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Cutting Green Paperwork to Help Businesses
Published December 10, 2025
Goal: Reduce business paperwork
The EU’s new Directive cuts a lot of paperwork and costs for companies by scrapping the SCIP database, unifying reporting dates, letting one environmental plan cover multiple plants, easing rules for low‑carbon tech, and reducing monitoring for backup generators, all while keeping the green targets.
What the problem is
The EU’s environmental rules are very detailed and often duplicated.
- Companies that make or sell products have to fill out a complex database (SCIP) for hazardous substances, even though most people never look at it.
- Industrial plants must prepare separate environmental‑management systems (EMS) for each site, do chemical inventories, risk assessments and audits that are already covered by other schemes.
- Reporting dates for extended‑producer‑responsibility (EPR) vary from country to country, making it hard for firms that sell in many Member States.
- Some rules (e.g., limits for NOx, SO₂, dust) are too strict for new low‑carbon technologies such as oxy‑fuel or hydrogen combustion, and they create extra paperwork for backup generators that run only a few hours a year.
- The Commission wants to cut the administrative cost for businesses by 25 % and for SMEs by 35 % and to make the EU’s green transition easier.
How the problem is being solved
The new Directive amends four existing EU laws (Waste Framework, Industrial Emissions, Medium‑combustion plants, and the 2024 amendment to the Industrial Emissions Directive).
Key simplifications are:
| What is changed | What it means |
|---|---|
| SCIP database | Repealed – companies no longer have to submit data on substances of very high concern. Existing data stay with the European Chemicals Agency. |
| EPR reporting | One harmonised reporting frequency (once a year) for all Member States, instead of different dates. |
| EMS for industrial plants | • One EMS can cover several installations owned by the same operator. • Chemical inventory, risk assessment and audit requirements are removed. • Deadline for preparing an EMS is moved from 2027 to 2030. |
| Pig‑iron wording | “Pig” removed from the definition of iron‑steel production, making the rule match the EU Emissions Trading System and easing permits for new, cleaner plants. |
| Organic livestock | Organic poultry farms are excluded from the Industrial Emissions Directive; the conversion rate for piglets is adjusted so unweaned piglets are not counted. |
| Oxy‑fuel & hydrogen combustion | Authorities can assess compliance flexibly; NOx limits do not apply to plants using more than 20 % hydrogen. |
| Backup generators | Monitoring frequency is lowered for generators that run fewer than 1 500 hours a year. |
| Transitional provisions | New rules will start in 2026, giving Member States time to adjust permits. |
What changes as a result of this document
- Administrative savings – about €100 million per year for the Industrial Emissions Directive and €225 million per year for the Waste Framework Directive.
- Reduced reporting burden – 190 998 contributions were received in a public call for evidence; 99.3 % came from citizens, 0.7 % from businesses and NGOs.
- Simpler compliance – a single EMS, fewer audits, and a single reporting date for EPR.
- Better support for low‑carbon tech – oxy‑fuel and hydrogen combustion are now allowed without extra NOx limits, and backup generators are monitored less often.
- Legal certainty – the Directive will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal and will be transposed by Member States within 24 months.
These changes aim to keep the EU’s environmental goals while cutting unnecessary paperwork and costs for businesses and public authorities.
Licensing: The summaries on this page are available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
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