Moving Parts: A Guide To The EU's Evolving Product Regulatory Landscape

The world of environmental product legislation is not immune to the regulatory uncertainty that has been a defining feature of the sustainability landscape over the past few years. While the direction of travel in the EU remains clear—towards greater digitalisation, harmonisation and circularity—the sheer volume and pace of legislative activity demands close attention from any business placing products on the European market.

Introduction

There is a notable tension at the heart of the European Commission's agenda. On the one hand, the Omnibus simplification packages and the adjustments to current rules signal a genuine effort to reduce compliance burdens (without commenting on whether simplification is a cover for deregulation). On the other, the ambition of incoming obligations makes clear that the net effect will not be less regulation, but different regulation, no less consequential in substance. Equally, businesses need certainty, and the almost constant amendments,