
The EPR requirements presented related, in particular, to stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, good governance, data and reporting, the need for the so-called clearing house or central authority, as well as cost-efficiency.
In course of the discussions, the European Commission representative explained that the proposal was to set criteria in Article 8a that ensure good functioning of EPR, but at the same time leave a level of flexibility for implementation to Member States. As for the transparency rules under Article 8a, the Commission will try to defend them in course of negotiations. When it comes to the calculation method, it was acknowledged that both institutions are proposing changes that are different to the initial proposal.
The event was well attended by industry representatives including EUROPEN, ACE, Tetra Pak and FEFCO, Member States’ officials such as the Dutch Permanent Representation and EXPRA members.