The business sector continues to be faced with lack of predictability concerning the legal and institutional framework on environmental issues, despite continued efforts to engage with public officials on environmental legislation and institutional topics. This has been felt most strongly in the waste management sector, where the disproportionate regulation and enforcement of the waste management rules for private companies, as opposed to entities responsible for municipal waste collection, have led to significant instability in the market.
Despite calls by the business sector and other relevant actors for reform of the entire legal framework, the authorities continue to take only limited and delayed actions to solve the critical, systemic problems. In this context, problems arising from deficiencies in the legal framework continue to disproportionately affect the business sector, including in terms of how liability is allocated in the field and the costs incurred to meet legal obligations, including under extended producer responsibility.
FIC members are committed to continuing to build stakeholder trust and simultaneously improving their business performance in a sustainable way and call on public authorities to initiate the consultation process from the earliest stages of the decision-making process.
The legal and institutional framework for environmental protection continues to raise difficulties for the business sector.
The FIC is concerned about the lack of impact assessments of draft laws, which are so urgently needed to enable new legislation to be enacted and implemented, and about the authorities' lack of swift reaction to regulatory needs.
Furthermore, commercial entities are also exposed to difficulties in implementing the permitting framework due to the lack of correlation between the environmental permitting procedures with the existing substantive legislation, as well as the different interpretations of the same regulatory requirements given by environmental protection agencies, reservoir administrations and environmental control authorities (the National Environmental Guard and its local units). The new integrated environmental permitting procedure, anticipated in particular after the enactment of Law no. 278/2013 on industrial emissions in December 2013, has yet to be submitted for public debate. In addition, although a public consultation process was initiated on the environmental permitting procedure, intended to update the procedure regulated in 2007, no project has been completed and submitted for public debate.
Despite the position papers submitted by the FIC in public debates calling for more clarity on regulation and providing proposals as to how to deal with the root causes of existing environmental problems, the legislation still fails to provide businesses and society with the clarity and predictability needed for environmental protection and sustainable business practices.
Often, the legislation does not contain sufficient transitional terms before the application of new requirements with significant impact, and the transitional terms that exist are usually insufficient to avoid negative impacts on the business environment and society.
Secondary legislation, which is most important for the correct understanding and application of primary legislation, is adopted only after significant delays (e.g., the new methodology for the calculation of the contributions to the Environmental Fund should have been introduced in 2019 but the legislation has not yet been adopted). This has a negative impact on the business environment.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need for consistency in terms of interpretation of legislative provisions by all public authorities at central level and local level, and engagement in effective dialogue on new regulations from the earliest stages of the decision-making process.
Apart from developments of various regulations, delegated acts and guidelines for implementation of the EU ETS post 2020 Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/410), some of which are still being drafted, a central element of the policy framework for future years is the “Green Deal” presented in December 2019 as the plan to make the EU's economy sustainable.
As part of the Green Deal (which aims to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy, restore biodiversity and cut pollution) a Climate Law was approved in June 2021 at EU level to ensure a climate neutral European Union by 2050. This law also sets a new goal to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
Reaching this ambitious target will require actions by all sectors of the economy, including:
To achieve these proposed new goals, an action plan “Fit for 55” was proposed in July 2021 for the revision of the EU-ETS Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, and the Renewable Directive, as well as for a Renovation Wave and a Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism.
Financial support and technical assistance will also be given to smooth the transition to a Net Zero and green economy. In addition to the Modernisation Fund and the Innovation Fund, which were already envisaged in the post 2020 EU-ETS directive, the Green Deal also brings the “Just Transition Mechanism,” which will help mobilise at least 100 billion euros over the period 2021-2027 in the most affected regions.
The FIC appreciates the efforts and transparency demonstrated by the Ministry of the Environment and the representatives of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) during the transposition and implementation of the revised post-2020 EU-ETS legislation, the definition of the “Fit for 55” package (with an environmental focus on the revision of CBAM and EU-ETS), as well as on the revised Monitoring and Reporting Regulation (MMR) for greenhouse gases. In relation to the revised Monitoring and Reporting Regulation, special attention must be paid in 2023 to the implementation of the biomass sustainability requirements, for which, given the delays at European level, a national exception for 2022 has been granted. For this purpose, there is an urgent need for closer cooperation between the different authorities involved, but also between the authorities and the EU-ETS operators affected by these requirements.
The FIC hopes to see continued cooperation between the authorities and the business sector for the definition and full implementation of biomass sustainability requirements, adapted to national conditions (following post-2020 EU-ETS Guideline No. 3, published by the European Commission at the end 2022), as well as for the final adoption and further transposition and implementation of the “Fit for 55” package – with an environmental focus on CBAM and the revision of the EU-ETS – and the “Green Deal” action plan.
Improving waste management is a constant concern of the FIC. In this context, between May and July 2022 a new FIC initiative took place which involved organizing a series of consultations with representatives of various actors with responsibilities in the field of waste management.
The result of these consultations has been reflected in the document “Difficulties in applying waste legislation and proposed solutions”, which includes actual recommendations to remove some of the blockages in this area, presented as an example below. The final objective is to improve the legal framework in the field, to ensure a higher level of clarity, coherence, predictability and fairness of legal regulations.
The amount of recyclable waste collected separately from municipal waste continues to be low. The degree of implementation of the economic instruments required for incentivizing municipal waste recycling (e.g. circular economy contribution, pay-for-what-you-throw tool) is poor. Some of the difficulties in increasing the recycling rate of municipal waste could be caused by the current lack of correlation between the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) no. 133/2022 and those of Law no. 249/2005.
