Report on the - ec.europa.eu · WASTE REDUCTION: The Directive on Waste electrical and electronic equipment (hereinafter WEEE Directive) prescribes in Art. 4 that Member States shall

A Report on the Implementation of Directive

2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

April 2009

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1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................4

1.1 The WEEE Directive ..................................................................................................4

1.2 Remarks about this report..........................................................................................5

2 Incorporation into national law ..........................................................................................5

2.1 Incorporation details...................................................................................................5

2.2 Agreements between competent authorities and the economic sector ...................11

3 Implementation of the WEEE Directive ...........................................................................13

3.1 Product Design (Art. 4) ............................................................................................13

3.1.1 Approaches to product design ..........................................................................14

3.1.2 Reasons why no measures according to Art. 4 have been taken.....................18

3.1.3 Experiences with measures regarding product design: ....................................19

3.2 Establishment of WEEE collection systems (Art. 5).................................................21

3.3 Evaluation of the positive and negative experiences with the implementation of provisions under this article ................................................................................................35

3.4 Article 6: Treatment..................................................................................................40

3.5 Experiences reported regarding the implementation of Art. 6 on WEEE treatment.49

3.6 Systems to provide for the recovery of WEEE (Art. 7(1)) ........................................52

3.7 Development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies.....................58

3.8 Positive and negative experience with Art. 7 ...........................................................61

3.9 Financing Mechanisms (Art. 8/9) .............................................................................63

3.10 Evaluation of the positive and negative experiences with the implementation of provisions under Art. 8/9.....................................................................................................75

3.11 Art. 10: Information for users ...................................................................................79

3.11.1 Actions and measures taken ............................................................................80

3.11.2 Positive and negative experiences gained from the implementation of Art. 10 85

3.12 Information for treatment facilities (Art. 11)..............................................................87

3.12.1 Measures taken in accordance with Article 11 of the WEEE Directive .............87

3.12.2 Positive and negative experiences ...................................................................91

3.13 Details on the inspection and monitoring systems applied in the Member State to verify the proper implementation of this directive ...............................................................93

4 Resumé.........................................................................................................................100

4.1 Mode of Reporting of the MS .................................................................................100

4.2 Implementation of the Directive and possible gaps ...............................................100

4.2.1 Product design (Art. 4)....................................................................................100

4.2.2 Collection System (Art. 5) and WEEE Treatment (Art. 7) ...............................101

4.2.3 Set-up of systems providing for the recovery of WEEE (Art. 7(1))..................101

4.2.4 Best Available Technologies: Identification and possible obstacles to BAT ...101

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4.2.5 Financing Issues.............................................................................................101

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1 Introduction

1.1 The WEEE Directive

The Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE Directive) is the most recent of the waste stream-based “Recycling Directives”.

SCOPE: The electrical and electronic equipment is defined as equipment dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA and designed for use with a voltage below 1000V AC and 1500V DC.

WASTE REDUCTION: The Directive on Waste electrical and electronic equipment (hereinafter WEEE Directive) prescribes in Art. 4 that Member States shall encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which take into account and facilitate dismantling and recovery, in particular the reuse and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials.

SEPARATE COLLECTION, RECYCLING AND RECOVERY TARGETS: Member States shall adopt appropriate measures in order to minimise the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE. The Directive requires Member States to create systems allowing final holders and distributors to return WEEE free of charge. The WEEE Directive prescribes four kilograms on average per inhabitant per year of WEEE from private households as a minimum rate of separate collection (Art. 5 No. 5 WEEE). This mandatory target shall be revised in 2008.

The treatment shall at a minimum include the removal of all fluids. The Directive lays down in Art. 7 also specific recycling and recovery targets which vary according to the specific categories of equipment.

Electronic waste stream Recycling Recovery

Large Household Appliances 75% 80%

Automatic Dispensers 75% 80%

IT and telecommunications equipment

65% 75%

Consumer Equipment 65% 75%

Small household appliances 70% 50%

Lighting Equipment 70% 50%

Electrical and Electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary industrial tools)

70% 50%

Toys, leisure and sports equipment 70% 50%

Monitoring and control instruments 70% 50%

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Gas discharge lamps 80%

TREATMENT

To guarantee environmentally sound treatment of the separately collected WEEE, the WEEE Directive lays down treatment requirements in Annex II for specific materials and components of WEEE and Annex III lays down requirements for the treatment and storage sites.

PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY: The principle of producer responsibility is the core mechanism introduced in the Directive. Whereas the Directive is addressed to Member States, it is the producers or third parties acting on their behalf that are responsible for collection, treatment, recovery and environmental disposal.

They have a responsibility for the financing, the labelling, the organisation, the collection and providing of information.

1.2 Remarks about this report

This report is a synopsis of the responses by Member States to the questionnaire (Commission Decision 2004/249/EC) covering the period 2004-2006. The synopsis summarizes these responses article per article and country per country and in general tries to observe a limit of 100 words per response – except for responses that answer to questions including a set of sub-questions. For practical reasons, the report does not differentiate between direct quotes from the Member States’ responses and re-phrased or shortened passages. All due care has been taken in completing this synopsis. However, please mind that the original responses from the Member States constitute the only “authentic” document as submitted by the Member States.

The report produced is solely based on the information made available by the Commission.

2 Incorporation into national law

2.1 Incorporation details

All Member States apart have answered affirmatively that they have supplied the Commission with the details of the national laws and regulations that implement the Directive into national law. However, Cyprus said that

The following details have been given with respect to the transposition of the Directive.

Austria: Austria has implemented the Directive by the following acts:

• Waste Electrical Equipment Regulation,

• Waste Treatment Regulation of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management (laying down minimum requirements for the collection, storage and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment)

• Regulation of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management amending the Waste Treatment Regulation. Notification

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• Regulation of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management amending the Waste Electrical Equipment Regulation

• Regulation of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management amending the Waste Electrical Equipment Regulation (EAG-VO-amendment 2007) Reference number: MNE (2007)52206

Belgium (Brussels): Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale instaurant une obligation de reprise de certains déchets en vue de leur valorisation ou de leur élimination.

Belgium Flemish Region: no comment

Belgium (Wallonian Region): The acts are:

• Walloon Government decree of 25 April 2002 introducing a requirement to take back certain waste with a view to its recovery or management, as amended by the Walloon Government decree of 10 March 2005.

• Walloon Government decree of 10 March 2005 laying down the sectoral conditions applying to installations for grouping or sorting, pre-processing and processing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Bulgaria: The requirements of Directive 2002/96/EC were transposed into Bulgarian law by a Regulation on the requirements for placing electrical and electronic equipment on the market and for treating and transporting waste electrical and electronic equipment (Ministerial Council Order No 82 of 10 April 2006, Official Gazette No 36, 2.5.2006). Cyprus: Competent authorities inform interested parties regarding the needed separation and management practices, and the environmental impacts of WEEE disposal. Cyprus is at the stage of the establishment of a collective system and the management licencing of establishments/ undertakings. Finally, competent authorities encourage the adoption and implementation of EMAS by subsidizing the establishments to do so. Czech Republic: The first full notification for the database of the Commission's Secretariat General took place on 2.1.2006. The Commission received a correlation table and the texts of the relevant national legal instruments. Denmark: The Directive was implemented by means of the following rules, which were sent to the Commission on 13 July 2005: 1. Act No 385 of 17 May 2005 amending the Environmental Protection Act; cf. Consolidation Act No 1757 of 22 December 2006. 2. Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005 on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Estonia: The following legal acts are of relevance:

• Waste Act (28.01.2004, entered into force 01.05.2004); • Governmental Regulation No. 376 "Requirements and Procedure for Marking

Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Requirements, Procedure and Targets for Collection, Return to Producers and Recovery or Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and Time Limits for Reaching Targets" (24.12.2004, entered into force 01.01.2005);

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• Governmental Regulation No. 28 "Establishment of National Register of Products of Concern and Statutes for Maintenance of Register" (28.01.2006, entered into force 13.02.2006);

• Regulation of Minister of Environment No. 9 "Requirements for Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (09.02.2005, entered into force 20.05.2005)

Finland: The Directive has been implemented by the • Amendment of the Waste Act (452/2004), and the • Government Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (852/2004),

notified by an announcement on 21st September 2004. France: The Directive was implemented by Decree no. 2005-829 of 20 July 2005 relating to the composition of electrical and electronic equipment and to the elimination of waste from this equipment (codified under Articles R.543-172 to R.543-206 of the Environmental Code)

• Order of 23 November 2005 relating to the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment provided for under Article 21 of Decree no. 2005-829

• Order of 23 November 2005 relating to the authorisation provided for under Article 19 of Decree no. 2005-829

• Order of 25 November 2005, amended, laying down the cases and conditions under which the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybromobiphenyls or polybromodiphenyl ethers is authorised in electrical and electronic equipment

• Order of 6 December 2005 relating to the authorisations and approvals provided for under Articles 9, 10, 14 and 15 of Decree no. 2005-829

• Order of 13 March 2006 relating to the registration procedure and to information appearing in the national register of producers provided for under Article 23 of Decree no. 2005-829

Germany: The Act governing the sale, return and environmentally sound disposal of electrical and electronic equipment (Electronic and Electronic Equipment Act – ElektroG) was notified as No 2004/0405/D. Greece:

• Presidential Decree No 117 (Official Journal of the Hellenic Republc, first issue. Sheet No: 82/5 March 2004) «Measures, terms and programme for the alternative management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in compliance with the provisions of the Council Directive 2002/95 “on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment” and Council Directive 2002/96 “on waste electrical and electronic equipment” of 27 January 2003”;

• PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No 15 (OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, FIRST ISSUE. Sheet No: 12/3 February 2006) « amending Presidential Decree No 117/2004 (A΄82) in compliance with the provisions of the Council Directive 2003/108/EC “amending Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)” of 8 December 2003.

Hungary: Hungary notified the Commission under numbers MNE(2004) 53459 (Governmental decree No. 264/2004. on WEEE, MNE(2004) 53462 (Ministerial decree No. 15/2004 on WEEE) and MNE(2004) 53464 (Governmental decree No. 271/2001 on Waste Fines) on 01/12/2004. Additional notification was made on 11/09/2007, since the Governmental decree No. 264/2004. on WEEE has been amended. Ireland: The Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations (S.I. No. 290 of 2005) and Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations (S.I. No. 340 of 2005) were submitted to the Commission on 6th July 2005. The Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations (S.I. No. 340 of 2005) were notified on NEM on 8 July 2005) – SG Reference MNE(2005)52460. Italy:

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• Legislative Decree No 151 of 25 July 2006 "Transposal of Directives 2002/95/EC, 2002/96/EC and 2003/108/EC on reducing the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and on the disposal of waste"

• the Ministerial Decree of 25 September 2007 on the "Establishment of the Supervisory and Monitoring Committee on the Management of WEEE, pursuant to Article 15(1) of Legislative Decree No 151 of 25 July 2005" and

• Ministerial Decree No 185 of 25 September 2007 on the "Establishment and operating procedures of the national register of parties required to finance WEEE management systems, the establishment and operation of a coordination centre for optimising the activities covered by the collective systems and establishment of the Steering Committee on WEEE Management pursuant to Articles 13(8) and 15(4) of Legislative Decree No 151 of 25 July 2005".

