Message 001
Communication from the Commission - TRIS/(2024) 0231
Directive (EU) 2015/1535
Notification: 2024/0042/BE
Notification of a draft text from a Member State
Notification – Notification – Notifzierung – Нотификация – Oznámení – Notifikation – Γνωστοποίηση – Notificación – Teavitamine – Ilmoitus – Obavijest – Bejelentés – Notifica – Pranešimas – Paziņojums – Notifika – Kennisgeving – Zawiadomienie – Notificação – Notificare – Oznámenie – Obvestilo – Anmälan – Fógra a thabhairt
Does not open the delays - N'ouvre pas de délai - Kein Fristbeginn - Не се предвижда период на прекъсване - Nezahajuje prodlení - Fristerne indledes ikke - Καμμία έναρξη προθεσμίας - No abre el plazo - Viivituste perioodi ei avata - Määräaika ei ala tästä - Ne otvara razdoblje kašnjenja - Nem nyitja meg a késéseket - Non fa decorrere la mora - Atidėjimai nepradedami - Atlikšanas laikposms nesākas - Ma jiftaħx il-perijodi ta’ dewmien - Geen termijnbegin - Nie otwiera opóźnień - Não inicia o prazo - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare - Nezačína oneskorenia - Ne uvaja zamud - Inleder ingen frist - Ní osclaíonn sé na moilleanna
MSG: 20240231.EN
1. MSG 001 IND 2024 0042 BE EN 25-01-2024 BE NOTIF
2. Belgium
3A. SPF Economie, PME, Classes moyennes et Energie
Direction générale Qualité et Sécurité - Service Bureau de Liaison - BELNotif
NG III – 2ème étage
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 16
B - 1000 Bruxelles
Tel: 02/277.53.36
be.belnotif@economie.fgov.be
3B. Bruxelles Environnement
Département Ressources & Déchets
Service REP et réglementation
Ministre du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, chargé de la Transition climatique, de l'Environnement, de l'Énergie, de la Propreté publique, de la Démocratie participative, de la Santé et de l'Action sociale
4. 2024/0042/BE - C00A - AGRICULTURE, FISHING AND FOODSTUFFS
5. Preliminary draft Order amending the Order of 14 June 2012 on waste
6. The draft concerns, on the one hand, the obligation to donate unsold food and, on the other hand, the authorisation for the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region to adopt a Oui-pub sticker for printed advertising material
7.
8. The preliminary draft aims, on the one hand, to strengthen waste prevention but also to simplify the administrative procedures for companies involved in certain waste recovery operations. Three substantial amendments are made to the Order of 14 June 2012 on waste.
The first aims to reduce food waste in supermarkets and at the same time support associations active in food aid. The measure consists in requiring certain supermarkets to donate their unsold food to charities first and foremost, and then to companies processing this unsold food or to other players defined by the Government.
The second amendment is intended to empower the Government to prohibit the distribution of publications that generate paper, cardboard or plastic waste and pose a problem for public cleanliness. It empowers the Government to specify the terms and conditions of this prohibition, to define the type and characteristics of the publications subject to this prohibition as well as the method and place of their distribution or abandonment. This authorisation maintains the ‘Stop Pub’ system but also provides for the possibility for the Government to reverse its logic: prohibit the distribution of free press information and advertising in mailboxes, unless a ‘Oui Pub’ sticker is affixed voluntarily.
Finally, the third amendment aims to incorporate into the regulations the conclusions of a study carried out in the Brussels-Capital Region on the status of products, waste, by-products and the end of waste status. With a view to developing the circular economy and the reduction of administrative burdens, the measure provides for the empowerment of the Government to exempt from environmental permits or declarations certain waste treatment facilities which, through their recovery operations, restore waste to product status or, more precisely, ‘End-of-Waste‘ status.
9. Waste management involves, above all, greater prevention of waste generation. It is only by acting at the source of the distribution of goods that we can reduce the production of waste. This is the aim of the present amendment to the Order of 14 June 2012 on waste (hereinafter ‘ODE’).
By donating unsold food, we can prevent it from being wasted and discarded, while at the same time helping the most underprivileged.
By making it possible to package the distribution of publications to the letterboxes of Brussels residents, we prevent them from being thrown straight into the bin.
In addition, to enable companies to develop in line with the circular economy, it is essential to make administrative procedures easier for them. Thus, companies developing recovery processes to transform waste into a new product should be exempted from applying for an environmental permit in certain cases defined by the Government.
Thus, today, if we take into account the emissions generated along the product cycle (production, processing, distribution, etc.), global food waste accounts for 24 % to 37 % of the global food GHG footprint (FAO, n.d.). In environmental terms, if food wastage were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of GHG in the world.
