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During the plenary session on 11/07/2023 in Strasbourg, the European Parliament voted on the European Commission's proposal on the Industrial Emissions Directive. The Parliament adopted its opinion by 367 votes to 245, with 16 abstentions. Parliament was the last institution that had not yet delivered an opinion on the Commission's proposal. Trialogues between Parliament, the Council and the Commission will now be able to begin, during which the final form of the new EU legislation will be negotiated.
More information is available here, here and here.

During the plenary session on 12/07/2023 in Strasbourg, the European Parliament voted on the European Commission's proposal on the Nature Restoration Law. The Parliament adopted its opinion by 336 votes to 300, with 13 abstentions. Parliament was the last institution that had not yet delivered an opinion on the Commission's proposal. Trialogues between Parliament, the Council and the Commission will now be able to begin, during which the final form of the new EU legislation will be negotiated.
More information is available here, here and here.

On 05/07/2023, the European Commission presented a package of legislative proposals under the European Green Deal. The package focuses on measures for the sustainable use of key natural resources and should also strengthen the resilience of food systems and agriculture in the EU. It includes legislation on soil health monitoring, new genomic techniques, reproductive material for plants and forests, and reducing food waste and losses. The Soil Health Monitoring legislation aims to achieve healthy soils in the European Union by 2050 by collecting soil health data and making it available to farmers and other land managers. The proposal also establishes sustainable soil management as the norm and addresses situations of unacceptable health and environmental risks due to soil contamination. However, it does not introduce any legally binding targets for Member States. The proposal for new rules on new genomic techniques aims to facilitate the use of new genomic techniques in plant breeding, which should facilitate the breeding of climate-resilient plants, could reduce the use of chemical pesticides and ensure the availability of more sustainable, high-quality and diverse seeds. The Commission proposes to divide plants derived from new genomic techniques into two categories - the first category of plants should only be subject to notification for market entry, and the labelling of plants as derived from new genomic techniques should not be mandatory. The second category of plants should be governed by the rules for GMOs Regarding food waste, the European Commission proposes a legally binding target, the fulfilment of which should therefore be mandatory for member states, namely, to reduce food waste and losses by 10% by 2030 in the case of food processing and production and by 30% by 2030 – per person – in the case of hospitality, commerce and households. The Commission has also proposed rules for more sustainable and diverse plant and forest reproductive material. The European seed sector is the largest exporter on the world seed market, the Commission said, which is why some outdated rules needed to be updated. The Commission proposal should increase the diversity and quality of seeds, cuttings and other plant reproductive material.
All proposals will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, followed by trialogues between the three institutions.
More information is available here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines recommending that countries implement comprehensive mandatory legislation to protect children of all ages from the promotion of foods and soft drinks high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, sugars and/or salts (HFSS). According to the WHO, only calls for restrictions have not had a meaningful impact and children continue to be exposed to strong marketing of HFSS foods and soft drinks whose consumption is linked to diseases such as obesity, tooth decay and diabetes.
More information is available here.

On 06/07/2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its long-awaited opinion on the safety assessment of glyphosate. The licence authorising the use of this substance in the EU was due to expire on 15/12/2022, but the EFSA opinion was not ready in time and the licence was therefore extended for one year until 15/12/2023. EFSA issued its opinion last week, and the full report is several thousand pages long. Although some of the issues related to the safety of glyphosate could not be finalised by EFSA (e.g., the assessment of one of the impurities in glyphosate or the risk assessment for aquatic plants), and the risks associated with the use of glyphosate are complex and depend on many factors, according to the authors of the study, EFSA did not find any critical risks associated with the use of glyphosate. Its use in agriculture should therefore be safe, the EFSA concluded. The conclusions and supporting documents for the evaluation and risk assessment will be published on EFSA's website by the end of July, with the full dossier to be published in the second half of 2023 (between late August and mid-October). Member States will negotiate the licence extension in the second half of 2023.
Environmental NGOs have already expressed their indignation at EFSA's conclusions, describing the outcome of the assessment as shocking. On the other hand, Copa - Cogeca, Europe's largest agricultural organisation, welcomed the EFSA result and called on Member States to follow EFSA's conclusions when deciding on the licence extension.
More information is available here, here and here.