At the start of the year, I wanted to get a sober assessment of what the environmental legislative agenda looks like for the 2023.
It will be busy. So busy that I wonder how the legislative machinery in the Environment Committee and the Environment Council Working Group will deliver agreements before the April 2024 recess. Look forward to herculean displays of endurance.
I looked at some regular sources – Work Programmes, College Agenda, and the EP’s Legislative Train. There are some other useful documents of record, like the Transition Pathway for the Chemical Industry (27 January 2023) (link).
This provides two helpful visuals of what the next few years hold for chemicals on the substance and energy side.
Source: Transition pathway for the chemical industry.
In the mindmap below, you’ll see an overview of only environmental measures. I’ve excluded the climate and energy files – they are too many.
It is chunked down into ongoing and upcoming ordinary and secondary legislative files. I hold the unfashionable view that secondary legislation can have a greater direct impact on an issue or company than ordinary legislation. I’ve only listed some of the big-ticket REACH Restrictions coming up. There are a lot more.
Some proposals may come through and get punted to the EP and Council. I’ve listed them as possible. These are files going through the Better Regulation pathway for adoption, often getting a negative opinion from the RSB the first time around, for not providing much evidence to support the case for reform or ignoring the mandate given in the Mission Letter.
And, there are quite a few proposals considered in the Green Deal Communication that will get shunted into a new Commission (e.g. ROHS, Waste Framework Directive revision).
A lot of the proposals are technical updates. This means it is easier for the EP and the Council to go through them quickly or by April 2024.
In May 2024, I will look at what Green Deal proposals will get sent over to the next European Commission and the start of their new work agenda on 1 November 2024.
In the meantime, if you dislike working on nitty-gritty ordinary and secondary legislation, lobbying and campaigning, you may not like Brussels in from now until April 2024.
If there are gaps or errors of omission, please let me know. I’ve not included all the current, upcoming and possible lists of implementing acts, RPS measures, and delegated acts. That’s too long.