On Wednesday, Parliament adopted its proposals to better prevent and reduce waste from textiles and food across the EU.

MEPs adopted their first reading position on the proposed revision of the Waste Framework with 514 votes in favour, 20 against and 91 abstentions.

Tougher objectives to cut down food waste

They propose higher binding waste reduction targets to be met at national level by 31 December 2030 – at least 20% in food processing and manufacturing (instead of 10% proposed by the Commission) and 40% per capita in retail, restaurants, food services and households (instead of 30%). Parliament also wants the Commission to evaluate if higher targets for 2035 (at least 30% and 50% respectively) should be introduced, and if so, asks them to come up with a legislative proposal.

Producers to cover costs for collecting, sorting and recycling waste textiles

MEPs agree to extend producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, through which producers that sell textiles in the EU would have to cover the costs for collecting, sorting and recycling them separately. Member states would have to establish these schemes 18 months after the entry into force of the directive (compared to 30 months proposed by the Commission). The new rules would cover products such as clothing and accessories, blankets, bed linen, curtains, hats, footwear, mattresses and carpets, including products that contain textile-related materials such as leather, composition leather, rubber or plastic.

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Rapporteur Anna Zalewska (ECR, PL) said: “Parliament has come up with targeted solutions to reduce food waste, such as promoting “ugly” fruits and veggies, keeping an eye on unfair market practices, clarifying date labelling and donating unsold-but-consumable food. For textiles, we also want to include non-household products, carpets and mattresses, as well as sales via online platforms.”

Next steps

The file will be followed up by the new Parliament after the 6-9 June European elections.

Background

Every year, 60 million tonnes of food waste (131 kg per person) and 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste are generated in the EU. Clothing and footwear alone account for 5.2 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 12 kg of waste per person every year. It is estimated that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.

In adopting this report, Parliament is responding to citizens’ expectations for the EU to apply circular economy principles and promote measures against food waste, as well as to implement without delay an ambitious sustainable textile strategy and increase environmental standards, as expressed in proposals 1(3), 5(8), 5(9) and 5(11) of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

EP and Council negotiators agreed on the creation of a European Health Data Space to ease access to personal health data and to boost secure sharing for the public interest.

The provisional political agreement on a European Health Data Space (EHDS), reached early on Friday by Parliament and the Belgian Presidency of the Council, outlines that patients will be able to access their personal health data electronically across the EU’s different healthcare systems. The bill also gives health professionals access to their patients’ data, based strictly on what is necessary for a given treatment, and patients will also be able to download their health record free of charge.

Electronic health records (EHR) would include patient summaries, electronic prescriptions, medical imagery and laboratory results (so-called primary use).

Each country would establish national health data access services based on the MyHealth@EU platform. The law would also create a European electronic health record exchange format, and outline rules on data quality, security and the interoperability of EHR systems that will be monitored by national market surveillance authorities.

Data-sharing for the common good with safeguards

The EHDS would allow anonymised or pseudonymised health data, including health records, clinical trials, pathogens, health claims and reimbursements, genetic data, public health registry information, wellness data and information on healthcare resources, expenditure and financing, to be shared for public interest purposes (so-called secondary use). These reasons would include research, innovation, policy-making, education and patient safety purposes.

The sharing of data for advertising or assessing insurance requests will be prohibited. During negotiations, MEPs ensured that secondary use would not be allowed concerning decisions on labour markets (including job offers), lending conditions and other types of discrimination or profiling.

Stronger safeguards for sensitive data

The law ensures patients will have a say in how their data is used and accessed. They must be informed each time their data is accessed, and they will have the right to request or correct incorrect data. Patients will also be able to object to healthcare professionals accessing their data for primary use, except where this is necessary for protecting the vital interests of the data subject or another person. MEPs secured the right for patients to opt out of secondary use, with certain exceptions for public-interest, policy-making or statistics purposes, and protections for intellectual property rights and trade secrets when relevant data is shared for secondary use.

National data protection authorities will monitor the enforcement of health data access rights and will be empowered to issue fines in the event of shortcomings.

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Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatia), Environment Committee co-rapporteur, said: “The European Health Data Space will put citizens in control of their health data by providing a safe framework for storing and accessing their personal health records that will be accessible anywhere in the EU – enhancing healthcare at a national and cross-border level. the EHDS will also facilitate the responsible sharing of health data to researchers – boosting research and innovation in the EU, and ensuring the development of new treatments.”

Annalisa Tardino (ID, Italy), Civil Liberties Committee co-rapporteur, said: “The EHDS will contribute to providing state-of-the-art healthcare to patients everywhere in the EU. We have succeeded in including in the text significant reinforcements regarding the protection of sensitive personal data, in particular with the possibility for patients to opt-out both for primary and secondary use of their health data. In that regard, Parliament’s mandate was stronger and provided even more safeguards, but the majority of LIBE political groups considers that the final agreement strikes a balance between exchanging health data for treatment and for life-saving research, and protecting the privacy of our citizens.”

Next steps

europeThe provisional agreement still needs to be formally adopted by both institutions before it can enter into law.