Latvia refers to the Database of notifications. Lithuania: Yes, the national laws and regulations transposing and implementing the Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment have been provided to the European Commission. Luxembourg: The Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005 on waste electrical and electronic equipment and restricting the use of certain hazardous components thereof was sent to the European Commission via the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg. The Regulation was subsequently amended by the Grand-Ducal Regulation of 20 December 2005 and the Grand Ducal-Regulation of 24 July 2006. Malta: no comment Netherlands: no comment Poland: The Legal Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Environment notified the national legislation, including the Act of 29 July 2005 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, to the European Commission on 22 September 2005. Portugal: Directive 2002/96/EC, of 27 January 2003, has been transposed into national law by the following instruments:

• Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, laying down legal rules governing the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), with the primary object of preventing the production of such waste and, as secondary thereto, of promoting the re-use, recycling and other means of exploitation thereof, in such a way as to reduce the quantity and harmful nature of waste to be eliminated, contributing to the improvement of the environmental conduct of all operators involved in the life cycle of such equipment.

• Decree-Law No 174/2005, of 25 October, effecting the first amendment to the above-mentioned instrument, is intended to correct the wording of Article 2(2)(a) of Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 With regard to compliance with the requirement that the European Commission be notified of the national measures adopted to transpose the said directives, these were sent on 27 January 2005 (reference MNE (2004) 53678) and 27 October 2005 (reference MNE (2005) 55266) respectively.

Romania: Four ministerial orders for the implementation of the Directive were approved:

• Ministerial Order of MEWM no. 901/2005 on specific measures for WEEE collecting which are dangerous for operators working at the collection points

• Joint Ministerial Order of MEWM/MET no. 1225/721/2005 regarding the approval of procedure and criteria of evaluation and authorization of collective organizations of

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annual targets of collection, reuse, recycle and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment amended by MO MEWM/MEF no. 910/1704/2007

• Joint Ministerial Order of MEWM/MET no. 1223/2005 for producers registration procedure, reporting of data of electrical and electronic equipment and waste electrical and electronic equipment amended by MO MEWM/MEF no. 706/1.667

• Ministerial Order of MEWM no. 556/2006 on specific marking applied on electric and electronic equipment put on the market after 31st December 2006. All legislation is available on the website of Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (http://www.mmediu.ro/dep_mediu/informatii_echipamente.htm) and Ministry of Economy and Finance (www.minind.ro/domenii_sectoare/index4.html ).

Slovakia:

Notification date

Regulations

10/01/2005 Act No. 733/2004 Coll. amending Act No. 223/2001 Coll. on wastes, and on the amendment of certain acts, as amended, and on the amendment of certain acts

03/06/2005 Order of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 208/2005 Coll. on WEEE management

16/06/2005 Act No. 233/2001 Coll. on wastes, and on the amendment of certain acts

16/06/2005 Act No. 443/2004 Coll. amending Act No. 223/2001 Coll. on wastes, and on the amendment of certain acts, as amended

16/09/2005 Regulation of the Slovak Republic Government No. 388/2005 Coll. on obligatory limits for WEEE recovery, re–use and recycling of components, materials and substances

25/07/2006

Act No. 409/2006 Coll. – Full wording of Act No. 223/2001 Coll. on wastes and on the amendment of certain acts, pursuant to amendments implemented by Act No. 553/2001 Coll., Act No. 96/2002 Coll., Act No. 261/2002 Coll., Act No. 393/2002 Coll., Act No. 529/2002 Coll., Act No. 188/2003 Coll., Act No. 245/2003 Coll., Act No. 525/2003 Coll., Act No. 24/2004 Coll., Act No. 443/2004 Coll., Act No. 587/2004 Coll., Act No. 733/2004 Coll., Act No. 479/2005 Coll., Act No. 532/2005 Coll., Act No. 571/2005 Coll. and Act No. 127/2006 Coll.

Spain: In territorial terms, Spain is made up of 17 Autonomous Communities and 2 autonomous cities which have powers to manage all waste produced in their territories, either themselves or through third parties. When waste is managed by third parties, these private managers must hold the relevant administrative authorisations from the various Autonomous Communities in which they are to carry on their activities. For that purpose, in the case of waste electrical and electronic equipment, even though the integrated management systems may have been applied for this authorisation almost simultaneously in all Autonomous Communities, the complexity of the documentation they must submit to comply with the each administration’s legal requirements and the various different situations at these administrations in terms of workload and human resources is the reason why there may have been a greater delay than is desirable in processing the authorisations and they were thus unable to commence their management activities until late 2006 and 2007.

Sweden: Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been implemented mainly via the Ordinance (SFS [Swedish Code of Statues] 2005:209) on producer responsibility for electrical and electronic products and by amendments to the Environmental Code and the Ordinance on Waste, the Ordinance on producer responsibility for EEE as well as the Ordinance on supervision under the Environmental Code (Sweden has sent an article-per-article matrix to the Commission naming also the Ordinance (SFS 1998:899) on environmentally hazardous activities and protection of health, Ordinance (SFS 1998:900) on supervision under the Environmental Code and others). .

UK: The details were provided to the Commission via the electronic notification system. The Directive has been transposed into law in the UK. Legislation for Gibraltar is currently in the stage of being finalised. All further reference to “the Regulations” refer to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006, SI 2006 No. 3289 unless otherwise stated.

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Resumé: Virtually all reporting Member States have affirmed that they have transposed the WEEE Directive into national law. Cyprus is the only MS who seems not to have passed a legal act transposing the WEEE Directive. However, Cyprus does report on information campaigns and developments in the setting up of organizations responsible for the management of WEEE.

With regard to the reporting of the acts, Member States normally list all acts that they have enacted with the regard to the transposition of the WEEE Directive; some MS refer to the reporting database of the Commission's Secretariat General (see Czech Republic).

2.2 Agreements between competent authorities and the economic sector

Art. 17(3) of the WEEE Directive allows MS to conclude voluntary agreements to transpose the provisions set out in Articles 6(6), 10(1) and 11.

19 respondents answered no, 7 said yes. Thus, only a minority of MS use voluntary agreements.

Do you take advantage of voluntary agreements by Art. 17(3)

Yes No

Belgium (Brussels) Austria

Belgium (Flemish Region Region) Bulgaria

Belgium (Wallonian Region) Czech Republic

Cyprus Estonia

Denmark Finland

Luxembourg France

Portugal Germany

Spain Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Poland

Romania

Slovakia

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Slovenia

Sweden

UK

Details about the voluntary agreements: Belgium (Brussels): An environmental policy agreement between competent authorities and the economic sector concerned existed from march 2001 until march 2006. Negociations for a successor of this agreement are still going on.

Belgium (Flemish Region): An environmental policy agreement between the competent authorities and the economic sector concerned existed from june 2001 until june 2006. Negotiations for a follow up agreement are being delayed due to legal discussions and the problem of tuning up between the regions in Belgium. In the Flanders Region the Flemish Region competent minister signed a gentleman's agreement towards the economic sector concerned whereby the provisions of the former environmental policy agreement are maintained, plus whereby the provisions from Annex II of the Directive are explicitly stated.

Belgium (Wallonian Region): The environmental agreement (of 19 February 2001) between the regional authorities and the economic sectors grouped within Recupel asbl refers to Recupel being required to provide information to households on how they can dispose of their WEEE via a selective collection, and on how that WEEE is processed. Points (a), (b), (c) and (d) of Article 17(3) have been implemented by Recupel, in particular by means of their website, and through the media (radio and television).

Luxembourg: Article 11 of the Directive is not the subject of an environmental agreement. Article 10(1)of the Directive was incorporated into national law in Article 12(1) of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005. Article 15 of the environmental agreement states that "The Ministry of the Environment, acting if appropriate through the SuperDrecksKëscht fir Biirger, and the local authorities, the local authority associations and the non-profit organisation ECOTREL, shall collaborate to supply households with the information required pursuant to Article 12(1) of the Regulation.Article 6(6) of the Directive is dealt with at national level under the policy of sustainable development (environmental, social and economic pillars) of the industrial, craft and commercial infrastructure, by which the Luxembourg Government intends to promote the EMAS system in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Portugal: For the purposes of compliance with the obligations laid down in Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, producers may use integrated or individual management systems for WEEE derived from EEE they have placed on the national market. In the first case, responsibility is transferred to the management undertaking, provided that it is duly licensed for that activity under the said Decree-Law, whereas in the second case EEE producers may opt to be responsible for the due performance of their own obligations, in which case they will also need a specific licence, which is granted only if they comply with a set of obligations equivalent to those laid down for the integrated system.

The Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, as the authority that has assumed the powers of the Instituto dos Resíduos [Waste Institute] pursuant to Decree-Law No 207/2006, of 27 October, is responsible for monitoring the implementation and supervision of the activities inherent in compliance with the obligations laid down in Decree-Law No 230/2004, including the licences granted to both the management undertakings, as provided therein.

Spain: Framework Agreements are agreements signed by each Autonomous Community with all the integrated management systems working in that territory. These Agreements

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establish the operational conditions for these not-for-profit organisations in the area of the Autonomous Community and must be accepted by the organisations as a stage prior to being granted authorisation. Subsequently, local corporations may adhere to this Agreement or else negotiate directly with the integrated management systems. In any case, if a local corporation wishes to adhere under the conditions established in the agreement, it must be included.

Resumé: Under Art. 17(3) of the WEEE Directive MS may conclude voluntary agreements in order to transpose specific elements of the measure.

Only a minority of countries has made use of voluntary agreements. Those who have done so report that these voluntary agreements are transparent and enforceable.

3 Implementation of the WEEE Directive

3.1 Product Design (Art. 4)

Art. 4 of the WEEE Directive calls upon the Member States to encourage the design and production of EEE which take into account and facilitate dismantling and recovery, in particular the reuse and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials. MS shall take appropriate measures so that producers do 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.

19 respondents answered that they have taken such measures, six said no.

Have measures pursuant to Article 4, concerning product design, been taken?

Yes No

Austria Belgium (Brussels)

Belgium (Wallonian Region) Belgium (Flemish Region)

Bulgaria Cyprus

Czech Republic Greece

Denmark Italy

Estonia Sweden

Finland

France

Germany

Hungary

Ireland

Latvia

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Lithuania

Luxembourg

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

UK

3.1.1 Approaches to product design Austria: Section 4(3) of the EAG-VO stipulates that producers may not prevent, by means of specific design features or manufacturing processes, the reuse of WEEE, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, e.g. with regard to environmental protection or safety requirements.

Belgium Wallonian Region: Article 67a of the above mentioned Walloon Government decree of 25 April 2002 stipulates that manufacturers must promote EEE design and production which take into account equipment dismantling and recovery and which facilitate in particular the reuse and recycling of WEEE and of its components and materials. Article 67a also stipulates that manufacturers must not employ special manufacturing processes which prevent the reuse of WEEE, unless those special manufacturing processes offer key advantages, e.g. with regard to environmental protection. Manufacturers must use the best techniques available to perfect all new technology for recovery, recycling and processing.

