Summary
爱游戏中国官方网站’s position paper addresses the proposals from the European Commission and European Parliament to integrate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) into water policies, emphasising the necessity of a proportionate, actionable, and enforceable legal framework. Current EPR schemes primarily focus on single-source pollution (e.g. plastics, electronics), whereas water pollution involves complex, transboundary sources and transformations of pollutants, complicating responsibility assignment. To effectively integrate EPR for water pollution, 爱游戏中国官方网站 proposes establishing clear definitions and methodologies, targeting specific substances, and forming an EU Producer Responsibility Organisation.
Concrete Takeaways
- Make the scope of the EPR scheme manageable and enforceable: Propose an EPR scheme that defines water pollutants by their relevance to European-wide waters quality, concentration, hazard and toxicity, and transformation properties. Any extension of the defined substances to ‘micro-pollutants’ should be carefully addressed, with a focused list of relevant substances.
- Clear Methodology, definitions and criteria: Develop criteria and guidelines to determine responsibilities across the entire value chain, ensuring fair cost distribution among all parties involved in the lifecycle of the substances found in waters, being producers, consumers, or recyclers.
- Establishment of EU-PRO: Recommend setting up an EU Producer Responsibility Organisation to supervise and harmonise the methodology, ensuring effective regional collaboration and proper use of financial resources.