Currently, compost cannot be put on the market legally in the absence of the technical rules on the composting and anaerobic digestion activity provided for by Law no. 181/2020. So far, no such rules have been adopted, although according to Law 181/2020 they were supposed to have been adopted as early as January 2021.
There are practical difficulties with the "pay as you throw" economic tool. For example, the legislation does not provide a deadline for its implementation. At the same time, the implementation of the tool according to the weight of the waste is not feasible in the case of "door-to-door" collection, and is possible only if ecological islands are put into operation. As this is a tool that encourages the management of waste streams and positively influences the effort to achieve the objectives of preparing for the reuse and recycling of municipal waste, it is imperative to ensure easy and efficient implementation of the tool.
According to GEO no. 92/2021, waste producers and waste holders are required to introduce the separate collection of textile waste by 1 January 2025, and local public administration authorities, including the Municipality of Bucharest, are required to offer the population the opportunity to get rid of waste, including textile waste, free of charge. However, in Romania, textile waste collection and related obligations are not sufficiently regulated and there is only one large textile waste recycler.
There is a very low rate of proper waste management of portable batteries and accumulators, mainly because they are not handed in separately by end-users to collection points, but are thrown away together with municipal waste.
A number of difficulties have been identified in managing electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE). For example, not enough WEEE collection points are available to reach the target of 65% of the average amount put on the market in the last 3 years. The non-compliant classification of WEEE in the iron waste category artificially reduces the amount of WEEE that can be used to achieve the objectives.
The changes recently brought by GEO no. 125/2022 are unpredictable, lacking in proportionality and fairness and likely to lead to the creation of significant market instability.
In order to ensure proper access to up-to-date and correct information and to ensure better traceability and correct waste management, an up-to-date list is needed including all authorized companies in the field of waste management and their relevant permits. This list should be accessible to the public and allow checking before contracting.
In practice there may be misinterpretations, in that an environmental permit would be required for the activities of companies in the retail industry which take non-hazardous waste from final consumers (e.g. in fulfilment of a legal obligation) and transport it to companies authorised to carry out one or several activities in the field of waste management.
In practice, the provisions of the legislation on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment are interpreted and complied with in different ways by the companies to whom these legal provisions apply. Thus, there are situations when companies which retail such products do not apply a sales price or offer as reusable alternatives plastic products marked as reusable. At the same time, currently, for some products containing plastic, extended responsibility cannot be achieved through EPR implementation organization without a supplement to/amendment of the secondary legislation.
Currently, the method of calculating the 2% contribution from the revenues obtained from the sale of waste is not regulated, which causes difficulties in the flows of waste sales among the companies involved.
Currently, the possibility and the appropriate procedure for revising the form for the approval of the transport of hazardous waste is not regulated.
Currently, the co-processing in cement factories of energy-containing waste is categorised as a waste-to-energy recovery operation (R1). In reality, it includes 2 simultaneous recovery operations: (i) recycling – recovery of the mineral content (recycling – R4 or R5, as appropriate); and (ii) energy recovery – energy content recovery (R1). The recognition of these 2 distinct operations would lead to an increase in the amounts of waste reported as being recycled at national level, by including the amounts of the mineral content recycled as part of co-processing in cement factories.
Except for the general provisions of GEO no. 92/2021 on end of waste status, there are no other national provisions that regulate the conditions and criteria that must be met for the acceptance of particular waste for recycling and for the end of waste status.
Currently, the possibility and the corresponding procedure for taking over, for recovery of the waste already subject to elimination (e.g. landfilled ashes and slags), by extracting it from landfills for which the closure procedure was followed, is not regulated, although such a possibility would be in line with the circular economy and would avoid the use of other resources.
There are currently no treatment facilities for used batteries other than alkaline and carbon zinc, which causes possible risks in terms of the external transport of used batteries and prevents the extraction of valuable material in Romania (e.g. lithium).
Measures are needed to stimulate the development of the processing/production infrastructure of recycled aggregates to ensure better management of waste from construction and demolition activities.
Difficulties have been identified resulting from the existence of several IT systems for reporting relevant information in the field of waste management.
The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and the Next Generation EU (NGEU) economic recovery package provide an unprecedented EUR 1.8 trillion in funding to support the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and long-term priorities of the EU in various policy areas.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility which entered into force on 19 February 2021 is the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.
At least 30% of the total amount of the EU budget and Next Generation EU expenditure supports climate objectives. EU expenditure will be consistent with the Paris Agreement objectives and the “do no harm” principle of the European Green Deal.
The European Green Deal, published by the European Commission on 11 December 2019, established the guidelines for various European policies for the following 5 years. The document thus represents a road map of the steps that the European Commission has in mind in order to facilitate the achievement of the climate neutrality target. The transition to this goal will generate important opportunities, including the potential for economic growth, new business models and markets, new job creation and technological development. Forward-looking research, development and innovation policies will play a key role.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the core of NextGenerationEU and aims to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.
In order to benefit from support through the Facility, Member States have submitted their recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission. Each plan describes reforms and investments to be implemented by the end of 2026.
Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) was adopted by the European Commission on 29 October 2021 and is structured into the 6 pillars provided for by the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation and divided into 15 components, so as to cover Romania's needs and simultaneously pursue the priorities of the European Commission.
Romania benefits from funds worth 29.2 billion euros through PNRR, of which 14.24 billion euros are non-reimbursable financing, and 14.94 billion euros are a loan granted under favourable conditions, at the cost of the European Commission.
Investments for the environment are provided for in the following components of the PNRR: C1 - Water management; C2 - Forests and biodiversity protection and C3 - Waste management.
There are also further investment funds for the environment: