Directive 2002/96 - Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) - Joint declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission relating to Article 9 - Main contents

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Legal instrument	Directive
Number legal act	Directive 2002/96
Original proposal	COM(2000)347
CELEX number i	32002L0096

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Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) - Joint declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission relating to Article 9

Official Journal L 037 , 13/02/2003 P. 0024 - 0039

Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 27 January 2003

on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Having regard to the Opinion of the Committee of Regions(3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 8 November 2002(4),

Whereas:

• (1) 

  The objectives of the Community's environment policy are, in particular, to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, protect human health and utilise natural resources prudently and rationally. That policy is based on the precautionary principle and principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay.

• (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...

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