The European Commission is preparing a call for evidence on an environmental Omnibus, a spokesperson has confirmed to Responsible Investor.
This will be published “shortly” to collect input from stakeholders.
The spokesperson said the Commission is in the process of stress-testing the EU stock of legislation to identify ways to “simplify, consolidate and codify it”. “This also includes the environmental acquis and could result in Omnibus proposals,” the spokesperson said.
It follows the executive’s simplification of the EU’s corporate sustainability and due diligence rules in its first Omnibus package on sustainability, released in February.
The environmental Omnibus was mentioned in the Commission’s single market strategy, released in May, and referenced in the Chemicals Action Plan.
The spokesperson added that the Commission “regularly reviews” existing EU legislation to update it and, where relevant, adapt it to new developments. “This is an on-going process and at the moment we cannot provide additional detail,” they said.
The upcoming simplification initiative is expected to cover several environmental regulations established under the EU’s Green Deal, sources have told RI.
EU observers and officials expect another simplification package covering a number of environmental laws to be launched in the autumn.
The laws due to be covered are the Green Claims Directive, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
Two sources also said the EU’s forced labour rules may be included in the package.
The Commission did not comment on the contents of the upcoming Omnibus package.
This month, the EU’s executive body backtracked on comments made in June regarding the withdrawal of the Green Claims Directive, a greenwashing law introduced in 2022 to ensure consumers received “adequate information” on products’ durability and reparability.
It announced its intention to withdraw the law after receiving a letter from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, which asked the Commission to drop the proposal on its behalf.
A spokesperson for the Commission at the time defended the decision, saying the proposals “go against” its simplification agenda, but subsequently told RI that the proposal would not be withdrawn, on condition that microenterprises are taken out of the scope of the directive.
Trilogue discussions have yet to resume on the directive.
Deforestation and shareholder rights
On EUDR, one EU observer has told RI that the Commission is considering it making it a labelling regime.
The Commission is facing pressure from both member states and the Parliament to delay and further simplify the rules, which aim to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper.
Lawmakers last week backed a motion which objects to the Commission’s deforestation risk country list under the law. The motion was tabled by the EPP, which last year succeeded in delaying the bloc’s deforestation regulation to give companies more time to comply.
Separately, one EU observer told RI that the Commission also plans to launch a capital markets simplification package that will be aimed at “massive infrastructure consolidation”.
The package would include the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD) II, which one source said the Commission is looking to abolish.
SRD II – which aims to enhance corporate governance and promote long-term shareholder engagement for EU companies – was not included in the Commission’s workplan for this year, following significant delays to its revision.
Sustainability Omnibus
Meanwhile, negotiations on the proposed changes to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are ongoing.
The Council of the EU last month adopted its negotiating position, and discussions in the European Parliament are expected to conclude by end-October at the earliest.
MEPs in four Parliament committees voted on Tuesday on proposed amendments to the two sustainability regulations.
The committee opinions on the Omnibus file can be taken into account during the legal affairs committee’s (JURI) negotiations on the final draft report, an EU official told RI.
As the lead committee, it will be up to JURI to determine how much of these opinions to include among the compromise amendments. JURI will be responsible for preparing a draft report that the majority of the Parliament could support in plenary.
Meanwhile, the proposed changes to the EU Taxonomy have been adopted by the Commission, and will come into force after undergoing a scrutiny period by the EU co-legislators.