FIEC Newsletter – 11 Απριλίου 2023

On 5th April, the European Commission published the long-awaited draft technical criteria for the remaining environmental objectives under the EU taxonomy (so-called “Environmental Delegated Act”). The draft act builds on the “Tax04” report of the Platform on Sustainable Finance (March 2022) to which FIEC contributed.For construction, the most important draft criteria can be found in Annex II of the Environmental Delegated Act (“transition to a circular economy”).

It covers the following activities: Construction of new buildings, Renovation of existing buildings, Demolition or wrecking of buildings and other structures, Maintenance of roads and motorways and Use of concrete in civil engineering works. In addition, new activities to amend the already existing Climate Delegated Act were proposed. Draft acts to amend the disclosure requirements for financial and non-financial actors were also published.

The call for feedback for all draft acts is open until 3rd May 2023 on the “Have your say” portal. Stakeholders are asked to fill in a “template for feedback”.

Last month, the European Commission adopted a package on working time, including:

With this package, the European Commission wants to help the Member States and stakeholders to implement and interpret the Working Time Directive, based on promoting health and safety at work. Overall, the package finds that Member States’ legislation is generally compliant with the requirements of the Directive. However, some problems of transposition remain, most notably with regards to derogations from daily and weekly rest, including compensatory rest. The package also looks extensively at the questions raised regarding the recording of working time, as well as how to deal with new trends in the world of work.

Back in 2009, the European Parliament and the Council failed to revise this Directive. Since then, it is the Court of Justice that has been making the law governing working time in the European Union.

FIEC explains in the March-April 2023 edition of Construction Europe why we must ensure bridges are maintained and upgraded to the highest possible levels of safety and environmental performance.In its efforts to raise awareness to this growing problem, FIEC will co-organise an event, Eurobridge 2023, dedicated to the maintenance of bridges, and which will bring together participants from EU institutions, national authorities and the private sector. The conference takes place in Brussels on 14 April at the Hotel Le Plaza.

On 30 March 2023, the European Commission proposed a Regulation to facilitate the use of non-road mobile machinery on public roads. This includes non-road mobile machinery used in construction (e.g. cranes). The new rules will ultimately replace the different regulatory regimes that currently exist in the Member States.

Currently, there are no harmonised requirements for the use on EU public roads of non-road mobile machinery. As a result, end users such as construction companies may not be able to use their non-road mobile machinery in different Member States. As such, this initiative closes a regulatory gap in the Single Market, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.