Bulgaria: Article 6 of the Regulation introduces an obligation for the producers of EEE and producers of materials/components for EEE to take measures at the design and production stages to facilitate treatment and recovery, and in particular the re-use and recycling of WEEE and its materials and components. Furthermore, recovery organisations and producers and importers fulfilling their obligations individually report on the measures they have taken in the previous calendar year to facilitate the treatment, recovery, re use and recycling of WEEE and its components and materials.

Czech Republic: In Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste, as amended, Section 37j(1) imposes an obligation to facilitate dismantling, in particular for reuse and recycling of WEEE, its components and materials, in accordance with the protection of the environment and public health as one of the obligations on producers of EEE. In addition, a government bill (No 213, dated 14.5.2007) is currently in the Czech Parliament, amending Act No 406/2000 Coll. on energy efficiency, as amended, based on Directive 2005/32/EC. The text of the bill contains paragraphs defining terms such as "environmental aspect", "product design" and "ecodesign".

Denmark: When the WEEE Directive was implemented a new provision was inserted in § 51(2) of the Environmental Protection Act. Denmark considers that the existing provisions of §§ 4 and 5 of the Environmental Protection Act already implement Article 4. Since the end of the 1990s the Ministry of the Environment, with its cleaner products programme, has been making a special effort to promote the development of cleaner products in a life-cycle perspective, some instruments in this respect are specifically targeted at the electronics industry (i.a. a design guide for the environmentally sound development of electronic

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products, an introduction to life-cycle assessments and a guideline for the mapping of environmental requirements). An electronics panel was set up at the end of 1998 with the aim of taking initiatives and carrying out activities in the electronics sector that will help to reduce the environmental impact of the production, use and disposal of electronic products.

Estonia: Such measures are provided in Waste Act § 21 (2) 2) and § 24 (3). Measures shall be taken in any activity, as far as possible, to design, plan, manufacture and import products which are, above all, durable and reusable and which after they are removed from use produce waste which is recoverable to the highest possible extent. The requirements for environmentally sound handling of waste resulting from products, especially the requirements for waste recovery shall be taken into account already in planning for and designing new products.

Finland: Article 4 has been laid down in the legislation in section 4 in the Government Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (852/2004).

France: Article R.543-176 of the Environmental Code states that “the equipment referred to under I of Article R.543-172 (10 categories) must be designed and manufactured in such a way that it can be easily dismantled and recovered”. Article R.543-201 of the Environmental Code adds that “the recovery and, in particular, the reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment is preferable to its destruction”.

Moreover, account is taken of the provisions laid down on the subject of the reuse of EEE as well as of the objectives of the recovery of waste, recycling and reuse of the components, material and substances, during the approval of the bodies to which the producers belong to meet their obligations regarding the removal and treatment of household WEEE, and during the approval of the individual systems put in place by the producers to meet these same obligations. Finally, a specific working group is currently studying the possibility of, according to the criteria linked to product design, differentiating between the scales of contributions of producers of household electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) belonging to a body approved by the public authorities. The objective is that these scales can translate the efforts made by the producer as regards the design of his product to incorporate environmental aspects (design efforts to facilitate dismantling, reduction in the levels of dangerous substances, use of components or reusable or recyclable materials…).

Germany: Legislation (§ 4 of the ElektroG reproduces Article 4 of the Directive and § 9(9) obliges local authorities, distributors and producers to organise collection in a way that does not prevent subsequent reuse, dismantling and recovery, in particular recovery of materials); official awards for exemplary performance

Hungary: This obligation is incorporated into Act XLIII of 2000 on Waste Management (Section 4 and 6). In the yearly reports regarding this obligation of producers the following measures were indicated:

- Makers have changed manufacturing processes in order to use replaceable parts to prevent whole equipments from becoming waste.

- In some cases modified designs make possible reuse of dismantled parts during the repairing processes.

- Our competent authority has no knowledge that producers have been trying to prevent WEEE from being reused.

Ireland: Article 40 of S.I. No 340 of 2005 states that “each producer shall – (a) be prohibited from preventing waste electrical and electronic equipment from being reused through specific design features or manufacturing processes, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages with sustainable environmental practices, or, as appropriate, health and safety requirements, and (b) ensure that they, when designing and producing electrical and electronic equipment, take into account and

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facilitate the dismantling and recovery, in particular the reuse and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, together with all the components and materials contained therein”.

Latvia: Section 20.3 of Latvia's Waste Management Law [Atkritumu apsaimniekošanas likums] stipulates that a manufacturer of EEE appliances must develop and manufacture electrical and electronic devices in such a way as to ensure that they may be dismantled and regenerated, and that such devices, their components and materials may be re-used and recycled. Use may not be made in the development and manufacture of electrical and electronic devices of methods which make it difficult to re-use waste electrical and electronic equipment, unless the use of such methods significantly improves the implementation of requirements relating to environmental protection or safety.

Lithuania: the provisions of Article 4 WEEE Directive have been transposed into Lithuanian legal acts. The state strategic plan for waste management approved by Government Resolution No 519 of 12 April 2002 (Official Gazette, 2002, No 40-1499; 2004, No 148-5363) lays down that, in order to ensure the proper management of waste electrical and electronic equipment, it is necessary to:

- design, produce and import electrical and electronic equipment so that it would be possible to dismantle, use, re-use and/or recycle its waste and the components contained in it;

- involve in such activities all the producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment;

- achieve a high level collection, use, re-use and/or recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

However, in the practical implementation of the requirements regarding the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment, Lithuania faces certain difficulties as the majority of the persons placing EEE on the domestic market are importers (importing and placing equipment on the Lithuanian market), who practically cannot influence the design or production of electrical and electronic equipment (in 2006, according to the data available to the Environmental Protection Agency, producers accounted for only 0.8 % of the 585 producers and importers registered in the Register of Producers and Importers). Still, the requirement that only properly produced and marked equipment be placed on the domestic market is applied also to the importers therefore in the future it is expected that the implementation and control of the requirements of Article 4 will achieve the necessary results in the design, production and construction of this kind of equipment.

Luxembourg: Article 5 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005 states that environmental agreements may encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which can easily be disassembled and recovered for reuse and recycling of the equipment itself and of its components and materials. Producers must not hinder such reuse by employing special manufacturing processes or design features, unless there are definite advantages in so doing in terms of environmental protection or safety requirements.

Poland: Under the Environmental Protection Law Act of 27 April 2001 (Journal of Laws 2006, No 129, item 902, as amended), it is necessary, when manufacturing a product, without prejudice to its utility and the safety of users to limit the use of substances and techniques that impede the repair of the product, the disassembly of the product with a view to removing used consumables for which a specific procedure is required under the Waste Act, and the use of parts of the product in another product or the utilisation thereof for other purposes following to the consumption of the product.

Portugal: legal source: Article 5(2) of Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, and also Annexes that form an integral part of the management undertakings' licences. More specifically, paragraph A.6 and paragraph F.2.3.4 of the Annex to the licences oblige the

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management undertakings to submit an action plan, indicating the measures to be implemented in connection with the integrated system, for the re-use of whole items of WEEE or their component parts, covering all the management requirements laid down in the Decree-Law. The management undertakings must identify a series of logistical and structural measures that make it possible to achieve and maximise support for WEEE re-use initiatives with a social dimension, and also to ensure that they proceed according to current legislation, both environmental and that relating to the sale of re-used EEE. In addition, the implementation of these measures will serve as a guide for the adaptation of the model to other market realities, and the possibility may be considered of extending these practices to producers that have not yet adopted them in their own businesses and to products not re-used at present, thus presenting various environmental and economic advantages for waste management and performance throughout the life cycle of EEE.

Romania: According to GD 448/2005, art. 4, “(1) The producers shall encourage only the production of those EEE whose design takes into account the following aspects: a) facilitating dismantling and recovery operations of components; b) providing possibilities for reuse and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials. (2) It is forbidden to the producers to prevent the reuse of the WEEE, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.”

Slovakia: This issue is resolved in Section 54b(1)(a) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. The producer of EEE is obliged to ensure that EEE is produced and designed in a way that facilitates their dismantling and recovery, in particular the re-use and recycling of WEEE, and in particular may not use specific design features or manufacturing processes that prevent WEEE from being re-used, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages with regard to the protection of the environment or requirements for ensuring health and safety.

Slovenia: Article 4 of the Decree on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 107/06) provides as follows: (1) dismantling and recovery shall be taken into account in equipment design and production and shall be facilitated, in particular for the reuse and recycling of waste equipment, its components and materials. (2) Producers may not prevent reuse through a specific design of equipment or manufacturing processes, unless such design or such processes present an overriding advantage (e.g. with regard to the protection of the environment and requirements concerning safe use of the equipment).

Spain: Article 3 a and b of Royal Decree 208/2005, lays down the following requirements: (..)

b) Design and produce equipment so as to facilitate its dismantling, repair and, in particular, its re-use and recycling.

Likewise, the public administrations (Ministry of the Environment and the MITYC) are particularly interested in encouraging Spanish producers to concentrate on designing EEE aimed at reducing energy and water consumption, both in the manufacturing process and at the service stage of their life cycle.

UK: Regulation 59 gives the Secretary of State the responsibility to encourage product design which facilitates recycling, and ensure that producers do not prevent WEEE from being reused. The UK believes that these measures are better addressed in the context of the EuP Framework Directive. A stakeholder group has been set up on EuP and are looking at the issue of product design. The issue of product design is also already being addressed within existing frameworks, such as the market transformation programme. An independent advisory body on WEEE is being established to provide advice to the UK Government, i.a. improved product design.

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Resumé: 19 respondents out of 27 have reported to have taken corresponding measures. Most Member States have ‘copied out’ the requirements of Art. 4 directly into their national laws. Predominantly, the measures taken limit themselves to declarations of intent and do not provide clarity over enforcement. In most cases, the laws are formulated positively in that producers shall strive to design their products in a way facilitating recovery/recycling. Austria reports only the ban to prevent the reuse of WEEE by specific design features.

Some MS, i.a. Bulgaria, Hungary and Portugal, require producers to report on their “product-design” activities annually or to develop action plans as to how they intend to improve the product design with regard to re-use and recovery. France and Portugal also take the issue of product design into account in the licensing of management organizations.

Some MS as the Czech Republic or the UK stress the tight link between the WEEE Directive’s Art. 4 and product-related energy efficiency policy (e.g. the EU Eco-Design Directive).

Poland has added the criterion of “utility” to justify using material not suited for reuse/recovery.

3.1.2 Reasons why no measures according to Art. 4 have been taken Belgium (Brussels): Due to the specific small-scale economic situation in Belgium, it is difficult to take measures concerning product-design. In the policy agreement a lot of attention goes to prevention of waste, the encouragement of reuse, and the taking into account of energy performance of EEE. Besides, product design is a national competence.

