Considerations on COM(2000)347-1 - Waste electrical and electronic equipment - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2000)347-1 - Waste electrical and electronic equipment. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2000)347  |
| date | January 27, 2003 |
(2) The Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (Fifth Environmental Action Programme)(5) states that the achievement of sustainable development calls for significant changes in current patterns of development, production, consumption and behaviour and advocates, inter alia, the reduction of wasteful consumption of natural resources and the prevention of pollution. It mentions waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as one of the target areas to be regulated, in view of the application of the principles of prevention, recovery and safe disposal of waste.
(3) The Commission Communication of 30 July 1996 on review of the Community strategy for waste management states that, where the generation of waste cannot be avoided, it should be reused or recovered for its material or energy.
(4) The Council in its Resolution of 24 February 1997 on a Community strategy for waste management(6) insisted on the need for promoting waste recovery with a view to reducing the quantity of waste for disposal and saving natural resources, in particular by reuse, recycling, composting and recovering energy from waste and recognised that the choice of options in any particular case must have regard to environmental and economic effects but that until scientific and technological progress is made and life-cycle analyses are further developed, reuse and material recovery should be considered preferable where and in so far as they are the best environmental options. The Council also invited the Commission to develop, as soon as possible, an appropriate follow-up to the projects of the priority waste streams programme, including WEEE.
(5) The European Parliament, in its Resolution of 14 November 1996(7), asked the Commission to present proposals for Directives on a number of priority waste streams, including electrical and electronic waste, and to base such proposals on the principle of producer responsibility. The European Parliament, in the same Resolution, requests the Council and the Commission to put forward proposals for cutting the volume of waste.
(6) Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste(8) provides that specific rules for particular instances or supplementing those of Directive 75/442/EEC on the management of particular categories of waste may be laid down by means of individual Directives.
(7) The amount of WEEE generated in the Community is growing rapidly. The content of hazardous components in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is a major concern during the waste management phase and recycling of WEEE is not undertaken to a sufficient extent.
(8) The objective of improving the management of WEEE cannot be achieved effectively by Member States acting individually. In particular, different national applications of the producer responsibility principle may lead to substantial disparities in the financial burden on economic operators. Having different national policies on the management of WEEE hampers the effectiveness of recycling policies. For that reason the essential criteria should be laid down at Community level.
(9) The provisions of this Directive should apply to products and producers irrespective of the selling technique, including distance and electronic selling. In this connection the obligations of producers and distributors using distance and electronic selling channels should, as far as is practicable, take the same form and should be enforced in the same way in order to avoid other distribution channels having to bear the costs of the provisions of this Directive concerning WEEE for which the equipment was sold by distant or electronic selling.
(10) This Directive should cover all electrical and electronic equipment used by consumers and electrical and electronic equipment intended for professional use. This Directive should apply without prejudice to Community legislation on safety and health requirements protecting all actors in contact with WEEE as well as specific Community waste management legislation, in particular Council Directive 91/157/EEC of 18 March 1991 on batteries and accumulators containing certain dangerous substances(9).
(11) Directive 91/157/EEC needs to be revised as soon as possible, particularly in the light of this Directive.
(12) The establishment, by this Directive, of producer responsibility is one of the means of encouraging the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which take into full account and facilitate their repair, possible upgrading, reuse, disassembly and recycling.
(13) In order to guarantee the safety and health of distributors' personnel involved in the take-back and handling of WEEE, Member States should, in accordance with national and Community legislation on safety and health requirements, determine the conditions under which take-back may be refused by distributors.
(14) Member States should encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which take into account and facilitate dismantling and recovery, in particular the re-use and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials. Producers should not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being reused, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, for example with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.
(15) Separate collection is the precondition to ensure specific treatment and recycling of WEEE and is necessary to achieve the chosen level of protection of human health and the environment in the Community. Consumers have to actively contribute to the success of such collection and should be encouraged to return WEEE. For this purpose, convenient facilities should be set up for the return of WEEE, including public collection points, where private households should be able to return their waste at least free of charge.
(16) In order to attain the chosen level of protection and harmonised environmental objectives of the Community, Member States should adopt appropriate measures to minimise the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE. In order to ensure that Member States strive to set up efficient collection schemes, they should be required to achieve a high level of collection of WEEE from private households.
(17) Specific treatment for WEEE is indispensable in order to avoid the dispersion of pollutants into the recycled material or the waste stream. Such treatment is the most effective means of ensuring compliance with the chosen level of protection of the environment of the Community. Any establishment or undertakings carrying out recycling and treatment operations should comply with minimum standards to prevent negative environmental impacts associated with the treatment of WEEE. Best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques should be used provided that they ensure human health and high environmental protection. Best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques may be further defined in accordance with the procedures of Directive 96/61/EC.
(18) Where appropriate, priority should be given to the reuse of WEEE and its components, subassemblies and consumables. Where reuse is not preferable, all WEEE collected separately should be sent for recovery, in the course of which a high level of recycling and recovery should be achieved. In addition, producers should be encouraged to integrate recycled material in new equipment.
(19) Basic principles with regard to the financing of WEEE management have to be set at Community level and financing schemes have to contribute to high collection rates as well as to the implementation of the principle of producer responsibility.
(20) Users of electrical and electronic equipment from private households should have the possibility of returning WEEE at least free of charge. Producers should therefore finance collection from collection facilities, and the treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE. In order to give maximum effect to the concept of producer responsibility, each producer should be responsible for financing the management of the waste from his own products. The producer should be able to choose to fulfil this obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme. Each producer should, when placing a product on the market, provide a financial guarantee to prevent costs for the management of WEEE from orphan products from falling on society or the remaining producers. The responsibility for the financing of the management of historical waste should be shared by all existing producers in collective financing schemes to which all producers, existing on the market when the costs occur, contribute proportionately. Collective financing schemes should not have the effect of excluding niche and low-volume producers, importers and new entrants. For a transitional period, producers should be allowed to show purchasers, on a voluntary basis at the time of sale of new products, the costs of collecting, treating and disposing in an environmentally sound way of historical waste. Producers making use of this provision should ensure that the costs mentioned do not exceed the actual costs incurred.
(21) Information to users about the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect WEEE separately, and about the collection systems and their role in the management of WEEE, is indispensable for the success of WEEE collection. Such information implies the proper marking of electrical and electronic equipment which could end up in rubbish bins or similar means of municipal waste collection.
(22) Information on component and material identification to be provided by producers is important to facilitate the management, and in particular the treatment and recovery/recycling, of WEEE.
(23) Member States should ensure that inspection and monitoring infrastructure enable the proper implementation of this Directive to be verified, having regard, inter alia, to Recommendation 2001/331/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 4 April 2001 providing for minimum criteria for environmental inspections in the Member States(10).
(24) Information about the weight or, if this is not possible, the numbers of items of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market in the Community and the rates of collection, reuse (including as far as possible reuse of whole appliances), recovery/recycling and export of WEEE collected in accordance with this Directive is necessary to monitor the achievement of the objectives of this Directive.
(25) Member States may choose to implement certain provisions of this Directive by means of agreements between the competent authorities and the economic sectors concerned provided that particular requirements are met.
(26) The adaptation to scientific and technical progress of certain provisions of the Directive, the list of products falling under the categories set out in Annex IA, the selective treatment for materials and components of WEEE, the technical requirements for storage and treatment of WEEE and the symbol for the marking of EEE should be effected by the Commission under a committee procedure.
(27) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(11).