On 19 January 2012, the European Parliament voted positively for the recast of the Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This follows an informal “trilogue” agreement of 20 December 2011 between the European Commission, European Parliament and Council, on the new provisions of the recast Directive.
With the threat of the recast eventually failing if there was no agreement by 20 December, these three EU lawmaking institutions – hitherto greatly at odds over key provisions – managed to cobble together a final text.
Hong Kong traders of virtually any sort of equipment that runs on batteries or mains-supplied electricity will be interested in the recast, as it lays out several tougher requirements than was previously the case.
The recast Directive, once formally adopted (rubber-stamped) by the Council, will enter into force upon being published in the EU’s Official Journal. It will have to be implemented in the Member States 18 months thereafter, although further transition periods for some of the provisions will apply. The recast Directive includes the following key provisions:
Scope: The recast WEEE Directive will have an open scope of EEE that falls under it. Six years and a day after entry into force of the recast WEEE Directive, all EEE (except for the list of exceptions, see: (a) to (g) below) will have to be classified within the six categories set out in Annex III. Annex IV contains a non-exhaustive list of EEE which falls within the six categories set out in Annex III (see: Annexes via the link below). The Commission will have to review the scope of the Directive no more than three years after its entry into force.
At the same time as the open scope provision is implemented in the Member States, the recast Directive will not apply to the following EEE: (a) equipment designed to be sent into space; (b) large-scale stationary industrial tools; (c) large-scale fixed installations, except any equipment which is not specifically designed and installed as part of these installations; (d) means of transport for persons or goods, excluding electric two-wheel vehicles which are not type-approved; (e) non-road mobile machinery made available exclusively for professional use; (f) equipment specifically designed solely for the purposes of research and development that is only made available on a business to business basis; (g) medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices, where such devices are expected to be infective prior to end of life, and active implantable medical devices.
Return of small WEEE: Member States will have to ensure that distributors provide for the collection, at retail shops with sales areas relating to EEE of minimum 400 m2, or in their immediate proximity, of very small WEEE (i.e., WEEE with no external dimension more than 25 cm) free of charge to end-users and with no obligation to buy an EEE of equivalent type, unless an assessment shows that alternative existing collection schemes are likely to be at least as effective. Hong Kong traders should bear in mind that examples of small WEEE include mobile phones, cameras, and small-sized audio-visual goods.
Collection targets: Each Member State will have to ensure the implementation of the producer responsibility principle and, on that basis, that a minimum collection rate is achieved annually. From four years after the year of entry into force of the recast Directive (thus, from 2016 onwards), the minimum collection rate will be 45%, calculated on the basis of the total weight of WEEE collected in a given year in the Member State concerned, expressed as a percentage of the average weight of EEE placed on the market in the three preceding years in that Member State. Thereafter, Member States shall ensure that the volume of WEEE collected evolves gradually, so that by 2019, the collection rate shall be 65% of EEE placed on the market in the three preceding years, or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated on a Member State’s territory.
Ten Member States, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia may, because of their lack of the necessary infrastructure and low level of EEE consumption, decide on lower targets. Thus, they may have in place a lower interim target (between 40 and 45% instead of 45% by 2016) of the average weight of EEE placed on the market in the three preceding years, and postpone the achievement of the final collection rate mentioned above until a date of their own choice which shall not be later than 2021.
Hong Kong sellers should keep in mind that increased collection targets will likely lead to an increased cost burden for producers, for general WEEE management (including costs for collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and final sound disposal of non-recyclable parts).
Recovery targets: Member States have to ensure that producers meet the minimum targets set out in Annex V. The targets are laid out in three stages. Thus, from entry into force until three years later, equipment falling (for example) within category 4 (large equipment – i.e., any external dimension greater than 50cm) of Annex III, which includes IT and telecoms equipment, and toys, leisure and sports equipment, must meet the following targets: 75% must be recovered and 65% must be recycled; for three years after that 80% must be recovered and 70% must be prepared for reuse and recycled; and from three years after that, 85% must be recovered, and 80% shall be prepared for reuse and recycled.
Nanomaterials: The recast Directive has added wording to the effect that the Commission is invited to evaluate whether amendments to Annex VII (Selective treatment for materials and components of waste electrical and electronic equipment) are necessary to address nanomaterials contained in EEE. Moreover, the Commission shall, no later than six months from entry into force, request the European standardisation organisations to develop European standards for the treatment, including recovery, recycling and preparing for re-use, of WEEE.
Shipments of WEEE: The rules concerning shipments of workable EEE to non-EU countries have been made tighter. In order to distinguish between EEE and WEEE, where the holder of the object claims that he intends to ship or is shipping used EEE and not WEEE, Member States must require the holder to have available the following to back up this claim: (a) a copy of the invoice and contract relating to the sale and/or transfer of ownership of the EEE which states that the equipment is destined for direct re-use and that it is fully functional; (b) evidence of evaluation or testing in the form of a copy of the records (certificate of testing, proof of functionality) on every item within the consignment; (c) a declaration made by the holder who arranges the transport of the EEE that none of the material or equipment within the consignment is waste, and (d) appropriate protection against damage during transportation, loading and unloading in particular through sufficient packaging and appropriate stacking of the load. Only a limited number of exceptions exist to this general rule (these are mentioned in Annex VI of the recast Directive).
Registration of producers: EEE producers will, under the recast Directive, benefit from simplified registration and reporting requirements. Nonetheless, Hong Kong companies will need to appoint authorised representatives, if they do not have a legal entity, in each Member State where they operate. Thus, once the recast Directive enters into force, a producer (manufacturer, importer) that does not have a place of business in a Member State will need to appoint an authorised representative (simply by written mandate) in that State.
National registers will provide links to other national registers on their web-page to facilitate, in all Member States, registration of producers or authorised representatives.
Transposition: All Member States will have to bring into force the provisions of the recast Directive 18 months after the day of the Directive's publication in the EU’s Official Journal. Directive 2002/96/EC (the original WEEE Directive) will thereafter be repealed.
The latest version of the recast WEEE Directive (as approved by the European Parliament) can be found at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fTEXT%2bTA%2bP7-TA-2012-0009%2b0%2bDOC%2bXML%2bV0%2f%2fEN
