The European Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) was adopted by the European Parliament on April 23, 2024 and by the Council on May 27, 2024. This regulation establishes a general framework for the introduction of environmental sustainability standards for most products placed on the European market.
It replaces the existing Ecodesign Directive and extends its scope beyond energy products to all types of products placed on the EU market.
The European Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on a Directive that promotes the repair of broken or defective goods, also known as the right-to-repair (or R2R) Directive.
This Directive aims to increase the repair of goods within the legal guarantee and to provide consumers with simpler, cheaper options for repairing technically repairable products when the legal warranty has expired or when the good no longer functions due to wear and tear.
A provisional agreement has been reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of the environment through criminal law.
This agreement relates to a proposal for a Directive, the aim of which is to improve the effective enforcement of criminal law and to combat the most serious environmental offenses which can have devastating effects on both the environment and human health.
Noting that the French State had failed to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with European air pollution thresholds in several urban areas in France, the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) ordered it in 2021 and 2022 to pay 3 penalty payments of €10 million each per six-month period of non-compliance.
In a ruling handed down on November 24, 2023, considering the persistence of pollution in Paris and Lyon and the improvements observed, the Conseil d’État once again ordered the French State to pay two penalty payments of €5 million each for the two six-month periods from July 2022 to July 2023.
The French Constitutional Council received an application from the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) for a preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality relating to the conformity of Article L. 542-10-1 of the French Environmental Code, in its version resulting from Law No. 2016-1015 of July 25, 2016, specifying the terms and conditions for the creation of a reversible deep geological repository for long-lived high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (the Cigéo project) with the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the French Constitution.
In a decision handed down on October 27, 2023, the French Constitutional Council, while recognizing that the legislator must ensure that choices intended to meet current needs do not compromise the ability of future generations and other peoples to meet their own needs, by preserving their freedom of choice in this respect, concluded that the Cigéo project does not infringe the rights of future generations.
Although the scientific community has been warning of the risks associated with the use of poly- or perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) since the early 2000s, there was until now no regulations governing discharges from industrial facilities.
As part of the PFAS 2023 2027 action plan presented earlier this year by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, a ministerial order relating to the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in water discharges from classified facilities that are subject to the so-called authorization regime was published on June 20, 2023.
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