The Council of the European Union has established its negotiating position on a legislative proposal designed to simplify and accelerate environmental assessments, targeting reduced administrative burdens for project developers across member states.
The measures form part of the “Omnibus VIII” simplification package, which amends six legislative acts to lower regulatory compliance costs while maintaining European Union environmental protection standards. The package responds to competitiveness and administrative efficiency recommendations outlined in earlier reports by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi.
Under the agreed mandate for the Regulation on Speeding up Environmental Assessments (RSEA), the Council introduced several key structural adjustments:
- Strategic project criteria: Established an exhaustive list of strategic projects eligible for accelerated procedures, while permitting future legislative acts to incorporate additional project categories.
- Permitting harmonisation: Consolidated sectoral permitting provisions across existing framework legislation, incorporating provisions from the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), the European Chips Act, and the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).
- Procedural safeguards and timelines: Extended proposed assessment deadlines to maintain regulatory oversight capabilities, amended preclusion rules to ensure compliance with the Aarhus Convention, and incorporated flexibility for single points of contact (SPOC) across decentralised national administrations.
- Sectoral coverage: Expanded provisions under the Habitats and Birds Directives to cover defined recurring operations, including forestry and watercourse maintenance, supported by environmental impact safeguards.
Additionally, member states agreed to explore targeted exemptions regarding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation to address compliance costs for small-scale packaging producers.
The Council presidency will enter trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament once the Parliament adopts its position, aiming to finalize the legislative package in alignment with the EU’s “One Europe, One Market” roadmap targets.
