EU pharma and cosmetics bodies mount legal action over wastewater treatment rules

Europe’s cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries have launched legal action in the EU General Court, challenging new legislation on wastewater treatment that they argue “overburdens” the amount their industries pay for clean-up. Trade association Cosmetics Europe and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) said they need a judicial review of the European Commission’s Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, passed in December 2024, which “miscalculates” the contribution of the two industries under the polluter-pays principle. John Chave, director general of Cosmetics Europe, said the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics sectors are the only two in European industry required to shoulder the costs, which are estimated at more than €1.2bn per year over the next 20 years for upgrades to water treatment plants to remove micropollutants in urban wastewater. Chave said the industries support the goals for the directive and the Extended Producer Responsibility principle, but that the way the costs have been allocated “significantly misrepresents our sector’s contribution to the pollution problem”. Chave claims that expert studies requested by the EC estimated the cosmetics sector’s contribution to urban wastewater pollution at about 1%, with a range of other sector also contributing. “This data was inexplicably disregarded in the Impact Assessment, which suggested the cosmetics sector was responsible not for 1% but approximately 26% of the problem,” Chave said. “Every other sector was also left out, meaning that only the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors will have to cover clean-up costs for pollution, despite clearly not being the only users of substances that end up in wastewater,” he said. Chave said the cosmetics industry in Europe is asking for the costs of cleaning European urban wastewater to be based on the substances involved, rather than on sectors. “We are asking for clean-up costs to be fairly distributed across more sectors according to share of pollution; and we are asking for policymakers to revisit the Impact Assessment to properly calculate the contribution of our sector compared to others,” Chave said, as he confirmed that Cosmetics Europe is seeking legal clarity through its filing with the EU General Court. “We believe the seriousness of the situation merits a judicial review,” he said. “This situation needs to be addressed or else this will be the next case study of another European industry needlessly harmed by well-intentioned but damaging policymaking.” The EFPIA added: “The industry is challenging the directive to seek greater clarity on how the decision to include only two sectors to bear responsibility for Europe’s urban wastewater quaternary treatment aligns with the EU’s own polluter-pays principle.” It said the obligations that the directive imposes on producers of medicines “run counter to key principles of EU Treaties: polluter-pays, proportionality and non-discrimination”. EFPIA director general Nathalie Moll, in line with the cosmetics sector, said the EFPIA supports the polluter-pays principle in Europe and is 100% committed to paying its fair share to clean up micropollutants from the use of medicines but is challenging the fairness of the rules. “We are seeking legal clarity on the directive, having tried, and failed, to gain clarity from the European Commission on the rationale to hold only pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries responsible for Europe’s water pollution, despite evidence to suggest that other sectors should be included,” Moll said.

EU pharma and cosmetics bodies mount legal action over wastewater treatment rules

Trade bodies seek judicial review of rules that place the clean-up bill on the two industries

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Climate risk needs new focus on risk reduction, says Zurich

Retain focus on loss prevention and resilience despite softening conditions

Demand for D&O rapidly rising in India

Rates fall further in India, Middle East and Africa: Marsh

BI policies unlikely to respond as Spain and Portugal search for cause of mega blackout

Climate risk needs new focus on risk reduction, says Zurich

Retain focus on loss prevention and resilience despite softening conditions

Demand for D&O rapidly rising in India

Rates fall further in India, Middle East and Africa: Marsh

BI policies unlikely to respond as Spain and Portugal search for cause of mega blackout

Keep yourself informed

Sign up for Commercial Risk’s newsletters

Want to read this article?

Read Next

Climate risk needs new focus on risk reduction, says Zurich

Retain focus on loss prevention and resilience despite softening conditions

Demand for D&O rapidly rising in India

Rates fall further in India, Middle East and Africa: Marsh

BI policies unlikely to respond as Spain and Portugal search for cause of mega blackout

Related Articles

Keep yourself informed

Sign up for Commercial Risk’s newsletters