Packaging congress discusses regulation and practice
The congress in Berlin in mid-March will address key topics along the entire packaging value chain.
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The EU Commission is also concerned with the security of raw materials in Europe. Brussels has now proposed a legislative initiative to safeguard critical raw materials. The BDE Federal Association of the German Waste, Water and Recycling Industry sees this as an important step in the right direction.
„The Commission's initiative for such a regulation comes at the right time. The mere fact that the Commission intends to publish its legislative proposal in the first quarter of 2023 and the final legal act is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2024 shows that this is the right time, that this issue is a high priority in Brussels and urgently needs to be addressed,“ said BDE-President Peter Kurth on Thursday.
The BDE shares the Commission's view that the central aim of such a regulation must be to safeguard Europe as an industrial location. The Member States of the European Union must under no circumstances become dependent on the supply of raw materials in the same way as they have become dependent on the supply of oil and gas. What's more, the European Union's supply of critical raw materials must be reliably secured in the long term.
Need for "harmonised rules"
In order to achieve this, two fundamental prerequisites are necessary. Firstly, a binding and directly applicable legal framework must be created, which requires a regulation. As this issue is of crucial importance for the entire European Union and there is an urgent need to act quickly, harmonised rules are needed that apply to all Member States. In addition, a comprehensive De-bureaucratisation of all processes along the entire value chain, related to the extraction and recycling of critical raw materials. Harmonisation and simplification of all processes is possible, especially through digitalisation.
BDE President Peter Kurth: „The goal is clearly defined and more relevant than ever: Europe must reduce its excessive dependence on raw material imports, strengthen the circular principle of the European economy and increase resource efficiency in the EU. Not least Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has once again shown us how problematic excessive one-sided dependence on individual countries for the supply of critical raw materials can be. We must not allow the failure to supply critical raw materials to be used by certain countries as a political weapon against the European Union. This is exactly what the European Union has recognised.“
Source: BDE e.V.
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