On 28 April 2023, Ceemet co-signed the statement regarding “Safeguarding the environmental and climate benefits of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)” together with 14 other EU business’ associations, amongst which BusinessEurope.
The signatories welcome the objectives of the proposed new ESPR to support and improve the circularity, energy performance and other environmental sustainability aspects of products. However, they are worried about the consequences of the European Parliament proposal to include product requirements on ‘social sustainability’ in the ESPR.
Introducing an additional layer of social sustainability requirements would create significant overlaps and potential conflicts with the legislation dedicated to address social sustainability and due diligence of value chains such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
They strongly encourage the European Parliament and the Council to safeguard clarity of purpose in the ESPR and avoid including social sustainability requirements in the Regulation.