Belgium (Flemish Region): Due to jurisdiction issues between the regions in Belgium and the specific small-scale economic situation in Belgium, this was a difficult item up till now. However, in the former environmental policy agreement, much consideration was given to the prevention of waste and the stimulation of re-use, taking into account the energy performance of the EEE. Furthermore efforts are made to stimulate ecodesign in general through subsidizing industry and research.

Cyprus: There is no EEE manufacturing in Cyprus.

Greece: Measures pursuant to article 4, concerning product design are under elaboration in the frames of transposition of Directive 2005/35/EC "establishing a framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for energy-using products".

Italy: Such measures, which are provided for by Article 4 of Legislative Decree No 151 of 25 July 2005, which transposes the Directive, have not yet been adopted.

Sweden: The financial guarantee (applicable to household products only) is indirectly designed to encourage producers to manufacture easily recoverable products. Levels of guarantee should, if possible, be based on actual circumstances; producers who can show that the costs of dealing with their products are lower than for other, similar products should therefore be required to provide the relevant guarantee only at that lower level. This will act as an incentive to pay more heed to recovery in designing products.

Resumé: No common reasons are supplied as to why no efforts to encourage product design in facilitating re-use/recycling have been made in some MS. Reasons provided included the lack of EEE production facilities (Latvia), the expectation of more concrete requirements to be introduced on the basis of the EU Ecodesign Directive (Dir. 2005/35/EC), see Greece, or belated implementation of measures according to Art. 4 (Italy).

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3.1.3 Experiences with measures regarding product design: Austria: Various repair networks (e.g. Repanet, www.repanet.at) have been set up in Austria intended i.a. to tackle pertinent ecological topics, in particular relating to safeguarding of resources on a sustainable basis (repair, dismantling and recycling). Moreover, a National Rule has been drawn up on the labelling of durable electrical appliances designed for easy repair: National Rule ONR 192102. That rule introduces a requirement for brown and white products which is unique in the world and takes the form of a new durability mark. A mark is awarded to brown and white goods in recognition of the efforts made by the manufacturer. Televisions, washing machines and other electrical appliances are inspected under the National Rule for compliance with 39 criteria. Approximately half the criteria relate to design and operating instructions, and the other half to service.

Belgium (Brussels): no measures were taken Belgium (Flemish Region): Often opportunities are offered through stimulating initiatives and projects that are not laid down in legislation. However, clear legal standardisation is welcome.

Belgium Wallonian Region: In the above-mentioned environmental agreement the emphasis was placed on waste prevention and reuse, taking into account EEE's energy performance. An evaluation of these provisions is not yet available.

Cyprus: None.

Czech Republic: Positive experiences: producers of professional EEE comply with Article 4 as part of the production cycle in their respective separate collections of WEEE. Leading producers of domestic appliances are seeking ecologically sound solutions to facilitate dismantling and recycling (e.g. of non-rusted parts) right from the production stage and are offering consumers comprehensive services for the whole life cycle of high-quality appliances.

Negative experiences: Low prices are still often more important to consumers than ecologically sound design.

Denmark: Positive experience: Member States can undertake initiatives that can be adapted to the individual country's preventive effort in the area. Negative experience: The Directive is not specific with regard to the measures that might be seen as appropriate to ensure that producers do not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, the reuse of electrical and electronic equipment.

Estonia: Most of Estonian producers are importers (most products are imported from other EU countries, but also from Asia and other countries). Estonia does not have manufacturers of EEE in Estonia. There are only some small ones who manufacture mainly non-household appliances and some computer assemblers. Appliances must meet some requirements, which is supervised by Technical Inspectorate (pursuance of other directives). But so far appliances have not been checked from the point of view of suitability for reuse/recovery.

Finland: So far, Finland does not have specific experiences about this article. According to supervision by the national authority, it seems that the Finnish producers promote environmentally sound design and do not create obstacles for re-use or recycle by design.

France: Positive experiences: The specific working group mentioned above is the forum for very valuable exchanges between the actors concerned and allows advances to be made in this complex subject.

Negative experiences: The specific working group mentioned above has highlighted the difficulty of producing a differentiated scale of contributions for the producers with criteria applicable to all categories of EEE.

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Moreover, the effectiveness of the measures planned aiming to promote the eco-design of EEE risks being too limited due to the fact that the financial incentive via a differentiated scale of contributions will too often depend on the importers of these products onto the national territory, and not on producers established abroad, indeed very often outside the territory of the European Union. The financial incentive will therefore be commensurately diluted by this. Coordinating the different initiatives of the Member States on the subject would perhaps be likely to make the economic signal sent to the producers of EEE more meaningful and therefore more effective, in order to encourage them to improve the eco-design of their products. A criterion such as certification or otherwise of the products regarding the frames of reference of the European ecolabel could be studied. Such frames of reference already exist for some types of EEE: computers, portable or otherwise, dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerators.

Germany: The official awards for examples of good practice act as an incentive to all involved and draws users' attention to this aspect. However, the provision for taking back a mix of equipment (within the various categories) reduces the direct advantages of exemplary producers.

Greece: Greek producers are mainly importers of finished appliances and assemblers of imported components from Member States or third countries.

Hungary: In the overwhelming majority of cases producers under our legislation are not real makers they just put products on the Hungarian market from third countries or other Member States. So they cannot do anything with this provision. Generally speaking since there are similar provisions in other EU legislation (ELV, etc) it would be more reasonable to put all those provisions into a separate piece of legislation.

Ireland: Some producers have reported that they have improved product design on account of the need to minimize recycling costs and thereby increase profitability.

Italy: Measures not yet adopted.

Latvia: Latvia thinks it positive that during the actual design and production stages, account is already being taken of how waste equipment of this type can be re-used and recycled.

Luxembourg: Since Luxembourg imports virtually all of its electrical and electronic equipment, there is no experience to report.

Poland: Little experience has been accumulated so far, owing to the short period of time for which the Directive has been implemented in Poland.

Portugal: The integrated collection, treatment and recovery systems began to operate in November 2006, thus for the reporting period 2004-2006 this is short. Still, with regard to the experience of the management undertakings, the following positive points should be emphasised: the fact that a number of private undertakings in Portugal have shown interest in re-use, as have a number of social organisations and other private operators, which have already implemented and are in the process of developing actions for the re-use of WEEE, and also the fact that the NGOs contacted have indicated that they are prepared to enter into partnerships for the re-use of WEEE as provided in the programmes referred to.

By way of negative points, the undertakings emphasise the need to make the re-use of WEEE compatible with the protection provided by law as regards competition and industrial property rights (e.g. EEE marks and designs) and the problems the re-use sector is encountering with market trends, particularly changes in consumer attitudes to re-used products, particularly as a result of higher requirements as regards reliability and after-sales service; and the decrease in sale prices to consumers of new equipment, combined with the growth in commercial rotativity of products, this tendency being particularly notable in the most technologically innovative sectors, especially micro-computers, hi-fi and telecommunications.

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Romania: The production of EEE in Romania is small, i.e. two big companies: Electrolux and Arctic. Most EEE is imported from other countries within and outside EU. Electrolux and Arctic are both respecting the provisions of the article.

Slovakia: None.

Slovenia: does not have enough experience at present to answer the question, from their point of view this might be also because there is essentially only one major Slovenian producer of EEE - Gorenje. In accordance with its own environmental policy and in view of its presence throughout the EU market this producer has already adapted product design to comply with Article 4 of the Directive ahead of time.

Sweden: The provisions came into force too recently for any such assessment to be given.

UK: Improving product design is a policy which has the support of the UK Government, and progress is being made through a number of avenues both related to and unrelated to the WEEE Directive.

Resumé: Given that requirements relating to product design have only been recently implemented, most countries do not as yet have extensive experience in this area.

Smaller Member States feel at times less concerned by the requirements relating to product design as they do not count many producers of EEE on their national soil, depending thus upon imports and the product design policies adopted in other countries. The influence of the different countries over product design therefore varies. As a consequence some Member States have advocated formulating product design criteria or standards at the European level.

Member States noted several negative trends in the field of product design, this included i.a. changes in consumer preferences regarding the re-use of EEE (e.g. falling prices for new EEE).

Denmark said there is a lack of specifications in the WEEE Directive with regard to measures to be taken to avoid the prevention of reuse by means of design.

3.2 Establishment of WEEE collection systems (Art. 5)

Art. 5 WEEE Directive calls upon MS to set up systems allowing final holders and distributors to return WEEE waste at least free of charge.

All respondents answered affirmatively to the question whether they have set up such systems.

The respondents were called upon to give details on these systems providing:

- a general description of these systems (a), - the way the free of charge return on a one to one basis to distributors is implemented

or whether and what alternative provisions in line with Article 5(2b) have been taken (b),

- whether producers have set up and operate individual and/or collective take-back systems for WEEE from private households (c),

- whether and what specific arrangements for contaminated WEEE and WEEE not containing essential components have been made (d),

- Additionally, information on collection systems for WEEE from sources other than private households is invited (e).

The following summaries of the answers refer to these aspects a.)-e.) cumulating them whenever appropriate.

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Austria: a.) WEEE is collected from households either through local authority or producers' collection points or through dealers (one-to-one take-back of an old appliance when a new one performing the same function is purchased). Producers of electrical and electronic equipment for private households must set up at least one collection point in each political district where WEEE from private households may be returned by the final distributors of the equipment. Producers may also fulfil their obligation by participating in a collection and recovery scheme. At the very least, WEEE must be accepted free of charge at collection points. Dealers, and in some cases also local authorities and final consumers, may deposit equipment from private households at producers' collection points. Producers (collection and recovery schemes) may also collect under their own arrangements.

b.) final distributors have an obligation when supplying an electric or electronic household appliance to take back at least free of charge, at the request of the final consumer, any electrical or electronic household appliance on a one-to-one basis, provided the returned appliance is of an equivalent type and fulfilled the same functions as the appliance which has been supplied. Final distributors with a sales area of less than 150 m2 may be exempted from this obligation provided the final distributor informs the final consumer of that fact by means of clear information at his business premises. In that case, the final consumer must deliver the appliance to a local authority collection point, which, in view of the dense network of collection points, does not pose any problems. In the case of distance selling, the final distributor can fulfil his obligation to take back items on a one-to-one basis by setting up at least two publicly accessible points in each political district where WEEE from private households can be deposited by final consumers. Final consumers have to be informed in an appropriate manner (catalogues, Internet site) of these points and their opening hours.

c.) While Austria provides for both collective and individual possibilities, in practice, participation in collection and recovery schemes has become generalised. There is not a single manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment for private households which fulfils its obligation individually.

d.) It is possible to refuse to accept WEEE from private households which represent a risk to the health or safety of the recipient because of contamination with dangerous substances or preparations. If other waste is added to WEEE from private households, the recipient can charge for the resulting cost or refuse to accept the added waste.

e.) Producers of WEEE from sources other than private households also have the option of participating in a collection and recovery scheme.

