Orgalim comments on  Competitiveness Council's debate

Orgalim fully supports the need to strengthen the resilience of the Single Market, which remains the cornerstone of our industries’ competitiveness. We are concerned, however, that aspects of the proposed Single Market Emergency Instrument are too interventionist. We will continue to engage actively with the co-legislators and the Commission to help make sure the right balance is struck for an effective and proportionate solution.   

We welcome the proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation as a key measure to further optimise the way resources are used throughout the economy and society, while opening up new business opportunities – a win-win for the environment and the economy. Digital solutions, such as the Digital Product Passport, will play a key part in this. However, we are concerned about the protection of confidential business data within the scope of the Digital Product Passport, and about the interplay with other legislation. Duplication of efforts and double regulation, in particular for chemicals, remains a real risk. When implementing the ESPR, a disproportionate impact on the competitiveness of economic actors must be avoided. For more information, see our position and recommendations. 

Finally, we welcome the ambition to better support transformation technologies. We strongly recommend that a potential future platform consider a wide range of enabling technologies, which we have long said are available but are often not getting deployed fast enough in the market. Clearly there is even more urgency now due to the geopolitical situation. To succeed for the long term, the right policy framework conditions need to be in place, and there are multiple elements in the current legislative and regulatory pipeline that can have a material impact. If Europe is serious about supporting transformation technologies, it has to start by getting these policies right. Very important will be not just to pick a few “favourite” technologies, but to look holistically at transformation technologies and related value chain activities. 

We are ready to engage in this dialogue and help ensure Europe can mobilise the full power of the market, and of our state-of-the-art industrial technologies, in support of shared policy objectives.