129. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position taken by Ireland in European Council negotiations on the proposed suspension of Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 concerning extended producer responsibility authorised representatives (file 2025/0395(COD)); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61092/26]

153. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position taken by Ireland at the Council of the European Union on 24 June 2026 in respect of the proposed suspension of Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 contained in COM(2025) 982; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61568/26]

165. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position taken by Ireland in Council negotiations on the proposed suspension of Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 concerning extended producer responsibility authorised representatives (file 2025/0395(COD)); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62115/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 129, 153 and 165 together.

In December 2025, as part of its Environmental Omnibus Simplification Package (Omnibus VIII), the European Commission proposed targeted amendments to simplify the operation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes across the EU.

The principal EPR-related proposal in this Package was a suspension of the requirement for producers selling into another Member State to appoint an authorised representative in each Member State. This was on the basis that this requirement creates unnecessary administrative costs and barriers to the Single Market, particularly for SMEs.

This concerned not just the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation but also existing EPR obligations under the Waste Framework Directive, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive, and the Batteries Regulation.

Ireland’s feedback was supportive of the proposal to simplify EPR obligations and reduce unnecessary burdens for producers but also reflected the need to ensure such measures would not undermine successful enforcement, which ensures a level playing field for all producers operating on the market.

The proposal encountered significant opposition from Member States during Council negotiations and work on this element of the package was discontinued, on the understanding that harmonisation of EPR requirements would be advanced in the proposal for an EU Circular Economy Act. That proposal is expected to be published by the European Commission during Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU this year.

I look forward to seeing the European Commission proposals in the EU Circular Economy Act to address this issue.