Food wastage leads to the loss of more than a third of our food supply and contributes significantly to climate change. Food wastage is therefore a major issue.
The food aid sector, meanwhile, is heavily dependent on unsold food and is unable to meet the growing demand for food. Thus, in the Brussels region alone, according to the Federation of Social Services, almost 70,000 people rely on food aid.
Improving the ability of associations active in food aid to capture unsold food will certainly not solve the situations of poverty that force people to turn to food aid. However, as long as the needs are there, it is absolutely necessary to support the food aid sector and facilitate its day-to-day work.
This amendment to the Order on waste is therefore driven by the ambition to reduce waste at the end of the chain in order to prevent waste generation while at the same time improving the supply to food aid associations in a spirit of solidarity.
It is also an opportunity for large retailers to demonstrate their commitment to solidarity and the environment.
This amendment therefore reinforces the measure initially provided for in the Order on waste, which merely encouraged food donations and other forms of redistribution for human consumption.
The proposal is to require targeted supermarkets to donate their unsold food to charities and any other Government-designated bodies that aim to process or consume this unsold food to avoid food waste, on a prioritised basis. It is therefore proposed that these donations be allocated on a priority basis to those involved in the food aid sector, then to companies and other organisations that offer unsold food for human consumption after processing, and finally to companies and other organisations that offer unsold food for human consumption without processing.
Furthermore, this measure respects the waste hierarchy established by the Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, which establishes a merit order for waste prevention and management legislation and policies. This concept of hierarchy is the cornerstone of European waste policies and legislation and its objective is twofold:
- minimise the negative impact of waste production and management; and
- make more efficient use of resources.
This waste hierarchy has been transposed into the Order on waste of 14 June 2012, in Article 6.
The second amendment to the above-mentioned Order of 14 June 2012 empowers the Government to exempt from environmental permits or declarations certain waste treatment facilities which, through their recovery operations, return waste to product status or, more precisely, ‘End-of-Waste’ status.
This modification of the ODE is necessary in order to subsequently amend the Brudalex (Order of 1 December 2016 on waste management) by adding to it the concrete procedures for granting this End-of-Waste status but also procedures for re-use and by-products.
In addition, it is intended to criminalise non-compliance with Articles 8 and 9 of the Order on waste, which deal with the concept of by-product and the End-of-Waste status – in order to ensure a high level of environmental protection.
The third amendment to the Order on waste empowers the Government to prohibit the distribution of publications that generate paper, cardboard or plastic waste and pose a problem for public cleanliness. It empowers the Government to specify the terms and conditions of this prohibition, to define the type and characteristics of the publications subject to this prohibition as well as the method and place of their distribution or abandonment.
The provision paves the way for the implementation of one of the 60 measures provided for in the Regional Waste and Resource Management Plan (MEN 2), the ‘Possibility in the future to prohibit the distribution of advertising unless a “Oui pub” sticker is voluntarily affixed to the mailbox, and with particular attention to the distribution of advertising in apartment buildings’.
As a reminder, the distribution of free press and advertising in mailboxes is currently authorised by the Order of 22 April 1999 on the prevention and management of waste from paper and/or cardboard products (‘Order on paper’), except in the case of voluntary affixing of a ‘Stop Pub’ sticker. The preliminary draft allows the Government to maintain this ‘Stop Pub’ system, or to reverse its logic: prohibit the distribution of free press and printed advertising in mailboxes, except in the case of voluntary affixing of a ‘Oui Pub’ sticker.
The objective of ‘Oui Pub’ is to reduce waste from publications and prevent the emergence of waste by combating over-consumption linked to excessive advertising. If necessary, the Government may draw on similar measures developed in the Walloon Region, France, Amsterdam and Montreal.
Given the objectives of the preliminary draft, this authorisation is included in the Order on waste and not in the Order on paper. The latter is no longer up to date and will have to be repealed, in order to eventually incorporate a new Chapter on paper/cardboard in the Brudalex in consultation with the sector. Until then, the authorisation to set up a ‘Oui Pub‘ system – enshrined in this amendment to the Order on waste – will coexist with the authorisation to introduce the ‘Stop Pub’ system – provided for in the Order on paper – in order to leave it to the Government to devise the appropriate system.
10. References to basic texts:
11. No
12.
13. No
14. No
15. No
16.
TBT aspects: No
SPS aspects: No
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European Commission
Contact point Directive (EU) 2015/1535
email: grow-dir2015-1535-central@ec.europa.eu
