Public consultation of the SUP directive is now open!

Are you interested in influencing EU decision-making? The European Commission has opened the public consultation of the SUP directive in the Have your say-portal, where citizens and organizations can provide feedback on the directive and its impacts. The Commission will evaluate the directive by July 2027 and submit a report of its findings to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee. The evaluation of the directive will investigate if the directive is still fit for purpose, has its objectives been achieved and identify areas of improvement. More specifically, the evaluation will also assess whether it would be feasible to set binding quantitative EU targets on collection rates for fishing gear. After the public consultation, a summary report will be completed and followed by targeted consultations to gather evidence and feedback from stakeholders who have had a role in implementing the directive and/or are otherwise engaged in achieving its targets and objectives.

Deadline for the feedback is 17^th of March 2026 (midnight Brussels time). There are two ways to participate. You can provide feedback (Call for evidence), a written statement automatically published on the page. It has a limit of 4,000 characters but a longer document can be attached to it where you can expand on your views. You can also answer a questionnaire (Public consultation), which includes 40 questions about the directive. These answers are not published but will be summarized in a synopsis report. For both, you need to register. You can choose whether you want the feedback to be published under your name (organization name) or anonymously. Organizations are advised to register on the Transparency Register, but if your organization is not registered, the Portal allows you to submit your feedback as an individual on behalf of an organization.

This public consultation comes to a great time for CIRCNETS. The project has just wrapped up and after these three years, CIRCNETS has compiled a comprehensive image on how the implementation of the EPR scheme for fishing gear has been progressing in the NPA area, how the actors in the field feel about it and what challenges and opportunities lie with it. This information is now needed for the future development of the SUP directive.

CIRCNETS will provide a feedback statement based on the findings of the project and you can provide feedback too in the Have your say-portal: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/14422-Rules-on-single-use-plastics-and-fishing-gear-evaluation-_en