EFPIA is today announcing its intention to challenge the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) before the EU General Court to seek greater clarity on how the decision to include only two sectors to bear responsibility for Europe’s urban wastewater quaternary treatment aligns with the EU’s own polluter pays principle. We believe that the Directive runs counter to key principles of EU Treaties: polluter pays, proportionality and non-discrimination.  

EFPIA supports the Polluter Pays Principle that all producers responsible for pollution should be held accountable and bear the costs of pollution that they have caused.  

The arbitrary decision to hold only the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries responsible for the costs of treating urban wastewater is not only intrinsically unfair, it undermines the ambition of the Green Deal and will fail to incentivise other sectors to reduce micro-pollutants in the water.  Despite requests, EFPIA has been unable to see the data and methodology used by the European Commission to reach the decision. 

The research-based pharmaceutical industry has an unwavering commitment to minimising the impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment. EFPIA and its members are committed to paying for their fair share of the costs of urban wastewater treatment based on the volume of micro-pollutants found in wastewater and to the implantation of the Directive in a fair, predictable, proportionate and non-discriminatory way.  

EFPIA director General Nathalie Moll said.  

“Europe needs environmental legislation that works, where all sectors are incentivised to sustainably reduce micro-pollutants and where the costs of treatment for producers are aligned to the volume of micro-pollutants present in our waters.  

The EU’s own principles of non-discrimination, proportionality and that the polluter pays are not reflected in the Directive and need to be rigorously applied to create a fairer system. We believe the decision to take legal action is closely aligned to these principles and reflects this Commission’s drive to ensure that all legislation is coherent and supports European competitiveness. 

Our industry supports the ambition of the legislation and is 100% committed to paying its fair share.” 

ENDS. 

Notes to editors 

1. EFPIA member companies have invested heavily financially in innovation to ensure that wastewater from pharmaceutical manufacturing is treated at source and does not enter the water system and to reduce pharmaceutical residues into the environment. The vast majority of pharmaceuticals in our water stem from people taking medicines and those medicines passing through a persons’ system into wastewater, or through incorrect disposal of medicines (unused or expired medicines).  
2. EFPIA supports appropriate processes for proper disposal, jointly with other trade associations we have launched the #medsdisposal campaign to raise awareness on how to proper dispose unused or expired medicines across the European Union. Click here for more information https://medsdisposal.eu/about-us/ 
3. The EU polluter pays principle is a core concept of EU environmental policy: those responsible for environmental damage should pay to cover the costs of the damage they cause. This applies to prevention of pollution, remediation, liability (criminal, civil and environmental liability) and the costs imposed on society of pollution that does happen. 
4. The EU proportionality principle means that EU measures; must be suitable to achieve the desired end; must be necessary to achieve the desired end; and must not impose a burden on the individual that is excessive in relation to the objective sought to be achieved (proportionality in the narrow sense).