The Directive, along with its sister Directive restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical goods (RoHS), was formally agreed by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers earlier this week (see letsrecycle.com story).
Waste electronics is predicted to be a huge issue in the industry, with estimates in DEFRA's Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment suggesting the additional annual cost of 190m and 390 million for implementing the new Directives in the UK.
It is thought that the Directives will be published in the European statute books in February 2003, while collection and recovery systems will have to be in place 30 months later.
Seminars
The government has been holding a series of awareness seminars around the country in order to raise the profile of the Directives. Two more seminars are planned for London and Birmingham early in the New Year. The Department of Trade and Industry has said that it will be consulting on the implementation of the Directives in 2003.
In a letter to industry figures, Dr Mark Downs, head of the Recycling Policy and Producer Responsibility unit of the DTI, said: “We are currently exploring with DEFRA and the Environment Agency how best to interpret the scope in order to arrive at a pragmatic interpretation. The UK will be pressing the European Commission to consider scope issues at the first Technical Adaptation Committee meeting to consider the WEEE and RoHS directives, which has been arranged for 15 January 2003.”
He added: “Issues on the agenda include the de-minimis levels for the substances banned under RoHS and data collection.”
Amendments
Meanwhile, a joint declaration from the European Parliament, Council and Commission has indicated that there may be amendments made to article 9 in the Directive, which deals with the financing of non-household WEEE treatment.
The declaration said: “Noting that concerns have been raised about the possible financial implications for producers of the present wording of article 9, the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission declare their common intention of examining these issues at the earliest opportunity.”
It went on: “Should these concerns prove to be founded the Commission states its intention to make a proposal to amend article 9 of the Directive. The Council and the Parliament undertake to act expeditiously on any such proposal in accordance with their respective internal procedures.”
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