Belgium (Brussels): a.) A system allowing the holder as well as the distributor to return WEEE free of charge, exists. The economic sector (concerns producers and importers) founded a non-for-profit organisation Recupel, with the support of the Belgium regional governments. Recupel orgnaises the collection, sorting, treatment/recycling of WEEE in Belgium. A recycling contribution is paid with the purchase of each new EEE.

b.) The consumer can at each level return a non-functioning EEE to the distributor when he buys an equal equipment with similar functions. Alternatively, there are two regional collection centres and four municipal collection centres.

c.) Beside Recupel some individual return systems have been set up.

d.) no info

e.) For all professional appliances, an administrative contribution is charged when the product is put on the market. This administrative contribution is used to cover reporting and administrative costs.

Belgium (Flemish Region): a.) and c.) The manufacturers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment founded the not-for-profit organisation Recupel with the support of the Belgian regional governments. Its remit comprises the organisation of the collection, sorting,

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treatment and recycling of WEEE in Belgium (from 2001). Besides this, some individual return systems have been set up. A recycling contribution is paid with the purchase of each new electrical or electronic appliance. This is used to finance the future collection and recycling of the appliance. For household appliances and for all lighting equipment and medical devices and laboratory equipment, an all-in contribution is charged. This all-in contribution is used to finance the costs for the collection, sorting, transport and treatment of discarded appliances that are taken back to the store or the container park at the time of purchase. For all professional appliances, including monitoring and control equipment, an administrative contribution is charged when the product is put on the market. This administrative contribution is used to cover reporting and administrative costs.

b.) d.) e.) no info.

Belgium Wallonian Region: a.) Households can dispose of their WEEE free of charge at household waste recycling centres, where WEEE is collected separately. Recupel then has the WEEE transported to grouping and sorting centres. The reuse centres can access those grouping centres and take part of the reusable WEEE. The appliances are then repaired or resold directly at low prices in second hand shops. The non reusable WEEE is transported to authorised processing centres. Recupel pays the local authorities for using the household waste recycling centres to collect WEEE.

b.) Distributors must take back, on a one for one basis, WEEE which their customers bring in when purchasing similar replacement products fulfilling the same function. This service is free of charge to consumers. Under certain circumstances (collection minimum: eight large appliances or a full pallet box every three months), Recupel takes care of transporting the WEEE collected by distributors to grouping and sorting centres. A distributor unable to collect such quantities can access the household waste recycling centres for small quantities of WEEE.

c.) From information in a.) and e.) it appears that Recupel is the only – collective - system to deal with household wase.

d.) Recupel does not accept contaminated or incomplete WEEE. The holders of such waste are responsible for disposing of it in accordance with the legislation.

e.) Recupel, the collective system set up by manufacturers, has been responsible for managing household WEEE but also some WEEE of professional origin since January 2007. Some manufacturers of appliances for professional use have chosen to draw up an individual waste management plan, which must be approved by the regional authorities.

Bulgaria: a.) and c.) The Bulgarian approach offers producers and importers of EEE the option of complying with the requirements for the separate collection and recovery of WEEE either individually or collectively.

The collective system takes the form of a WEEE recovery organisation. Persons fulfilling their obligations individually undertake to carry out activities for the treatment and transport of WEEE on their own account and to achieve the targets for separate collection and recovery, including recycling and re use, and take back of WEEE at the point of sale or another appropriate place.

b.) Articles 29 and 30 of the Regulation provide for WEEE to be taken back at the point of sale when purchasing new EEE of an equivalent type and fulfilling the same functions. EEE retailers are obliged to take back from consumers without charge WEEE in the same quantity, of an equivalent type and fulfilling the same functions, as that purchased by the consumer and to provide a collection point for WEEE on their sales territory.

Producers and importers of household EEE are obliged to set up systems for the separate collection of household WEEE; these systems must guarantee the collection from consumers and the delivery of the WEEE collected to temporary storage facilities equipped for

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treatment, recycling, recovery and/or disposal. Collective system “Ekobulteh” - www.ecobulteh.com.

d.) Article 30 of the Regulation provides for EEE retailers to refuse to take back WEEE which, owing to pollution, represents a danger to human health, is not a complete appliance or contains waste not constituting WEEE.

e.) The collective system “Ekobulteh” (www.ecobulteh.com) is also for WEEE from non household sources.

Cyprus: no comment Czech Republic: (a) and b.) Final holders and distributors of EEE consisting of products ordinarily used in the household can return it free of charge to take-back points regardless of the age (when placed on the market) of the discarded EEE, and when buying new EEE they may use so called "one-to-one" exchange at the final seller. (see Article 37k(4) of Act No 185/2001 Coll.) i.e. handing in free of charge at the place of sale an item of electrical/electronic equipment of the same type as a newly purchased product, on a "one to one" basis, for B2C and B2B transactions alike. Collection of WEEE placed on the market later than 13 August 2005 is always free of charge. Only in the case of non-domestic EEE produced before 13 August 2005 and not replaced by other products does a final non-consumer user incur a charge for the recovery and disposal of WEEE. Such WEEE is dealt with on a B2B (business to business) basis. Operators of collective systems collect EEE from consumers, in some cases using take-back points. In smaller towns, established mobile hazardous waste collection systems are also used for take-back of EEE.

c) Producers of EEE have set up collective systems whose operators have, since 13 August 2005, submitted proposals for entry in the Register of Producers maintained by the Czech Republic's Environment Ministry. The collective systems in all cases finance historical EEE only for a specific category or categories, but for EEE from other categories placed on the market after 13 August 2005 they may take on the responsibilities of producers for which they have requested entry in the Register. Likewise for EEE designated for firms as final users, and not for consumers, producers' responsibilities can be fulfilled through the collective systems in B2B form.

(d) Contaminated WEEE and WEEE not containing essential components are not taken back by collective systems at take-back points but are disposed of as waste, i.e. the costs of such waste are borne either by the final user or by the community in which the citizen produces that waste.

(e) A proposal for entry in the Register of Producers of EEE has also been submitted by the collective system operator OFO-recycling s.r.o. for categories 1, 2, 3 and 4 (www.ofo recycling.cz). The company provides services for B2B producers and for EEE placed on the market in the Czech Republic after 13 August 2005. A further 100 individual systems, in which producers favour reuse of parts, are registered in the B2B sector.

Denmark: (a) and (c) The detailed rules on the collection of WEEE from households are laid down in §§ 6 and 8 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005, as amended by Regulation No 591 of 9 June 2006. The collection of WEEE from households takes place very largely through municipal collection schemes, i.e. either collections from people's homes or deliveries to municipal collection points. Producers have established return arrangements, mainly in the form of collective schemes.

(b) In the context of the purchase of new equipment, private individuals can deliver waste from such equipment on a one-to-one basis to dealers if the latter offer to take the waste. The voluntary arrangement is supplementary to the detailed municipal collection schemes.

(d) no info

http://www.ecobulteh.com/

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(e) WEEE from sources other than private households is collected and processed under § 9j of the Environmental Protection Act and §§ 14 and 15 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005. Producers can opt to fulfil their collection and return obligation partly via collective schemes and partly through individual arrangements.

Estonia: (a) The basis for the system is provided by Waste Act § 23 (3)-(4), § 26 (1), § 26 (4), § 26 (4-2), § 26 (5), § 26 (7), § 26-2; Governmental Regulation No. 376 of 24 December 2004 § 3 (1), § 5, § 6. It is provided that WEEE must be collected separately from other waste. Now all 3 collection schemes have together more than 100 collection points of WEEE all over Estonia. All are free of charge for final holder of EEE.

b.) It is obligatory that distributors take back WEEE on 1:1 basis in every shop free of charge. If there is no collection point within 10 km radius (for location of shop) then the distributor shall take back free of charge any WEEE which is of an equivalent type and has fulfilled the same functions as the equipment placed on the market, regardless of whether the person has acquired or will acquire equivalent equipment from the distributor. Producers are required to take back waste electrical and electronic equipment from the distributors free of charge.

c) Almost all producers of household EEE have joined with some collection scheme. Most of producers of nonhoushold EEE haven't joined with collective schemes.

d.) It is provided in Waste Act that if some essential components of WEEE to be returned are missing or equipment contains waste other than WEEE producer may demand partial covering of the costs of waste handling. If WEEE is contaminated then such WEEE should be first handled as any other hazardous waste and if contamination is removed then as any other same type of uncontaminated WEEE.

(e) Producers of nonhousehold WEEE must take back free of charge on 1:1 basis historical waste and all WEEE coming from their own EEE put on the market after 13.08.2005.

Finland: a.) The collection system for EE-waste is divided into two categories: I.) B-to-C products and II.) B-to-B products. B-to-C –products are collected through collection system arranged by five existing producer organisations. B-to-B –products are collected either through the same system or by mutual agreements between producers and end users of the product.

b.) According to the section 18h(2) in the Waste Act (1072/1993) a distributor shall accept from purchasers discarded electrical and electronic appliances originating from private households if replaced by purchasing a new similar appliance, or shall direct the purchaser to another reception point (in the case of small shop premises).

c.) There are no individual (one producer) collection systems for B-to-C –products. Five existing producer organisations representing about 1000 individual producers have established collection system that covers whole Finland. There are about 400 fixed collection points in about 250 communities out of 400 communities. The rest are covered by mobile collection usually twice or four times a year. Those collecting points take back every kind of B-to-C –electric- and electronic waste.1

d.) No comment.

e.) see above: Collection system for B-to-B –products is based partly on existing B-to-C –collection network and partly on mutual agreements between producers and (large) end users.

France: a.) and b.) Concerning household WEEE, the end-user has various options for disposing of the latter:

1 definition of B-to-C –waste is made according to specification of the product, not by the end user. This follows the definition in the Directive, article 3, sub-point k.

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• the taking back free of charge by the distributors of a second-hand item of equipment of the same type as the new item of equipment that has been purchased (“one-for-one”)

In accordance with Article R.543-180 of the Environmental Code, the distributor is obliged to take back free of charge, on the sale of a new item of household EEE or a second-hand item of equipment, the used items of electrical and electronic equipment brought back by the consumer, up to the limit of the quantity and type of equipment sold (of whatever brand). In the specific case of a home delivery a fee might be demanded under certain circumstances (e.g. for taking away WEEE to the shop of the distributor).

• the depositing free of charge of items at places where they are brought voluntarily such as municipal waste collection centres or in the context of selective door-to-door collections (when these facilities have been put in place by the local authority),

Both an individual and a collective system are possible, no individual system has currently been approved. Collection points are currently put in place by other actors such as those of reuse and of the social and solidarity-based economy. Household WEEE selectively collected in this way (by the distributors, local authorities, etc.) is then removed free of charge and processed by the approved bodies to which the producers belong in order to meet their obligations.

c.) As regards collective take-back systems, the municipalities or their groupings decide to increasingly put in place free selective collection systems for WEEE from households, in particular via their network of waste collection centres. In order to offset the costs associated with these collection systems, the coordinating body OCAD3E gives financial support to the local authorities according to a scale which includes a fixed part and a variable part (according to the quantities actually collected selectively). In order to do this, the OCAD3E receives financial contributions paid to it by the producers of household EEE which have not put in place an individual selective collection system for household WEEE.

(d) The approved bodies can refuse to remove skips containing WEEE mixed with other waste or other undesirable products from the distributors and local authorities which perform selective collections. These undertakings also state that the approved bodies may, in liaison with the selective collection points concerned, take additional action aiming to improve the quality of the WEEE collected selectively (for example concerning the repeated absence of essential components in this waste).

