Ceepackaging

Environment

EUROPEN argues for better regulation

EUROPEN hopes that its recommendations
to improve the effectiveness and transparency
of the EU Infringement Procedure* will be taken up.
EUROPEN recommends that access to information
should help to achieve the “Better Regulation” objective
of more effectively preventing infringements of EU law,
and therefore we suggest that:
• A priority and fast track treatment under Article 226 of
the Treaty (infringement procedure) should be initiated
automatically in cases where the Commission’s
detailed opinion has not been adequately taken
into account by the Member State concerned.
• The Commission should publish press statements on
its infringement decisions and assist national courts as
amicus curiae to ensure that individuals can effectively
invoke the unenforceability of those national measures
that have not complied with the notification Directive.
• Technical rules accompanying tax measures should
be subject to the standstill obligation to ensure that
detailed rules avoid any form of discrimination, direct
or indirect, against imports from other Member States
or any form of protection of competing domestic
products.
The recent Commission Report on the implementation
and impact of the Packaging and Packaging Waste
Directive highlighted the need for further internal market
guidance on Articles 5 (reuse) and 7 (recovery systems).
Most infringement procedures involving packaging have
related to Articles 5 and 7 of the Directive, so EUROPEN
is convinced that improvements in the infringement
procedure would help implementation of these Articles
and hence Better Regulation within the internal market.
We believe that to achieve this, the Commission should
itself have an interest in effectively pursuing cases such
as the product fee infringement in Hungary to obtain,
if needed, EU Court clarification on eco-taxes and
packaging (no case-law yet exists).