AESGP reaction to ENV Council AOB on UWWTD

Brussels, 12 October 2026 – EU ministers have challenged the fairness, legal certainty and readiness of wastewater rules requiring pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to fund micropollutant treatment costs. With governments demanding better evidence, fairer cost allocation and workable timelines, AESGP calls on the European Commission to fix the rules before implementation locks Member States into a flawed system.

Today’s Environment Council debate confirmed warnings from governments, the European Parliament, scientists and industry: the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules in the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) are not ready to be implemented as written. Ministers questioned their scientific basis, proportionality and economic impact while legal proceedings before the Court of Justice remain unresolved.

The Directive requires national transposition by 31 July 2027 and EPR measures by 31 December 2028, yet assigns at least 80% of micropollutant-removal costs to only two sectors without a robust methodology covering all pollutants and sources. Existing infringement cases under the previous Directive show the risks of setting obligations that cannot be delivered in practice.

• Poland’s call to reassess EPR and allocate costs more fairly was backed by Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
• Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, Malta and Lithuania warned of risks to medicine affordability and constrained health budgets.
• Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Austria sought greater legal certainty, guidance or a pragmatic approach to the timelines – with special mention to dividing transposition in 2 phases (Spain).
• Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Austria supported quaternary treatment and EPR provided the implementation is workable and harmonised.

AESGP calls on the European Commission to act on the concerns raised by national Ministers:

• Provide immediate legal and implementation clarity on the options at hand;
• Launch a new, comprehensive and independent assessment taking new data and studies into account;
• Establish a transparent methodology that attributes micropollutants to all relevant sources;
• Postpone implementation of EPR and quaternary-treatment deadlines, due to legal uncertainty.

Europe can protect its waters without gambling with medicine availability, affordability and industrial competitiveness. The first step is to fix the evidence – and then fix the rules.