(e) In accordance with Article R.543-198 of the Environmental Code, the removal and treatment of the professional WEEE resulting from products placed on the market before 13 August 2005 are the responsibility of the users, unless they have agreed otherwise with the producers. As regards the professional WEEE placed on the market after this date, Article R.543-195 of the Environmental Code states that the producers organise and finance the removal and treatment of the items, unless otherwise arranged directly with the users in the sales agreement for the equipment.

Germany: (a) Private final holders may hand in equipment free of charge at over 1 400 local authority facilities and numerous other collection points, which are generally convenient for consumers, widely known and manned by staff qualified to receive equipment and provide information;

b.) given the existence of this consumer-convenient network, distributor take-back is voluntary (there is no compulsory like-for-like take-back); distributors are allowed to deposit WEEE which they do take back with the local authorities;

c.) according to the respondent’s information, there is, apart from one-off individual take-back promotions by individual producers, a collective system, involving the majority of producers, for return of gas discharge lamps, which then enter one of two recovery systems;

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d.) as far as the respondent is aware, local authority collection points monitor the equipment returned and reject polluted/cannibalised WEEE;

e.) so far very little information is available on take-back of WEEE other than that from private households.

Greece: a.) The Greek producers have established “RECYCLING APPLIANCES S.A” a nationwide WEEE collective system, which organises collection points for the return of WEEE from private households and provides service for the return of WEEE from other users (B2B). At the end of 2006, the approved system in collaboration with the Local Authorities has placed 66 containers of 36 m3 in public areas all over Greece, for the return of household WEEE, where final holders and distributors can return such waste free of charge.

b.) At the moment, the distributors / retailers in mobile telephone business are implementing the free of charge return on a one to one basis; however several meetings with the distributors are in progress by now.

c.) From the answers given only the existence of collective system can be deduced.

d.) No specific arrangements have been taken, for the return of WEEE not containing essential components from private household users. Other non household’s users, though, have been informed by a written notice that they are not allowed to dismantle and remove any components from the returned WEEE.

e.) As far as it concerns the collection of WEEE from sources other than private households, these are collected directly from the users' installations by transporters acting as subcontractors of RECYCLING APPLIANCES S.A., after a written demand of the user, in conformity with the provisions of article 1 of Directive 2003/108. All collected WEEE, both from private households and other sources, are transported to the treatment facilities by permitted - from the competent authorities for the operation - subcontractors of RECYCLING APPLIANCES S.A

Hungary: a.) Hungary runs two main types of systems. One system belongs to local governments and is run by them. These civic amenity sites offer facilities for separate collection of WEEE from households. In addition there are scheduled kerbside collections of WEEE as bulky waste at least once a year organized also by local authorities. The other system has been set up by producers. As it is set out in the Hungarian transposition governmental decree on WEEE retailers and distributors have to offer free take-back services on like-to-like basis to private householders. Hungary’s compliance schemes (Producers’ Responsibility Organizations) have contracts with almost all retailers and distributors that mean more than 3000 take-back points for householders. These compliance schemes also collect WEEE from sources other than private households. For both systems compliance schemes provide logistic services (containers, transport) and bear all extra costs. All WEEE collected in such way are delivered to such treatment facilities which have contracts with compliance schemes.

b.) Hungary has introduced the obligatory free take-back to all retailers and distributors selling EEE. See the previous point.

c.) In Hungary, producers have set up collective take-back systems. There are six compliance schemes in 2007. No producer has opted for an individual system although there is possibility for that in the Hungarian law.

d.) Producers may refuse take-back of the contaminated equipment if that presents a health and safety risk to them. This equipment should be treated according to Governmental Decree No. 98/2001 on Hazardous Waste. Even if the equipment does not contain the essential components, producers are obliged to take it back. In these cases holders of such equipment can be charged according to the amount of the missing components.

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e.) The collection system being set up by producers also collects WEEE from sources other than private households. That activity runs under contractual conditions and companies generally have to pay for it.

Ireland: a.) and b.) Since 13 August 2005, household consumers can recycle their old WEEE, free of charge, in the following ways: To a Distributor: Distributors are required by law to take back on a one-for-one, like-for-like basis, household WEEE from customers free of charge (some special rules apply). To a Local Authority: Each local authority must accept household WEEE free of charge at its civic amenity facilities from members of the public. Local authorities can no longer charge gate fees for WEEE.

c.) Producers of EEE have the option of self-complying or participating in a collective scheme. All household WEEE is collected and recycled by two approved producer collective compliance schemes, WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform (ERP). WEEE Ireland and ERP are collecting from 620 designated collection points

d.) There is no prohibition on end users from removing parts from WEEE before depositing it at distributor’s premises or a local authority facility. Distributors do not have to take back contaminated WEEE that presents a health and safety risk, unless either the producer or the distributor caused the contamination. Contaminated WEEE can be deposited at local authority civic amenity facilities from where it is collected by contractors, acting on behalf of the compliance schemes, who have the necessary expertise in handling such WEEE.

e.) Responsibility for financing the collection, treatment and recovery of business to business (B2B) WEEE rests in the first instance with the producer, which can include a business user importing EEE for its own use. Article 18 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 allows producers of B2B EEE and business users to make alternative financial arrangements for the environmentally sound management of B2B WEEE. These obligations can be transferred in whole (e.g. where the B2B end user takes on all obligations for procuring collection and recycling services etc.) or in part where the producer requires the B2B end user to transport the WEEE to a designated collection point, which cannot be a local authority civic amenity facility, that has been contracted by the producer.

Italy: a.) Regarding WEEE from private households, Article 6 of Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down that the municipalities are to ensure the proper operation of the systems for separate collection of WEEE from private households established pursuant to the provisions in force concerning the separate collection of municipal waste, so as to allow final holders and distributors to bring waste produced in those municipalities to collection centres free of charge

b.) when they supply a new appliance for use in a private household, distributors are to offer free take-back, on a one-for-one basis, of the used appliance, provided that it is of an equivalent type and fulfils the same purposes as the new appliance being supplied.

c.) producers or third parties acting on their behalf may set up and manage, on an individual or collective basis, systems for collecting WEEE from private households, provided they comply with the Legislative Decree;

d.) free take-back of WEEE may be refused, on the basis of the provisions in force protecting the health and safety of workers, in the event that there is a risk of contamination of the staff involved in taking it back or in the event that it is clear that the equipment does not contain its essential components or contains waste other than WEEE: in such cases, disposal of the WEEE is the responsibility of the holder, who is required to bring the WEEE, at his/her own expense, to an operator authorised to handle such waste.

e.) As regards WEEE other than that from private households, Article 6(3) of Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down that producers or third parties acting on their behalf are to set up and manage, on an individual or collective basis and at their own expense, adequate systems for separate collection. Following an agreement, and at the producers' own

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expense, they may also use the municipal collection centres. At present, data are not available on the systems for collecting WEEE other than that from private households.

Latvia: a.) Section 204 of the Waste Management Law stipulates that a tradesman supplying new household electrical or electronic appliances directly to users must accept household EEE waste free of charge if the appliance in question is of a similar type and has performed the same functions as the appliance being supplied. In accordance with Section 4 of, and Annex 6 to, the Law on the natural resources tax, EEE are subject to a natural resources tax (hereinafter "the tax"). Pursuant to Section 9 of the Law on the natural resources tax, tax on goods harmful to the environment need not be paid by the taxpayer if the latter ensures implementation of those provisions relating to the recycling of environmentally harmful waste contained in environmental protection legislation, and fulfils one of the following conditions:

1) he has set up and is implementing a scheme for the management of environmentally harmful product waste, and has signed a contract with the Ministry of the Environment to implement the scheme in question;

2) he has signed a contract with a manager of environmentally harmful goods waste on participation in a scheme for the management of environmentally harmful used goods (if the manager has signed a contract with the Ministry of the Environment on the implementation of a scheme for the management of environmentally harmful used goods).

b.) The relevant legislation contains no additional requirements regarding the way in which WEEE is returned to distributors. In practice, there are several options for collecting WEEE:

1) WEEE may be left at an outlet where electrical and electronic appliances are sold;

2) Distributors ensure that, when delivering electrical and electronic appliances to people's homes (places of residence), WEEE is collected (reverse logistics);

c.) By 30 September 2007 the Ministry of the Environment had concluded contracts with three individual systems set up by manufacturers and with six collective systems set up by manufacturers for exemption from payment of the natural resources tax for EEE.

The schemes described above are also used by traders who supply electrical and electronic appliances to consumers other than private households.

d.) No specific arrangements have been made for contaminated WEEE and WEEE not containing essential components.

e.) The schemes described above are also used by traders who supply electrical and electronic appliances to consumers other than private households.

Lithuania: a.) – c.) Lithuania has started setting up systems allowing holders and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment to return WEEE at least free of charge. To implement the provisions of Article 5(2)(b) of the Directive, Article 34(4) of the Law on Waste Management makes distributors of EEE responsible for ensuring that WEEE from private households can be returned to the distributor at no extra charge, as long as the WEEE returned by the user fulfilled the same functions as when the equipment was purchased by the user and the quantity of WEEE (by units of equipment) matches the quantity of equipment bought (Article 51(18) of the Administrative Infringements Code provides for administrative liability for failure to fulfil the aforementioned obligation). The WEEE collected from private households is transferred by distributors to waste treatment enterprises. To implement the provisions of Article 5 of the Directive, Article 30 of the Law on Waste Management lays down the requirements for municipalities. Under the provisions of the aforementioned Law, municipalities are obliged to ensure the availability for their inhabitants of WEEE collection facilities, the establishment of at least one collection site for bulky waste and other facilities for the collection of municipal waste and WEEE.

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d.) The rules for the management of electrical and electronic equipment and its waste regulate the management of contaminated WEEE by requiring that waste electrical and electronic equipment contaminated with hazardous substances posing a risk to the health of the staff of waste treatment enterprises must be transferred to hazardous waste management enterprises.

e.) Producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment for non-household use may produce trilateral agreements concluded between the producer (importer), the holder of such equipment and the WEEE manager. Such agreements define the conditions, costs and methods of the management of specific WEEE. Article 34(7) of the Law on Waste Management lays down specific conditions.

