Revision of the ozone depleting substances regulation

On 5 April 2022 the Commission proposed to change the Regulation on Ozone-depleting substances. This proposal will now be negotiated by the co-legislators in the European Parliament and the Council.

In an evaluation of the current Regulation, the Commission found that the ODS Regulation was working well. Nevertheless, there is a need to:

• Achieve a higher level of emission reduction in light of the European Green Deal
• Improve the efficiency of some measures in the Regulation, while preserving effective controls and preventing illegal activities.
• Ensure more comprehensive monitoring.
• Improve the coherence of the Regulation with other rules.

The new ODS proposal can prevent climate-relevant and ozone-depleting emissions from insulation foams during renovation or demolition activities.

With this proposal, the Commission wants to prevent the equivalent of 180 million tonnes of CO2 and 32,000 tonnes of ozone depleting potential (ODP) emissions by 2050.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted its opinion on the proposal on 15/06/2022.

Key points of the opinion:

The EESC:

• Welcomes the Commission proposal for the revision of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) regulation to improve its structure and raise the level of ambition in order to meet the European Green Deal objectives and, simultaneously, provide maximum protection for citizens against toxic, cancer-causing substances.
• Underlines the importance that the main rules of both the regulation for the ozone-depleting substances and the fluorinated gas regulation are consistent with each other (e.g. regarding custom controls, leakage rules and definitions).
• Is in favour of a transparent universal monitoring system applicable in all EU Member States. This system should also be easy to implement in countries outside the EU because of the pioneering role that the EU currently fulfils.
• Calls for the number of exceptions to the prohibitions to be kept to a minimum, and for derogations from the list of prohibited substances only to be possible in exceptional and necessary cases. The exempted uses should be strictly controlled in order to avoid abuse.
• Calls for urgent action to introduce effective legislation in the Member States to prevent leakage of ODS in order to avoid endangering the atmospheric environment and the living conditions of the population.
• Recommends that ODS management contained in existing equipment, foams and other products not yet released to the atmosphere should be part of a waste management system with overarching policies, legislation and regulations for specific waste streams already in place. As this is a great challenge, especially for developing countries, the EU needs to demonstrate feasible solutions and an adequate legal framework.
• Is concerned that quantitative limits of ODS for feedstock use have been entirely dismissed. Narrowing feedstock exemptions under the new regulation has multiple environmental benefits. There should be a focus on environmentally friendly alternatives.