The EU Environmental Omnibus: one package, six fixes, less bureaucracy

One omnibus, two omnibus, skip a few… now, we’re at number eight.

Simplification could be the keyword to describe the current Commission mandate, cutting across environmental, industrial and digital policy files alike. On 10 December, the European Commission brought that approach to environmental legislation with its latest instalment: the EU Environmental Omnibus, the eighth package in its broader simplification drive.

What’s interesting is not that it promises to cut red tape, as that promise has been made before. What is different is the focus on some of the most persistent and practical sources of administrative friction: parallel reporting obligations, duplicative databases, fragmented permitting procedures and cross-border compliance challenges that disproportionately affect companies operating across the Single Market.

The EU Environmental Omnibus bundles six interlinked legislative acts into one package, with a stated objective that is refreshingly explicit: achieve environmental goals in a more efficient, less burdensome and more innovative way. Let’s dive straight into them!

What do we find in the EU Environmental Omnibus?

The package consists of six legislative measures, mixing regulations and directives, all aimed at easing implementation rather than rewriting environmental objectives. According to the Commission, the following measures could reduce administrative burdens by around €1 billion per year, with SMEs seeing the greatest relative relief.

• a regulation amending the Batteries Regulation and the ESG Ratings Regulation seeks to clarify definitions and streamline requirements. This includes clearer producer definitions for distance sales, adjusted battery repairability requirements for light means of transport, and reduced reporting burdens for livestock and aquaculture operators.
• a regulation temporarily suspending authorised-representative obligations for EPR schemes under the Batteries Regulation and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation would pause mandatory appointments for EU-established producers selling cross-border until January 2035.
• a directive extends the same suspension to authorised-representative requirements under the Waste Framework Directive, the WEEE Directive and the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
• a regulation on environmental assessments establishes a common procedural framework to speed up Environmental Impact Assessments and Strategic Environmental Assessments. It introduces maximum timelines, strengthens coordination between authorities, mandates Single Points of Contact and pushes decisively towards digital submission and processing.
• a directive simplifying the INSPIRE framework removes prescriptive technical requirements and aligns environmental geospatial data rules with broader EU data legislation, shifting the focus towards usability and interoperability.
• a directive simplifying selected environmental requirements tackles several long-standing pain points. Most notably, it proposes repealing the harmonising EPR reporting frequency, easing Environmental Management System requirements under the Industrial Emissions Directive, postponing EMS deadlines to 1 July 2030, and facilitating permitting for industrial decarbonisation technologies such as hydrogen and oxy-fuel combustion.

Who’s going to feel the impact by the EU Environmental Omnibus?

Despite its horizontal framing, the EU Environmental Omnibus is not sector-neutral. Its effects concentrate on industries with heavy reporting obligations or complex permitting needs.

• Packaging, FMCG, retail and e-commerce are among the most directly affected, particularly through the suspension of cross-border EPR authorised-representative requirements and the move towards harmonised annual EPR reporting.
• Batteries, electronics and light mobility manufacturers benefit from clearer producer definitions and adjusted repairability requirements, especially for distance sellers operating across multiple Member States.
• For chemicals, manufacturing and recycling, the proposed removal of the SCIP database could reduce compliance complexity and associated costs. Public administrations may also benefit from reduced administrative loads, enabling more efficient enforcement.
• Ports and energy-intensive industries.
• Construction, infrastructure and project developers will be directly affected by faster, more digital environmental assessment procedures, while agriculture and aquaculture benefit from targeted reporting exemptions.
• Finally, geospatial data providers, environmental consultancies and public authorities will need to adapt to a leaner INSPIRE framework aligned with broader EU data rules.

From red tape to rulebooks

The EU Environmental Omnibus forms part of the Competitiveness Compass, which frames simplification as a prerequisite for decarbonisation rather than a concession against it. The underlying logic is straightforward: companies cannot invest, innovate or decarbonise efficiently if compliance absorbs disproportionate time, resources and management attention. After years of layering new obligations on top of existing ones, often through sector-specific instruments with limited horizontal coordination, the Commission is now stress-testing whether Europe’s environmental framework can function with fewer moving parts. It signals a shift in tone rather than a change in direction. Environmental ambition remains intact, but the Commission is increasingly willing to acknowledge that procedural complexity undermines both compliance and competitiveness. The real test will not be Brussels’ press release, but rather in the implementation of the package.

What comes next?

The EU Environmental Omnibus is now at the beginning of the process. The proposals will need to pass through negotiations in both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. As with previous simplification packages, the debate is expected to focus less on environmental ambitions and more on the scope of simplification efforts, including its easing of burdens for different sectors.

Member States will test how far procedural streamlining can go without constraining national administrative autonomy, while the Parliament is likely to scrutinise whether simplification risks weakening enforcement in practice.

For businesses, the key takeaway is timing. Companies that engage early, track amendments closely and anticipate national implementation patterns will be better positioned than those waiting for the dust to settle.

Want to know what this means for you?

If you’re trying to work out whether the EU Environmental Omnibus simplifies your compliance burden, or just moves the paperwork to a different folder, our sustainability expert Marc Lütz (which is me by the way) is happy to help.