Each will now be considered as the Commission seeks to improve its attempts to minimise the impact of ELVs on the environment and to improve the environmental performance of all the economic operators involved in the life cycle of vehicles.
The relevant legislation, Directive 2000/53/EC, was adopted in 2000.
A Commission spokesperson said: “For the review, more time is needed as there are steps we need to follow: evaluation, IA, proposals to be submitted to the EP and Council for the revision.
“By 2020 it will be a report but the whole process requires more time.”
A stakeholder’s workshop in Brussels organised by the consultants in charge of the process is now planned for early February 2020 to announce the outcome of the consultation.
Steps
The Commission spokesperson said the evaluation report will be published by May. This will be followed by an impact assessment.
The spokesperson said the evaluation would look backwards at how the ELV Directive performed, while the impact assessment would look towards what needs to be changed for better performance in the future.
Then, based on the impact assessment, the Commission will prepare a draft for revising the directive, if necessary.
The Comission said it has a legal duty to review the ELV Directive by 2020 and among other things, it will look at how to classify the increasing amount of electrical products in cars, either under the WEEE directive (waste electrical and electronic equipment) or under the ELV directive (end of life vehicles).
Review
The EU Circular Economy package, finalised in May 2018, instructed that by December 2020 the ELV directive had to be reviewed with any revisions submitted to the Commission.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com last year (see letsrecycle.com story), senior European Commission official Artemis Hatzi-Hull said the review would consider how to classify the increasing number of electrical products in cars, which could be covered by either the ELV or WEEE directives.
“For the review, more time is needed as there are steps we need to follow”
Special attention in the review was also to be given to implementation, the feasibility of setting targets for reporting per specific materials and the problem of ELVs of unknown whereabouts.
Consultation
To this end, the Commission invited comment on Directive 2000/53/EC on 6 August from a wide audience, including producers, distributors, shredders and recyclers (see letsrecycle.com story).
The views of consumers and environmental protection organisations were also sought, while environmental NGOs were asked for contributions on waste management, pollution and circular economy elements of the legislation.
The consultation closed on 29 October.
Data
The Commission says that every year ELVs generate between 7 and 8 million tonnes of waste in the European Union.
Data released in September 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story) shows that the UK recorded a 1.9 per cent increase in its ELV recycling and recovery rate in 2017, but remained short of meeting the EU target of 95 per cent for the second consecutive year.
The data showed the UK achieved a rate of 94.1 per cent.
Each year’s data takes around two years to compile and approve, so the current latest figures are for 2017.
The review will be a major talking point at next years Complete Auto Recycling Show (CARS), the largest event for the end of life vehicle recycling and dismantling industry. More information on the exhibition can be found here.
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