Citing failures to properly transpose EU waste legislation, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Poland and Slovakia in mid-June. Poland had incorrectly transposed the provisions of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) into national law. For example, as defined in Polish law, the term "producer" did not cover all activities carried out by companies that produce and place single-use plastic products on the market, the Commission alleged. According to the Brussels body, this improperly limits the scope of national provisions compared to the EU directive.
Moreover, Polish law fails to ensure that waste producers bear the full costs of waste management for single-use plastic products under extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes and that these costs are properly calculated. Accordingly, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Polish government, giving it two months to respond to the concerns raised.
If the Commission finds Poland’s response unsatisfactory, the enforcement body can proceed to the next stage of infringement proceedings by issuing a reasoned opinion setting another deadline. After that, the next step would be to bring an action for infringement before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Slovakia was also to receive a reasoned opinion in connection with shortcomings in its implementation of the Landfill Directive and the amendments to the 2018 Waste Framework Directive (WFD). According to the Commission, the member state was sent a letter of formal notice on these issues in November 2021, but had still not addressed them.
"Slovakia still has not transposed correctly into its national legislation the obligation to pre-treat waste before landfilling, and repeatedly postponed the entry into force of this obligation – currently until 1 January 2027," the Commission wrote in its announcement. In addition, the capacity of installations for the treatment of waste before landfilling was still insufficient. Moreover, Slovakia had yet to take all planned measures to promote separate collection, such as raising landfill fees and introducing volume-based (pay-as-you-throw) fee systems. Although now higher than it had been, the proportion of municipal waste collected separately in Slovakia remains low as a result, the Commission said.
Slovakia now also has two months to address these shortcomings before the Commission may move to the next stage of proceedings, which in this case would be a referral to the ECJ.
