The European Commission has opened several infringement procedures against Belgium and Germany and advanced existing cases against Bulgaria and Italy for failures to correctly transpose or apply core EU waste legislation. The actions form part of the Commission’s December infringements package.
Belgium will receive a letter of formal notice, entering the first stage of proceedings, for failing to correctly transpose amendments to the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The Commission said several provisions adopted in 2018, which member states were required to transpose by July 2020, had not been properly reflected in the country's regional legislation.
According to the Commission, extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements remain only partly implemented in Wallonia. The regional rules do not "establish all of the minimum obligations for producers of electrical and electronic equipment waste, waste batteries, end-of-life vehicles and other waste". In addition, the provisions governing the calculation of municipal waste reduction and recycling targets were deemed insufficiently precise in both Wallonia and Flanders.
Belgium has two months to address the identified shortcomings. Should the reply prove unsatisfactory, the Commission may issue a reasoned opinion as the next step in the procedure.
Germany cited for Landfill Directive failures
New infringement proceedings were also launched against Germany for alleged failures to correctly transpose the Landfill Directive. The Commission highlighted problems with the way Germany calculates its landfill reduction performance, "particularly in relation to waste that is exported and waste produced during recovery operations" [secondary waste].
The Brussels authority also raised concerns over national rules governing the measurement of landfill impacts on nearby water bodies. Issues cited include the siting of monitoring stations, sampling frequency and the parameters used. The Commission argued that these shortcomings could undermine environmental and public-health protections.
Germany now has two months to respond before the Commission considers moving the case to the reasoned-opinion stage.
Commission alleges that Bulgaria is continuing to landfill untreated waste
In an existing case against Bulgaria, the Commission is proceeding to the second stage of proceedings by issuing a reasoned opinion. The member state is alleged to be failing to ensure that only treated waste is landfilled, as required under the Landfill Directive, and to be breaching the WFD’s requirement that waste be managed without endangering human health or the environment.
The Commission reports that separate collection rates remain low in Bulgaria, with most municipal waste still landfilled. Eurostat data indicate that in 2023, 24 per cent of all generated waste, or around 757,000 tonnes of waste, was landfilled without any pre-treatment. Although Bulgaria was urged to expand pre-treatment capacity in a letter of formal notice issued in 2021, the identified shortcomings have not yet been remedied, the EU authority said.
Italy failed to fully transpose 2018 amendments to WFD
Italy will likewise receive a reasoned opinion after the Commission concluded that national legislation has still not fully transposed amendments to the WFD adopted in 2018. Despite a letter of formal notice in July 2024, the Commission found ongoing gaps in provisions concerning EPR, high-quality recycling, separate collection of hazardous waste and the minimum requirements for waste management planning.
Bulgaria and Italy each have two months to respond to the reasoned opinions. Otherwise they risk referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
