COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Implementation Plan Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment
Date: 2018-05-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, environmental impact, environmental protection, fishing industry, marine pollution, non-durable goods, plastics, pollution control measures, waste, waste management

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 28.5.2018  
SWD(2018) 256 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Implementation Plan  

Accompanying the document 

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction 
of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment 

{COM(2018) 340 final} - {SEC(2018) 253 final} - {SWD(2018) 254 final} - 
{SWD(2018) 255 final} - {SWD(2018) 257 final} 

EN 

  EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 

1. Introduction 

The proposed Directive aims to reduce the impact of the two main sources of marine litter in 
Europe  on  the  environment,  in  particular  the  marine  environment  (hereinafter,  “the 
Directive”).  In  order  to  achieve  this  objective,  the  proposed  Directive  sets  out  specific 
objectives and measures to reduce the impact of certain single-use plastic products and fishing 
gear on the environment.  

The  proper  and  timely  transposition  and  implementation  of  those  measures  may  raise  some 
challenges. Therefore, the Commission’s services have laid down the present Implementation 
Plan,  which  identifies  implementation  challenges  and  suggests  a  set  of  actions  aimed  at 
targeting them. The measures encompass both the actions by the Commission and actions by 
the Member States. 

This Implementation Plan is provided for information purposes only.  It does not legally bind 
the  Commission  on  whether  the  identified  actions  will  be  pursued  or  on  the  form  in  which 
they will be pursued.  

2. Contact point   

Hugo Schally, Head of Unit – ENV.B1 
Unit B1 Sustainable Production, Products & Consumption 
DG Environment, European Commission 
+32229 58569  
hugo-maria.schally@ec.europa.eu  

Haitze Siemers Head of Unit MARE A1 
Unit A1 Innovation, Research and Investments 
DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission 
+32-2-299-0185 
haitze-j.siemers@ec.europa.eu 

3. Deliverables and implementation challenges 

Four  main  challenges  arising  from  the  implementation  of  the  proposed  Directive  have  been 
identified. These challenges are explained below.  

3.1. Monitoring and reporting on the consumption reduction objective 

Member  States  will  be  required  to  achieve  a  sustained  and  significant  reduction  in  the 
consumption of certain single-use plastic products within a set timeframe. In order to comply 
with this obligation Member States will need to identify the specific products that fall under 
the  consumption  reduction  objective  from  a  broad  category  of  products  defined  in  the 

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Directive.  They  will  also  need  to  adopt  and  implement  the  necessary  measures,  such  as 
national reduction targets and economic instruments, to reduce their consumption.  

Member  States  will  also  need  to  introduce  requirements  on  the  economic  operators  putting 
those products on the market to report on the amount of such products placed on the market in 
order  to  regularly  measure  the  level  of  consumption  of  the  single-use  plastic  products 
concerned.  

3.2. Establishing new extended producer responsibility schemes 

The  Directive  requires  Member  States  to  establish  new  extended  producer  responsibility 
(EPR)  schemes  for  a  large  number  of  single-use  plastic  products  and  for  fishing  gear 
containing  plastic.  The  implementation  of  this  obligation  may  prove  challenging  due  to  its 
scope and the envisaged deadline, i.e. within the transposition deadline.  

In  order  to  comply  with  this  obligation  Member  States  will  need  to  identify  the  relevant 
producers  of  products  and  establish  financial  and/or  operational  obligations  on  them  to 
manage the waste stage of their products life cycle. Doing so, Member States will be required 
to comply with the minimum requirements for EPR schemes defined in Directive 2008/98/EC 
on waste1. Particular attention will require the implementation of the necessary cost principle 
defined  in  the  extended  producer  responsibility  provisions  in  the  revised  Directive 
2008/98/EC, because many of the concerned single-use plastic products are currently treated 
as  part  of  mixed  municipal  waste.  In  addition  to  the  financial  responsibility  defined  in  the 
extended  producer  responsibility  provisions  in  the  revised  Directive  2008/98/EC  on  waste, 
Member  States  will  also  need  to  establish  the  schemes’  specific  objectives  concerning  the 
clean up of marine litter as these will have to be financed by the schemes.  

With regard to fishing gear, particular attention will need to be paid to address the interface 
between this Directive and EU legislation on port reception facilities for ship generated waste 
and cargo residues2 that establishes the obligation on ships calling at a Union port to deliver 
waste  carried  on  board  of  the  ship,  including  waste  fishing  gear,  to  adequate  port  reception 
facility, as well as with specific legislation applicable to controlling and monitoring fisheries 
activities3. 

In  addition,  considering  the  specific  characteristics  of  the  market  for  fishing  gear  Member 
States should establish extended producer responsibility on producers in a way that maximises 
positive impact on preventing and reducing fishing gear litter and does not unduly burden the 
catching sector and in particular, small-scale fisheries. 

