Commission work programme 2023: food waste, sustainable food systems

Every year the European Commission adopts its work programme to set out its key initiatives for the year ahead, which are communicated to the public.

The Commission work programme for 2023 was published on 18 October, with a number of new legislative initiatives concerning food and agriculture, and trade, with a focus on sustainability.

These include:

Waste reduction

Revision of food waste and textiles aspects of the EU waste framework Directive (legislative, incl. impact assessment, Articles 191 and 192 TFEU, Q2 2023)

Sustainable food systems

Legislative framework for sustainable food systems (legislative, incl. impact assessment, Q3 2023)

The European Commission has over 100 pending Priority pending proposals, with 35 under the European Green Deal chapeau alone.

Among the 100 pending proposals are:

- The Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the sustainable use of plant protection products and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 (COM(2022)305 final 2022/0196 (COD) 22.06.2022)

- The Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, and amending Council Regulations (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1005/2008, and Regulation (EU) No 2016/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards fisheries control (COM(2018)368 final 2018/0193 (COD) 30.05.2018)

- Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market (COM(2022)453 final 2022/0269 (COD) 14.09.2022)

-Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (COM(2022)71 final 2022/0051 (COD) 23.02.2022)

- Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on applying a generalised scheme of tariff preferences and repealing Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (COM(2021)579 final 2021/0297 (COD) 22.09.2021)

It should be noted that, although the PEF/ Green Claims initiative does not feature in this Communication (either as part of the pending priority proposals or the 2023 work programme), the Proposal for a Regulation on substantiating environmental claims using the product/ organisation environmental footprint methods (green claims) has been tabled for presentation by Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans to the College of Commissioners on 30 November.

More information: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/com_2022_548_1_annexe_en.pdf

Contact: Lebo Mofolo, lmofolo@frucom.eu