The European Commission gave Portugal two months on Thursday to adopt legislation on single-use plastics, with a view to reducing its impact on the environment, after which the case goes to the EU Court of Justice.
The Single-Use Plastics Directive entered into force on July 3, 2019 and Member States had two years to transpose the legislation into national law so that the obligations under the directive can start to apply on the ground.
However, not all member states, including Portugal, transposed the directive within the established deadline, and the community executive sent 16 notification letters in January.
Nine of those affected have not yet communicated all the necessary measures to guarantee the full transposition of the directive into national law, so the reasoned opinions continued this Thursday.
If within the new period of two months Portugal does not fully transpose the directive, Brussels could take the case to the EU Court of Justice.
According to a statement from the European Commission, single-use plastic products are accumulating in the seas, oceans and beaches and although plastic is a convenient, useful and valuable material, plastic waste causes environmental damage and has a negative impact on the economy.
More than 80% of marine litter is made up of plastics that cause damage to the environment -particularly and directly harming marine life and birds- and which, by breaking down into microplastics, can also enter the human food chain.
Source: Observadora