Luxembourg: a.) To minimise disposal of WEEE with municipal waste, household WEEE is collected through existing public infrastructures for selective collection of problematic waste. Authorized body: To meet the obligations of producers and importers of EEE, the non-profit organisation ECOTREL was set up (www.ecotrel.lu ; www.ecotrel.org). Under Article 8 of Authorisation N 1/AG-DEEE/05 of 28 October 2005, this body is responsible for all WEEE collected by the various structures set up in the country. Articles 6 and 7 of the environmental agreement concluded between the Ministry of the Environment, the Chambers of Commerce, the approved body, and the local authorities and local authority associations lay down the arrangements for the collection and deposit of WEEE.

b.) Article 6(b) of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005: When supplying a new product, distributors are responsible for ensuring that such waste can be returned to the distributor at least free of charge on a one-to-one basis as long as the equipment is of equivalent type and has fulfilled the same functions as the supplied equipment. Depending on the quantities involved, they may deposit WEEE so collected free of charge at the selective collection points of the infrastructure referred to in (a) or at the national central collection centre. If such take-back is not possible, in particular because of insufficient storage capacity, distributors may decide not to take back the WEEE. They must then inform their clients of the possibilities available for return of the WEEE.

c.) In Luxembourg no individual system for household WEEE has been established.

d.) Article 6(e) of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005 lays down the arrangements to be made for contaminated WEEE or WEEE not containing essential components

e.) Companies which have set up an individual system for non-household WEEE take back their clients' WEEE for return to a recycler, or have signed contracts with companies specialising in WEEE recycling. The systems may be national (for Luxembourg only) or pan-European.

Poland: a.) - c.) The entire system for collecting waste equipment from users of household equipment has been based on waste equipment collection schemes, i.e. operators of waste equipment collection points, including retailers and wholesalers, as well as municipal services that collect municipal waste and businesses that hold permits for the collection of municipal waste.

Consequently, every user of household equipment can choose between having waste, including separated waste equipment, collected by a waste collection undertaking free of charge and returning waste equipment on a one-to-one basis when purchasing new equipment. No alternative measures have therefore been adopted.

d.) Municipalities also lay down rules on maintaining cleanliness and order in their areas and the requirements to be met by undertakings that collect waste from property owners, detailing the method used for collecting waste equipment from the public.

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e.) Persons placing equipment other than household equipment on the market are responsible for taking back waste equipment, unless the user of the equipment has assumed this obligation on the basis of an agreement. They are also responsible for organising and financing the collection, treatment, recovery (including recycling) and disposal of the waste equipment. Persons placing equipment on the market may discharge this obligation alone or through organisations they have set up to recover waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Portugal: a.) – c.) In accordance with Article 9 of Decree-Law 230/2004 of 10 December, management undertakings have until 13 August 2005 to define and structure their WEEE collection system networks, resulting from the combination of the following systems: • Municipal systems, created for Urban Solid Waste Management (USWM), which will have to provide reception centres. Municipal councils may make a charge to owners for the collection of WEEE from their home addresses on request.

• Distributors, who must collect all WEEE free of charge on the basis of the "new for old" system, provided that the waste consists of comparable equipment, performing the same functions as the EEE purchased.

• Where they take back WEEE from the owner without charge, distributors may set up as WEEE reception centres.

• Any individual or collective collection systems the management undertaking may implement.

The WEEE management rules set out in Article 23 of that Decree-Law make it compulsory for distributors to accept the return of an item of WEEE, whether or not of specific origin, free of charge on the sale of an item of EEE, provided that the said WEEE is equivalent to or performs the same functions as the EEE sold. Where the sale includes home delivery, distributors are obliged to provide free transport of the WEEE to the reception centres. The implementation of these rules involves the duty to provide clear information for consumers by display at sales outlets and publication in EEE catalogues and other effective means.

d.) Portuguese waste law provides requirements on the prevention of health and safety risks to persons handling WEEE.

e.) The licences granted to both the present licensed management undertakings include a clause obliging them to deal with the management of WEEE from both private and non-private users. With regard to non-private users, however, there are differences in the application of management costs of WEEE placed on the market up to 13 August 2005. For these, in accordance with Articles 10 and 13 of Decree-Law No 230/2004, if the WEEE is not replaced by equivalent new equipment, non-private users must finance the costs of collection, transport, treatment, recovery and elimination.

Romania: a.) According to Romanian legislation for WEEE, local public administration is enforced to collect separately WEEE from households and to establish locations for collection points, as follows: one for each county (41), one for each town with more than 20.000 inhabitants (104) and one for each district of Bucharest (6). There are 182 operational collection points/centers for WEEE where households and distributors can bring WEEE at least free of charge or for fees that take into account the value incorporated into WEEE. The municipalities and the industry are in most cases still negotiating the administration of municipal collecting points.

b.) When supplying a new product, distributors are enforced to ensure that such waste can be returned to them at least free of charge on one-to-one basis as long as the equipment is of equivalent type and has fulfilled the same functions as the supplied equipment.

c.) Producers have set up and operate individual/or collective take back system for WEEE from private households Up to now, 3 collective organizations have been licensed (in 2007): - ECO TIC for categories 3, 4, 7, 9 - ROREC for all categories, excepting 5 b - f - RECOLAMP

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for categories 5 b - f These collective organizations have just started to work and producers have started to join them.

d.) Specific regulations for prevention risks for health and safety of personnel were established by MO nr. 901/2005. According to this MO, retailers of EEE can reject WEEE in one of the following situations: a) the WEEE present serious contamination traces of hazardous substances as defined by the Emergency Government Ordinance no. 200/2000 regarding the classification, labelling and packaging of hazardous substances and preparations, as amended; b) the WEEE present external surfaces dangerous for handling: sharp or toothed edges, cracks, mobile sub-assemblies that might lead to accident during handling.

e.) The financing costs for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from users other than private households for products put on the market after 1st of January 2007 are provided by producers. - For “historical wastes” (put on the market before 1st of January 2007), the financing costs of management shall be provided by producers, as follows: a) For “historical wastes” replaced by new equivalent products or by new equipment fulfilling the same function, the financing costs of management shall be provided by producers of those new products when supplying them. The users other than private households may contribute, partial or total, at the financing costs of management of those waste categories. b) For “historical wastes” other than those mentioned under letter a) the financing costs of management shall be provided by the users other than private households. Producers and users other than private households may conclude agreements stipulating other financing methods.

Slovakia: a.) general features of the system are: • collection facilities

• points for return collection on a one-to-one replacement basis

• mobile collection facility

Legal basis: Section 54b(1)(e) and (f) and Section 54c of Act No. 409/2006 Coll.

b.) A producer of EEE is obliged to arrange either the individual or collective take-back of equipment or separate collection of WEEE from users with the exception of historical WEEE, which is not WEEE from private households (Section 54f(3)), while concurrently fulfilling the obligations pursuant to point (i), to fulfil obligations pursuant to Section 54e(1), Section 54f(1) and Section 54g(1) so that it is linked to a take-back or separate collection system.

c.) Collective systems for take-back of WEEE from private households have been created.

d.) Distributors are obliged to perform take-back free of charge. Distributors may refuse take-back if the surrendered equipment does not contain basic components, contains waste, or when for reasons of contamination it poses a risk to the health and safety of personnel (Section 54c(2) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll.)

At the same time distributors are obliged to perform the take-back of electrical equipment and hand it over to the processor of WEEE so that the re-use or recycling of this WEEE is not obstructed.

e.) no further info.

Slovenia a.) The end-user may leave or hand over waste equipment to the distributor, the operator of a municipal public service, as a separately collected fraction of municipal waste in collection centres in accordance with the legislation governing the management of separately collected fractions of municipal waste, or in collection centres operated by the producer.

b.) If a distributor does not take back the waste equipment directly from the end-users when delivering new equipment, he shall ensure that, when purchasing equipment, the end-users

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have the possibility of delivering the waste equipment to a point of sale or reception which is not more than 5 km as the crow flies from the point of sale.

c.) At present there are no individual obligations to be met as regards the management of WEEE. Producers fulfil obligations collectively under two common plans for the management of WEEE (a third is being evaluated by the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia).

d.) Article 8 of the Decree on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 107/06) determines obligations for the management of WEEE which is not harmful and for the management of damaged WEEE: (5) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Article, waste household equipment which is so damaged that, on account of the dangerous substances it contains, it is a threat to the environment and to public health and household equipment which does not contain essential components or is contaminated with other waste shall be returned by the end-user solely to the operator of public municipal services in collection centres as a separately collected fraction of municipal waste

e.) Before the system was set up, most WEEE was collected, as part of the collection of separate fractions of municipal waste and also through the collection of bulky waste. The latter method was inappropriate because of the specific nature of WEEE (possibility of harm, illegal removal of components). Such disposal of WEEE is being prevented by providing a sufficient number of reception and collection points and producers' collection centres and by raising end-users' awareness.

Spain: a.)-b.) legal basis Article 4 of Royal Decree 208/2005:

1. Users of EEE, when they dispose of that equipment, must return it to allow it to be managed correctly. Returning equipment must be at least free of charge for the final holder.

2. For that purpose, when the user acquires a new product of an equivalent type or which serves the same purpose as the equipment being disposed of, the user may return the old equipment when purchasing the new product from the distributor. The distributor must receive it temporarily, provided that it contains its essential components and does not include other waste which does not belong to the equipment.

Nevertheless, section 6 of this same article establishes that return of the waste contemplated in the previous paragraph may be refused when any health or safety risk to persons due to contamination is involved. In these cases, the final holder of the waste will be responsible for ensuring that it is managed correctly and the relevant rules will apply to it.

c.) Producers can comply with their obligations collectively by adhering to an integrated management system or individually, with the producer establishing its own system. Certain producers of professional equipment have chosen to apply an individual system in which they themselves have created their own inverse logistics system for collecting and subsequently delivering waste to an authorised manager.

Nevertheless, in view of the general complexity of collecting waste throughout Spanish territory, producers have joined an integrated management system to comply with the obligations deriving from Royal Decree 208/2005. Because this equipment varies greatly and due to its characteristics, different integrated management systems have been introduced to cover all categories of equipment.

d.) see b.)

e.) Professional users must make specific agreements with the integrated management systems on returning their waste electrical and electronic equipment, since professional users are responsible for managing this waste in accordance with the following options:

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• Delivery to collection points established for domestic users when their waste electrical and electronic equipment is similar to waste from domestic users – consisting of small numbers of smaller sized items. This must be accepted by municipal services;

• Delivery to a secondary storage centre when the number of items of waste electrical and electronic equipment justifies direct transport to that centre;

• Delivery direct to the treatment facility (recycling facility); • Delivery to the distributor in exchange for new equipment which serves the same

purpose.

Sweden a.) - c.) The collective collection system which has applied in Sweden since 2001 is operated by the firm El-Kretsen [the electric circuit] AB, which runs a nationwide electrical and electronic product collection and recovery system, known as "elretur" [electric return], in cooperation with the country's municipalities. The municipalities provide staffed reception centres where households can leave their end-of-life electrical or electronic products. The firm ensures that the products received are taken away for preliminary treatment and recovery. The business is financed by fees. The fees charged to members are based on volumes marketed. There are not at present any other individual or collective systems for the return of private households' electrical or electronic waste. d.) Nor have any separate arrangements been made for contaminated electrical or electronic waste or for electrical or electronic waste without the key components. Contaminated WEEE or WEEE without the key components are both classed as hazardous waste under the Ordinance (SFS 2001:1063) on waste. The collective collection system also takes in electrical and electronic waste from sources other than private households.

e.) Producers selling electrical or electronic products not found in households may opt to conclude contracts with one or more firms for the collection and treatment of waste electrical or electronic products. Producers may also opt to conclude contracts with any carrier authorised to convey waste electrical or electronic products to an approved preliminary treatment facility.

