The European Commission has formally referred France to the Court of Justice of the European Union – accusing the country of enforcing a nation-specific sorting logo and failing to disclose the law before its adoption.
Under French law, household products operating under an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme must display the ‘Triman’ logo – signifying to consumers that the product falls under the relevant sorting rules.
The Commission argues that “by imposing an obligation to display the ‘Triman’ logo and sorting instructions on a number of household products, with a small number of exceptions, the French Republic has imposed a restriction on the free movement of goods contrary to Article 34 TFEU.”
It also accuses France of failing to disclose these measures prior to their adoption – violating Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2015/1535, which requires Member States to notify the Commission of any draft regulation that does not directly transpose the text of another international or European standard.
While the French Law No 2020-105 transposes certain clauses of EU Directive 2019/904 – also known as the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) – and the EU Circular Economy Package, the Commission claims it was not notified of “technical specifications concerning information society goods and services” as established in Article 1 (1)(c) of the SUPD.
As per EU legislation, these specifications may include the symbols under which a product is sold on the market.
The Commission previously accused France of infringing Articles 34-36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by failing to address the shortcomings of its labelling requirements, among other measures. The escalation came after a letter of formal notice in February 2023 and a reasoned opinion in November 2024.
In other news, the EFTA Surveillance Authority also referred Iceland to the EFTA Court – claiming that the country had failed to enforce rules to prevent packaging waste, regulate the types of packaging brought to market, and manage operations at landfill sites. This escalation also followed a letter of formal notice in August 2022 and a reasoned opinion in February 2023.
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