Cosmetic manufacturers and also those in the pharmaceutical industry will have a greater responsibility to take care of waste water treatment. On 10 April, a new plenary session adopted new rules to improve the treatment and reuse of urban waste water and extend the scope of the directive.
The directive received a total of 481 votes in favour, 79 against and 26 abstentions, although the Council still has to endorse the text. By 2035, urban waste water will undergo secondary treatment consisting of the removal of biodegradable organic matter, before being discharged into the environment, in all agglomerations of the equivalent size of 1,000 rooms.
As stated in the draft, pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers will have to pay for the process of removing micro-pollution in urban wastewater treatment. The two sectors will have to jointly bear at least 80% of the additional costs of the clean-up.
These two sectors will have to bear 80% of the additional investments needed to remove micropollutants, while the remaining 20% will be borne by the Member States. The European Commission originally wanted the industry responsible for the contamination of water to cover the full costs, but reduced its requirements to avoid a financial impact on laboratories that would indirectly affect drug prices, with unforeseen consequences on the availability, affordability and accessibility of products.
These two sectors will have to sufragar 80% of the necessary additional investments to delete the microcontaminantes, whereas 20% remaining will run to charge of the States members. In a principle, the European Commission wanted to that the industry commissioned to mark or contaminate the waters covered the whole of the costs, but reduced his requirements to avoid a financial impact in the laboratories that affected indirectly to the prices of the medicines, with unforeseen consequences on the availability, asequibilidad and accessibility of the products.