Producer charge for quaternary wastewater treatment put in question
An Advocate General at the Court of Justice has proposed annulling the provisions under which pharmaceutical and cosmetics producers would cover at least 80 percent of the cost of removing micropollutants from wastewater.
- The action against provisions of Directive 2024/3019 was brought by the Polish government in March 2025.
- Only the extended producer responsibility mechanism is disputed, not the obligation to add quaternary treatment.
- The duty to remove micropollutants stands: the directive has to be transposed into national law by the end of July 2027, and national producer responsibility schemes are to start by 31 December 2028.
- The opinion of the Advocate General is not a judgment, but it signals a fight over who pays for measuring pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in municipal wastewater.
Source: Polish Waterworks Chamber of Commerce — opinion of the Advocate General of the CJEU