EU Commission challenges the French Environmental Labeling in Court

⚖️ The 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.

At the centre of the dispute are the provisions introduced by France through Article 17 of Law No 105/2020 and Decree No 835/2021, which made it 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧” 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

These requirements apply to all products intended for household consumers and subject to extended producer responsibility schemes, with the exception of glass beverage packaging for household use.

According to the Commission, the 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭, 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝟑𝟒 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧. The main concern is that companies from other Member States are required to adapt their products and packaging specifically for the French market, incurring additional costs and facing logistical complications that do not arise in other European markets.

In addition to this restriction on the movement of goods, the Commission also alleges a procedural infringement by France: Paris allegedly failed to notify the draft rules to Brussels in advance, as required under Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2015/1535. This Directive establishes a mandatory information procedure for technical regulations, precisely to prevent individual Member States from introducing rules that may fragment the internal market without prior assessment of their compatibility with EU law.

The Commission is therefore asking the Court to declare that France has failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law and to order France to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Soon, under the PPWR, those labeling schemes will be finally harmonized.