Since its publication in December 2024, the European Directive 2024/3019 on urban waste water treatment has been the subject of much criticism from the industry.
Cosmetics Europe has already called for its re-evaluation, and has even taken the matter to court, with an appeal to the EU court.

Now it’s the FEBEA’s turn to argue against this text.
As a reminder, this Directive establishes an EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) scheme to charge the costs of eliminating micropollutants to the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries alone.
The FEBEA denounces this unsustainable directive and calls for an urgent revision of the scheme.

To back up its claims, it points to a new study by the independent firm (RE)SET, which reveals that upgrading wastewater treatment plants to deal with micropollutants, as provided for by this Directive, would cost French companies an average of between €513 and €633 million a year, i.e. between 4 and 5 times more than the European Commission’s initial estimates.

“Water depollution is a shared priority. For this ambition to become a reality, it must be based on a robust assessment of the consequences for each sector, and on a fair and scientifically sound framework, reflecting …