1  Directive  2008/98/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  19  November  2008  on  waste  and 
repealing certain directives (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3-30).  
2  Directive  2000/59/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  27  November  2000  on  port  reception 
facilities for ship generated waste and cargo residues (OJ L 332, 28.12.2000, p. 81) and COM(2018)33 final. 
3  Council  Regulation  (EC)  1224/2009  of  20  November  2009  establishing  a  Community  control  system  for 
ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy (OJ L 343, 22.12.2009, p.1). 

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For single-use plastic beverage bottles that  are packaging  the  key  efforts  will be required to 
attain the envisaged  collection target for  separate collection. This is  particularly relevant for 
all  existing  relevant  extended  producer  responsibility  schemes,  including  deposit-refund 
systems. The attainment  of this  target may involve the setting  separate collection targets for 
relevant existing extended producer responsibility systems and setting up new deposit-refund 
systems. The implementation of this obligation may also offer solutions and infrastructure for 
attaining  better  collection  of  beverage  containers  made  from  other  materials  subject  to 
recycling targets for packaging, in particular from aluminium. Therefore, Member States may 
consider such measures also for other beverage packaging made from other materials. 

3.3. Implementing product requirements concerning beverage containers  

Single-use plastic  beverage containers that are designed  and manufactured so that their caps 
and lids remain attached to the container during the product’s use stage are already placed on 
the  market.  Still,  other  parts  of  the  beverage  containers  industry  will  need  to  adjust  their 
production chain, including the design of the caps and lids and containers and the production 
process, to implement the new product requirement within two years of the entry into force of 
the Directive. Aside a minor investment cost to develop these tethered caps, it is expected that 
this  measure  will  likely  have  minor  or  no  additional  costs  to  the  producers.  It  will  however 
have a direct and significant impact on avoiding the leakage of caps into the environment. 

3.4. Coordination of marine litter prevention policies and measures 

The  Directive  requires  Member  States  to  ensure  coherence  and  coordination  of  measures 
aimed  at  preventing  and  reducing  marine  litter  across  the  different  policies,  legislation, 
measures  and  authorities  implementing  this  Directive  and  EU  legislation  requirements  on 
waste  and  water.  This  means  that  the  measures  taken  under  this  Directive  will  need  to  be 
coordinated  with  measures  taken  under  the  programmes  of  measures  required  under  the 
Directive  2008/56/EC4,  measures  that  implement  waste  prevention  and  management 
objectives  under  waste  prevention  programmes  and  waste  management  plans  required  under 
Directive  2008/98/EC,  and  measures  laid  down  in  river  basin  management  plans  required 
under  Directive  2000/60/EC5.  This  may  require  adjusting  existing  legislation  on  the  content 
requirements  for  the  above-mentioned  plans  and  programmes  and  the  responsibilities  of  the 
different  competent  authorities  involved  in  the  implementation  of  Union  water  and  waste 
policies. Particular attention will need to be paid to the planning cycles for the different plans 
and  programmes  because  they  may  differ  and  to  the  coherence  and  complementarity  of 
measures to ensure that end-of-pipe measures match measures taken to address the generation 
and pathways of litter.  

4 Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework 
for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (OJ L 164 25.6.2008, p. 19). 
5  Directive  2000/60/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  23  October  2000  establishing  a 
framework for Community action in the field of water policy (OJ L327, 22.12.2000, p.1). 

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4. Support Actions 

4.1. Monitoring and reporting on the consumption reduction objective 

•  Where possible, for monitoring the reduction in the consumption of certain single-use 
plastic products subject to the consumption reduction objective, Member States should 
make  use  of  existing  EU  production  and  trade  databases  (PRODCOM6  and 
COMEXT7) managed by Eurostat and regularly updated with information provided by 
Member States.  

•  The  Commission,  with  the  assistance  of  Eurostat,  will  evaluate  the  feasibility  of 
updating  the  PRODCOM  database,  to  facilitate  the  identification  of  products 
concerned  by  the  consumption  reduction,  and  the  monitoring  of  the  reduction  in 
consumption based on the data on the amount of products put on the Union market. 

•  The datasets foreseen under Article 12 of the Directive for monitoring implementation 
should  assist  Member  States  in  providing  structured  information.  To  that  end,  the 
European  Environmental  Agency  may  also  provide  support  to  the  Member  States  in 
setting up these datasets.  

•  Member States may consider making use of systems and best practices for measuring 
reduction in consumption that has ben put in place by Member States in the framework 
of  implementing  other  Union  waste  legislation  that  requires  reporting  on  products 
placed  on  the  Union  market,  such  as  Directive  2015/720/EU  amending  Directive 
94/62/EC as regards reducing the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags. 

