EU: Commission launches call for evidence to inform forthcoming Environmental Omnibus

On 22 July 2025, the European Commission launched a call for evidence seeking views on how to simplify and streamline administrative requirements related to the environment in the areas of waste, products, and industrial emissions. The call for evidence closes on 10 September 2025. 

The call for evidence will feed into an Environmental Omnibus in Q4 2025, which will take the form of a draft Regulation. 

The call for evidence does not identify which pieces of existing environmental legislation might be simplified. Instead, it merely refers to a limited number of policy areas that may be included in the forthcoming Environmental Omnibus but acknowledges that the final list could evolve once the Commission has examined the results of the call for evidence:

“After the stakeholder input has been gathered, this initiative will aim to reduce administrative burden stemming from environmental legislation in the areas of circular economy, industrial emissions and waste management. 

This may include the following measures: 

• rationalising reporting/notification obligations, for example, the discontinuation of the SCIP (substances of concern in products) database under the Waste Framework Directive;
• harmonisation of the provisions for authorised representatives for extended producer responsibility (EPR) in each Member State where a producer sells a product falling under EPR rules and on facilitation of EPR reporting; 
• streamlining reporting obligations, removing double requirements to report, promoting further digitalisation of reporting in the area of circular economy, industrial emissions and waste management, while maintaining the policy objectives; 
• addressing permitting challenges relating to environment assessments based on experience recently gained such as under the Net Zero Industry Act. 

The list of measures to take could evolve depending on stakeholder feedback and further analysis.”

The Commission has indicated that the aim is to reduce the administrative burden without affecting the environmental objectives under the existing environmental legislation. 

It has also said that engagement with stakeholders in recent months provided the first feedback on practical difficulties and bottlenecks they encounter when ensuring compliance with existing environmental laws and where the administrative and reporting burden could be reduced without jeopardising the objective of the laws. A potential to rationalise notification obligations has also been identified. Stakeholders have also underlined the need to accelerate and streamline permitting processes.  

In addition to the call for evidence, the Commission has indicated it may also carry out “targeted consultations” and “reality checks” to help inform inform the final proposal.  

The call for evidence is very light on detail and does not give much away in terms of what is likely to end up in the forthcoming Environmental Omnibus in Q4 this year. 

For more information on the other EU Omnibus initiatives that are relevant to sustainability issues, see the Linklaters Omnibus Tracker.