A widely expected addition to the European Commission’s series of ‘omnibus’ proposals to ease the administrative burden on EU companies was launched on Tuesday with a call for ‘feedback on the simplification of future environmental legislation’.

As it opened its initial public consultation , the EU executive published an outline of its plans, hinting at some areas of environmental legislation that “may” be up for amendment in the latest round of deregulation.

To help ‘rationalise’ reporting obligations, the Commission suggests scrapping the substances of concern in products (SCIP) database under the Waste Framework Directive.

The law requires suppliers to notify the European Chemicals Agency of any products containing chemicals on the EU candidate list for prohibition at concentrations of over 0.1%.

The EU executive also promises a review of some aspects of extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules – a contentious area where chemicals and pharmaceutical companies are currently fighting against the obligation to pay for the removal of product residues from sewage.

The upcoming environmental omnibus might also target the EU’s Nature Directives, which pre-date the Green Deal of the first von der Leyen Commission and have been judged by NGOs, the European Environment Agency and the Commission itself to be fit-for-purpose but badly implemented.

This, at least, is one interpretation of the Commission’s suggestion that the red tape-cutting package of amendments to EU laws could include “addressing permitting challenges relating to environmental assessment”.

The call for evidence runs until midnight on 10 September, and a legislative proposal is indicated for the fourth quarter of 2025.

(rh)