November 22 2010 has been set as the indicative date for the first reading of the proposed text of the recast EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (2002/96/EC) at the European Parliament. However, it is becoming increasingly likely that the text will not be ready in time for its first reading on this date.
Once in force, the new version of the directive will be of great significance to electronics producers which place their goods on the EU market.
On September 8 2010 the European Parliament Committee for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety published its final report, setting out the changes that it felt should be made to the commission's proposal of December 3 2008 for a recast WEEE Directive.(1) The report will be discussed at the European Parliament's plenary session (whether on November 22 2010 or at a later date), where a vote will be taken.
The committee's final 75-page report sets out in detail the committee's proposed amendments to the directive. This update considers the key points of the report.
Committee for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety report
The committee proposes that the recast directive should cover all types of electrical and electronic equipment, except those which it expressly excludes. Thus, under the proposal the directive will apply to all types of electrical and electronic equipment except:
large-scale fixed installations;
large-scale stationary industrial tools;
non-road mobile machinery intended exclusively for professional users;
means of transport for persons and goods; and
photovoltaic modules which are intended for use in a system designed, assembled
and installed for permanent operation at a specified location for power generation for public, commercial and private purposes.
Collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment
Regarding the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment, the report emphasises that while all such equipment should be included in collection targets, member states should ensure, in particular, that small appliances (including consumer electronics and small IT equipment) are not allowed to slip through the net and are collected separately (rather than being mixed in with bulky or unsorted household waste), and that untreated waste electrical and electronic equipment is not sent for landfill or incineration.
Such a provision is necessary since much small waste electrical and electronic equipment is disposed of as unsorted municipal waste due to its size. The report also aims to ensure that in order to maximise the reuse of whole appliances, member states implement collection schemes which require the segregation of reusable appliances from separately collected waste electrical and electronic equipment at collection points before transportation.
Collection targets
The committee aims to ensure that by 2016 a minimum of 85% of waste electrical and electronic equipment generated in the member states will be collected. It aims to ensure that by 2012 each member state will collect at least 4 kilograms per capita of waste electrical and electronic equipment, or the same amount of such waste in weight as was collected in that member state in 2010, whichever is greater. Member states must further ensure that the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment collected is gradually increased, year on year, between 2012 and 2016. Member states may set more ambitious individual collection targets and report these to the commission.
To establish that the minimum collection rate has been achieved, the report recommends that member states receive, free of charge and on an annual basis, the following information:
the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment that has been prepared for reuse or sent to treatment facilities; the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment that has been taken to collection facilities;
the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment that has been taken to distributors;
the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment that has been collected separately by producers or third parties acting on their behalf; and
the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment that has been collected separately through other means.
Recovery targets
The report is very specific on recovery targets. It proposes that specific recovery, recycling and preparation-for-reuse targets are set, by category of appliance. Thus, for example, regarding Category 2 appliances - that is, 'screens and monitors' (including television sets and digital picture frames) - 80% must be recovered, 65% must be recycled and 5% must be prepared for reuse. Regarding Category 5 'small appliances' (including cameras and small consumer electronics appliances), 75% must be recovered, 50% must be recycled and 5% must be prepared for reuse. For Category 6 'small IT and telecommunications appliances' (eg, personal computers, printers, pocket calculators, telephones, mobile phone routers, radio equipment, baby intercom systems and video projectors), 85% must be recovered, 75% must be recycled and 5% must be prepared for reuse.
The report also recommends that the commission ensures that harmonised standards are developed with regard to the collection, storage, transport, treatment, recycling, repair and reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment. If conformity by the operators with the harmonised standards is demonstrated, it is to be assumed that those operators comply with the directive's requirements.
Illegal shipment of waste
The report proposes that waste electrical and electronic equipment exported out of the European Union in line with the EU Shipments of Waste Regulation (1013/2006/EC) will count towards the fulfilment of obligations and targets only if the exporter can prove, by submitting conclusive evidence before shipment, that the recovery, preparation for reuse and recycling of the waste electrical and electronic equipment will take place under conditions that are equivalent to the requirements of the directive. After recovery, preparation for reuse or recycling has taken place, compliance with those equivalent conditions must be confirmed. These provisions are proposed in order to ensure that exporters cannot falsely declare that their shipments are being shipped for repair or reconditioning, when in fact the exporter plans to dump the waste illegally in third countries.
Producers' financing obligations
In order to improve the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment, the report recommends that the directive obliges member states, where appropriate, to ensure that sufficient financial resources are available according to the 'polluter pays' principle (whereby retailers, consumers and producers are considered to be the polluters rather than the end user), at the moment of sale of new equipment. This is so as to cover the cost of collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment from households, including the cost of running collection facilities and the associated awareness-raising campaigns on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Registration
The committee also proposes provisions regarding registration. The report recommends that a standard format for waste electrical and electronic equipment registration and reporting be adopted and the frequency of reporting stipulated. The format for registration and reporting shall include, at least, information on: the quantity of new equipment being placed on the national market; the types of new equipment being placed on the national market; the brands of new equipment being placed on the national market; the product categories of new equipment being placed on the national market; and guarantees relating to the equipment, where applicable.
Furthermore, operators of collection facilities will be required to submit reports on an annual basis to enable national authorities to compare the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment which has been collected with the volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment which has actually been transferred to recovery or recycling facilities. Waste electrical and electronic equipment is to be transferred exclusively to recognised recovery and treatment facilities.
Comment
Should the European Parliament, sitting in plenary, vote to accept all of the report's proposed amendments, the EU Council must also approve the proposals before the directive can be adopted. On the other hand, should disagreements remain, the commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council may decide on a final compromise text, and thereafter adopt it accordingly.
Endnotes
A copy of the September 8 2010 report can be accessed at www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2010-0229&language=EN#title2.
