COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive)
Date: 2025-07-03
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: circular economy, environmental protection, extended producer responsibility, fight against wastage, food waste, footwear industry, prevention of pollution, single market, textile industry, waste recycling

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.7.2025  COM(2025) 388 final 2023/0234 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive) (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
2023/0234 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of 
the Council amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (targeted revision of the Waste 
Framework Directive) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2023) 420 final – 2023/0234 COD): 

5 July 2023. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

25 October 2023. 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

13 March 2024. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N.A. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

23 June 2025. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The objective of the Commission proposal is to revise the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) 
to introduce measures to reduce the environmental and climate impacts associated with food 
waste generation and textiles waste management, in line with the waste hierarchy. 

For food  waste prevention, the specific objective  is  to  establish binding targets  for Member 
States  to  reduce food waste amounts by end of  2030 at  national  level, in comparison  to  the 
amount generated in 2020, to contribute towards Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 
‘to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses 
along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses by 2030’1.  

For  textiles,  the  specific  objectives  are  to:  (i)  introduce  mandatory  extended  producer 
responsibility  (EPR)  for  textiles,  (ii)  introduce  general  rules  for  the  management  of  used 
textile and textile waste; and (iii) tackle illegal shipment of textile waste.  

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https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda  (see Target 12.3)   

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3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  position  of  the Council  as  adopted  at  first  reading  fully  reflects  the  political  agreement 
reached  between  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  18  February  2025.  The 
Commission supports this agreement, the main points of which are set out below. 

For food waste reduction 

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On the level of food waste reduction targets (Article 9a(4), points (a) and (b)): the 
European Parliament and the Council accepted the Commission’s proposed levels for 
food waste reduction targets. 

On  the  reference  year  (Article  9a(4),  points  (a)  and  (b)  and  Article  9a(5)):  the 
European Parliament and the Council agreed to use the annual average between 2021 
and  2023  as  point  of  reference  for  food  waste  reduction,  with  the  possibility  for 
Member States to use an earlier reference year, before 2021.  

On the correction factor for tourism (Article 9a(5a)): the co-legislators agreed to 
establish a correction factor to account for tourism flow fluctuations. 

On  the  review  clause  by  31  December  2027  (Article  9a(7)):  the  European 
Parliament and the Council agreed on broadening the scope of the review clause on 
food waste reduction targets, to further include an assessment of (a) the feasibility of 
setting  food waste reduction targets  for 2035;  (b) appropriate levers to  reduce  food 
waste  and  losses  in  primary  production  and,  (c)  the  impact  of  changes  in  food 
production levels on the achievement of food waste reduction targets. 

On food donation (Article 9a(1) second subparagraph, last sentence): the European 
Parliament  and  the  Council  agreed  to  maintain  a  voluntary  approach  on  food 
donation  whilst  requiring  Member  States  to  take  measures  to  ensure  that  economic 
operators  who  have  a  significant  role  in  preventing  and  generating    food  waste  (as 
identified by each Member State) propose donation agreements with food banks and 
other redistribution organisations.  

For textiles: 

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On  the  inclusion  of  microenterprises  in  the  definition  of  ‘producers’:  the 
European Parliament and the Council agreed to include microenterprises in the scope 
of  EPR  by  modifying  the  definition  of  producers  initially  proposed  by  the 
Commission. In line with Commission priorities, important mitigation measures were 
introduced  to  avoid  creating  excessive  additional  administrative  burdens  for  small 
economic operators. The European Parliament and the Council agreed with a gradual 
phase-in  of  microenterprises  that  should  be  included  only  at  a  later  stage  in  the 
definition  of  ‘producers’,  by  setting  a  delay  of  12-months  after  the  deadline  for 
establishing the EPR schemes (overall by 42 months after the entry into force of the 
amending 
directive).  
The European Parliament and the Council also agreed to have reduced and simplified 
reporting  obligations  for  microenterprises,  e.g.  by  reporting  only  the  products  they 
made available on the market of a Member State for the first time on an annual basis. 
Finally,    a  recital  was  included    indicating  that  the  financial  contribution  for  such 
organisations should take into account the volume of textiles made available on the 
market.  This  compromise  broadens  EPR  coverage  while  ensuring  proportionate 
reporting obligations and financial contributions for microenterprises to maintain fair 
market conditions and avoid unintended barriers to entry for such smaller operators.  

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On the eco-modulation of EPR fees: the co-legislators agreed to provide Member 
States  with  the  possibility  of  modulating  the  EPR  fees  based  on  ultra-fast  and  fast 
fashion  practices,  in  addition  to  the  sustainability  criteria  to  be  defined  under  the 
Ecodesign  for  Sustainable  Products  Regulation  (ESPR).  The  European  Parliament 
and the Council agreed that the criteria for modulating financial contributions based 
on producers’ practices, such as ultra-fast fashion and fast fashion, will be laid down 
in the Commission implementing acts already planned to define the eco-modulation 
criteria according to the ESPR delegated acts. 

On  the  change  of  definition  of  ‘making  available  on  the  market’:  the  European 
Parliament  and  the  Council  agreed  to  replace  the  original  definition  of  ‘making 
available  on  the  Union  market’  with  the  definition  of  ‘making  available  on  the 
market of a Member State’. The Council and Parliament agreed to include a recital, 
which refers to the Union (EU) market, to clarify that payments of EPR fees in more 
than one Member State related to one product should be avoided.  

Timeframe  for  transposing  the  Directive:  The  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  agreed  to  a  transposition  within  20  months  (instead  of  18  months,  as 
provided for in the Commission proposal) from the entry into force of the amending 
Directive.  As  per  the  establishment  of  EPR  schemes,  the  European  Parliament  and 
the  Council  maintained  the  deadline  of  30  months  from  the  entry  into  force  of  the 
amending Directive. This period is aimed to ensure that sufficient time is provided to 
Member  States  to  transpose  the  amending  Directive  without  postponing  the 
establishing the EPR schemes. 

On  online  platforms  and  EPR  obligations:  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  agreed  to  include  a  recital  clarifying  the  obligations  applicable  to  online 
platform providers  under  Regulation  (EU) 2022/2065  (Digital  Services Act -  DSA) 
in relation to EPR obligations. The compromise text also clarifies that the obligations 
under the WFD need to be consistent with the DSA. 

Inclusion  of  evaluations  and  review  clauses:  The  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  agreed  to  include  evaluations  of  the  WFD  and  Landfill  Directive  by  31 
December 2029, including three review clauses to assess: (1) the financial capability 
of  the  textile  EPR  schemes;  (2)  the  possibility  of  setting  collection,  reuse  and 
recycling targets  for textiles;  and  (3) the possibility of pre-sorting  mixed municipal 
waste  before  its  disposal.  The  compromise  text  provides  the  Commission  with 
sufficient time to collect data for related to EPR schemes to be assessed in the review 
clauses.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the results of the inter-institutional negotiations and can therefore 
accept the Council's position at first reading 

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