•  Member  States  should  ensure  that  sufficient  resources  are  made  available  for  data 
collection, their validation as well as the set up of datasets to gather that information to 
monitor the compliance with the reduction objective. 

•  The  Commission  will  facilitate  the  sharing  of  best  practices  in  implementing  this 

provision in the framework of the Waste Expert Group.  

4.2. Establishing new extender producer responsibility schemes 

•  The  establishment  of  new  EPR  schemes  will  be  facilitated  by  the  minimum 
requirements  for  EPR  schemes  established  in  Directive  2008/98/EC.  Member  States 
are  required  to  comply  with  the  minimum  requirements  when  establishing  new  EPR 
schemes. 

6 PRODCOM is a survey for the collection and dissemination of statistics on the production of industrial (mainly 
manufactured) goods, both in value and quantity terms, in the European Union.  
7 COMEXT is Eurostat reference database for detailed statistics on EU’s international trade of goods, including 
imports and exports. 

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•  Member States may also take experience from setting up and operation of the existing 
EPR  schemes,  in  particular  for  electronic  and  electrical  equipment,  batteries  and 
accumulators and packaging. 

•  Under the revised Directive 2008/98/EC Member States will be required to provide a 
platform for the relevant stakeholders to exchange information and best practices in the 
implementation of EPR schemes.  

•  Under the revised Directive 2008/98/EC the Commission will be required to provide a 
platform for the Member States and the relevant stakeholders to exchange information 
and  best  practices  in  the  implementation  of  EPR  schemes.  This  should  provide 
assistance to Member States.  

•  With regard to the minimum separate collection target for single-use plastic beverage 
bottles,  the  Commission  will  facilitate  the  exchange  of  best  practices/technical 
solutions with Member States to share existing good examples that already achieve the 
target proposed in the Directive. This may be particularly addressed in the context of 
the Waste Expert Group under Directive 1994/62/EEC8. 

•  With  regard  to  fishing  gear,  in  addition  to  the  Waste  Expert  Group  the  Commission 
will facilitate the exchange of best practices in the framework of expert groups set up 
under  Common  Fisheries  Policy  and  in  particular  the  Advisory  Councils,  as  set  up 
under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/15759, Directive 2000/59/EC, as 
well as the Council Regulation (EC) 1224/2009. 

•  With regard to the implementation of extended producer responsibility for fishing gear, 
the  interface  between  this  proposal  and  the  proposed  review  of  the  Directive 
2000/59/EC  on  port  reception  facilities10  will  require  particular  attention  by  the 
Member States in cooperation with the obliged producers and port authorities. In that 
context, the COSS committee as well as the establishment of an expert group can offer 
a platform to facilitate exchange of experience and best practices.  

•  The  Commission  will  also  issue  guidelines,  where  appropriate  and  necessary,  on  the 
application  of  the  minimum  requirements  for  EPR  schemes.  The  Commission  also 
invites the use of existing guidelines on the topic11,12. 

8 Directive 1994/62/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 1994 on packaging and 
packaging waste (OJ L 365 31.12.1994, p. 10). 
9  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2017/1575  of  23  June  2017  amending  Delegated  Regulation  (EU) 
2015/242 laying down detailed rules on the functioning of the Advisory Councils under the common fisheries 
policy (OJ L 239, 19.9.2017, p. 1-2). 
10 COM(2018)33 final. 
11 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/pdf/target_review/Guidance%20on%20EPR%20-
%20Final%20Report.pdf 
12 http://www.oecd.org/environment/waste/extended-producer-responsibility.htm 

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4.3. Implementing product requirements concerning beverage containers  

•  The Commission will facilitate the exchange of best practices/technical solutions with 
Member  States  and  industry  to  share  existing  good  examples  of  industries  that  have 
already  implemented  the  product  requirements  laid  down  in  the  proposed  Directive. 
This may be particularly addressed in the context of the Waste Expert Group for the 
essential requirements laid down in Directive 1994/62/EEC13. 

4.4. Coordination of marine litter prevention policies and measures 

•  Under the revised Directive 2008/98/EC Member States will also be required to ensure 
coordination of measures across the different EU waste and water policy instruments 
to prevent and reduce marine litter.  

•  The  Commission  will  facilitate  the  sharing  of  best  practices  in  implementing  this 
provision in the framework of the Waste and Water Expert Groups. The Commission 
may use the respective expert groups set up under EU legislation to raise awareness of 
competent  authorities  about  the  necessity  to  coordinate  actions  across  the  different 
policy areas and competent authorities. 

•  The  Commission  will  consider  preparing  a  best  practice  guidance,  for  example  to 
address  the  challenges  linked  to  cooperation  of  different  competent  authorities 
established to implement water and waste legislation, differences in planning cycles of 
plans and programmes and complementarity of measures addressing types of litter and 
its pathways across waste and water policies.  

13 See footnote 8. 

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