EU Sustainable Prosperity and Competitiveness: Response to EC consultation on EU Circular Economy Act

The Circular Economy is key to boosting the EU’s economic security, resilience, competitiveness and decarbonisation. Under the EU Clean Industrial Deal, the EU has set itself the goals of making Europe a world leader in the Circular Economy and of doubling the EU’s circularity rate by 2030. A new Circular Economy Act is under development and announced for adoption by Q3/2026. By 6 November 2025, the European Commission consulted stakeholders on the upcoming Act.

In its consultation response, MedTech Europe calls for a Circular Economy Act that supports the following ambitions:

• Ensuring regulatory coherence between Green Deal legislation, circularity requirements and initiatives and the sector-specific regulatory system of the Medical Devices Regulation (EU) 2017/745 and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (EU) 2017/746.
• Securing the free circulation of goods in the EU internal market and boosting an EU internal market for waste in support of the circular economy: Reinforcing the Single Market and the global harmonisation of standards for waste, circularity and secondary raw materials with respect to the quality and safety for patients and healthcare practitioners
• Promoting a more sustainable pattern of production by making secondary materials more attractive.
• Establishing a framework for financing and rewarding circularity efforts.
• Leverage the transformation synergies of the Green and Digital agendas to increase overall system efficiencies and sustainability performance, such as dematerialisation.
• Seeking international alignment on circularity approaches for the medical technology sector with respect to the quality and security for patients and healthcare practitioners.

Read more about MedTech’s specificities in the transition to more circularity in healthcare here.