UK: a.)-c.) Private households may return WEEE free of charge to distributors offering in store take-back when purchasing replacement equipment, under Regulation 31. A national network of designated collection facilities has also been established, where private households may deposit WEEE free of charge. There are at present 1106 facilities registered on behalf of local authorities, with every local authority in the UK participating. These facilities have received funding from the Distributor Takeback Scheme to assist them in configuring for the separate collection of WEEE. The Distributor Takeback Scheme is funded by member distributors, who are exempted from the obligation to offer in-store take back. There are an additional 421 facilities registered on behalf of community or commercial operators, or as waste transfer stations where local authorities may send bulky WEEE collected directly from households. Distributors may return WEEE collected through in-store take-back free of charge to the system set up by operators of producer compliance schemes, under Regulation 32.

d.)-e.) no information.

Resumé: All Member States affirmed that they have set up systems allowing final holders and distributers to return WEEE at least free of charge. However, not all provided all the more detailed analysis required including:

a. A general description of the system

b. Setting out the way in which free return systems are implemented

c. Whether producers have set up and operate individual or collective take back for WEEE

d. Whether and what arrangements for contaminated WEEE have been made

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e. Information on collection systems for WEEE from sources other than private households

Sum-up of the answers to the sub-questions above:

a.) The MS differ in their approaches of implementing the system. In almost all MS collective systems for the management of household WEEE were implemented.

b.) Not all MS compel producers/distributors to take back 1:1 WEEE appliances from households: e.g. Germany, Sweden or Denmark rely on the municipal collection system, which includes the collection of WEEE, making individual take-back voluntary. France does not rule out a small charge for customers of distance sellers.

c.) In general collective collection/treatment systems have been set up for WEEE from households, there are only very rare exceptions. E.g. Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania refer to individual systems.

d.) most MS have taken up a provision treating the handling of WEEE missing certain parts or being contaminated. Not all of the MS prohibit taking away vital parts from WEEE (e.g. Ireland, Hungary), most MS have a stipulation dealing with the financing of the treatment of contaminated WEEE. Other MS have not taken up any provision in this respect.

e.) The collection system used for household WEEE is – under certain conditions – also used for non household WEEE in a certain number of MS. For non household WEEE individual solutions are, however, much more frequent than for household WEEE.

3.3 Evaluation of the positive and negative experiences with the implementation of provisions under this article

Austria: Experience has shown that producers do not, on an individual basis, fulfil their obligation to take back WEEE from private households. The Directive could be simplified on that point.

Belgium Brussels: Positive: the system is free of charge for the citizen. The amount of EEE-waste collected is increasing year after year. The collection result for the Brussels region is for 2007 4,07 kg/inhabitant/year. Negative: The collection system set up by Recupel, should be further adapted to urban characteristics.

Belgium (Flemish Region): Positive experience: because of the retribution system, carrying off in an illegal circuit is being discouraged. In addition, a high collection percentage is accomplished. Negative: discussions keep occuring concerning rights and duties: some collectors, like municipal collection centres and second-hand shops complain about the way the existing system restrains their participation.

Belgium (Wallonian Region): Recupel has achieved very good results in terms of collection and recycling/recovery. Reuse needs to be increased, however. The reuse centres, which are often not for profit businesses, do not have sufficient access to sources of WEEE or to WEEE of good quality for reuse. The agreement concluded in July 2003 between Recupel and the federation of not for profit reuse centres should improve this situation.

Nor do the reuse centres have access to the technical information which would enable them to repair appliances properly.

Bulgaria: no info

Cyprus: A proposal for the set up of a collective system was recently submitted and it is under evaluation by the competent authority. The public, however, has been informed that it can return the old equipment at stores when replacing it.

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Czech Republic: The main problem for producers is differentiating between EEE from households and EEE from enterprises, especially in categories 3 and 5. The different methods of financing the disposal of EEE produced before and after 13 August 2005, established in the Czech Republic in compliance with Article 8 of the Directive, are supposed to promote the responsibility of each individual producer for EEE newly placed on the market in the Czech Republic. However, at present, shared responsibility for historical household WEEE prevents producers of EEE designed for households from getting a return on expenditure on research and development of ecologically sound technologies of production and ecodesign, because all producers contribute to the running of the collective system equally regardless of the ecological soundness of their respective EEE. The set method of differentiated methods of financing increases the costs of sorting WEEE at take-back points.

The burning problem for the running of the take-back system is the ambiguous definition of EEE with additional conditions. The exclusion from the scope of Directive 2002/96/EC of luminaires for fluorescent lamps and discharge lamps in households (Category 5 - lighting equipment), which consumers hand in at take-back points, is one of many examples.

Denmark: Positive experience: Denmark can maintain an efficient and effective collection system for WEEE from households via municipal schemes, so there is no need for any change in the ways that citizens deliver WEEE. Negative experience: The division into 10 product categories is not practical from a collection standpoint.

Estonia: After the Waste Act entered into force in May 2004 some bigger producers already showed their initiative and started to establish collective scheme to be ready for 13.08.2005 when the collection obligation entered into force. That collective scheme is still the one which is always ready to cooperate with Ministry and other institutions and organisations. One negative moment in implementation process is that not all shops (especially shops of small appliances like phones, clocks etc.) take back EEE 1:1 basis. The main reason why they do not do it is because they do not know that they have to do it. But now the situation seems to be much better than it was a year ago as producers more and more inform themselves that they are obliged to take back WEEE. At the beginning Estonia had some problems with different interpretation of household and non household equipments from producer's side - producers didn't want to take back free of charge household appliances (like computers, TV sets, radios etc) from commercial, industrial and institutional sources because they interpret that household appliances are the one which come only from private households (today this misunderstanding is already solved).

Finland: It is vital that collection system for B-to-C –products is established in such a way that the end user can leave all kinds of EE-waste to it. All attempts to establish individual brand-based collection systems will end up to systems which will be impossible from the end users' point of view. If the end user has to find information from several, usually not very well informed sources or has to go several places to find a collection point which accepts his/hers discarded equipment, this will be too troublesome and those equipment will end up in the mixed waste bin or even worse, to the nearest forest. The discussion about individual producer responsibility has totally neglected this point so far. There are also several other problems which are connected to this subject, like responsibility for the historical waste, parallel importing of same brands etc. It is important to note that these problems are related to B-to-C –products and not so much to B-to-B –products. Importance of extensive and good uniform information system for the end user is also vital. The formulation of the section 18h(2) in the Waste Act ("…or shall direct the purchaser to another reception point") has proven not to be very successful. Some distributors have been trying to interpret this provision loosely, even so that they would not have obligation to take back EE-waste at all when there is a collection point of any actor nearby that they could direct the purchaser.

Many problems arise from the fact that the scope of the Directive is not clear enough. There are too many exemptions which are not well defined. We think that possibility to speculate with exemptions should be diminished by removing several unclear (or clear but with a

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possibility to challenge) expressions in the Directive. Scope should be as wide as possible with only very few well defined exemptions (military, space etc.), but not others like "part of another equipment", "fixed installation" etc., which are far too broad and/or make a platform for endless speculation.

France: Positive experiences: The “one for one” take-back system by the distributors is operating satisfactorily, particularly as regards the selective collection of large electrical household appliances. Indeed these take-back arrangements existed before the appearance of Decree no. 2005-829 and their use is now already well-established in consumers’ habits. Possible experiences also with the selective collection systems put in place by the municipalities or their groupings.

Negative experiences: Experience shows that small distributors sometimes have difficulties storing the household WEEE brought to them by their customers, in particular as regards the free removal thresholds by the bodies approved for the household WEEE. Local solutions are being developed. Moreover, in the specific case of distance selling companies, the setting up of the “one for one” take-back system sometimes proves to be a little slower because it is more difficult because these companies at times have no specific distribution point for the equipment. they sell with distribution solely taking place through the postal services.

Finally, local authorities that have set up selective collection systems for household WEEE report regular instances of theft from collection skips which they make available for their inhabitants in the waste collection centres.

Germany: Even before the ElektroG entered into force all local authorities collected specific categories of WEEE, such as cooling appliances and gas discharge lamps, and final holders know that it is to these authorities that they should go with any questions on waste disposal. This existing local authority involvement means that little has changed as far as the consumer is concerned. Voluntary take-back by distributors is very variable. The fact that it is voluntary ensures that in particular small urban distributors with limited space are not placed at a disadvantage vis-a-vis big out-of-town shopping centres with plenty of room to spare. Theft and vandalism are becoming a problem, given the current prices for scrap metal.

Greece: Local authorities showed disinclination to collaborate with the system for the separate collection, mainly of large household appliances. That strengthens the collection of these e-wastes by the peddlers, who sell them afterwards to the system for high price.

Hungary: Hungary has not had problems with the implementation of these provisions. The setting up of the collection points went smoothly. The outstanding task for Hungary is to educate householders to use separate collection systems. Collection schemes have made a great deal of job in this field.

Ireland: In the first full calendar year of the schemes operation, 31,500 tonnes of household WEEE was collected. This represents 7.4kg per inhabitant (population in 2006 = 4.24m). This is in contrast to the 5,510 tonnes of household WEEE that was recovered in 2004 and indicates widespread public support for the scheme. While awareness is a crucial element, the key to the achievement of these take back quantities is distributor take back, particularly the requirement to collect WEEE items when a new product is delivered.

Italy: At present, the take-back of domestic WEEE by distributors is a problematic issue because of the complexities of the management and administrative procedures under Italian waste legislation. These parties, whose area of activity is not waste management, have difficulties in carrying out and accepting these procedures. In order to facilitate the free take-back of WEEE by distributors, it is intended to issue technical regulations simplifying this area. These are currently in the study phase. Another problem is that of the uneven availability throughout the country of municipal collection centres which are suitable for

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WEEE: besides encouraging the establishment of centres in municipalities which do not have any, consideration is being given to encouraging the establishment of collection centres run by producers with the assistance of large-scale retailers, including through the issuing of technical regulations simplifying this area.

Latvia: A WEEE collection system has been introduced in Latvia. Account should, however, be taken of the fact that inhabitants' purchasing power is comparatively low vis-à-vis the other EU Member States, so consumption of electrical and electronic appliances is also lower. Also, since Latvia has a low population density and a poorly developed road network, WEEE collection costs are high. These circumstances might make it difficult to achieve the target of collecting household WEEE waste set out in Article 5, particularly if an even more ambitious target is to be set after 31 December 2008.

Lithuania: The provisions of Article 5 of the Directive have been implemented: beginning with 2006, the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment from households has become more intensive. According to the data available to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2004 Lithuania treated about 1300 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment, in 2005 – about 2600 tonnes, in 2006 the application of additional means for the collection of WEEE helped to increase the quantity to 10 103 tonnes. That accounts for about 20 % of the electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market since 2006, i.e. about 3 kg per inhabitant.

The quantity of collected waste has significantly increased after the introduction of additional waste collection methods (take-back via retailers, door-to-door collection), therefore the quantities of waste disposed at landfills have decreased and the re-use and recycling of equipment and its components and substances has become more intensive.

A more thorough evaluation of the implementation of Article 5 provisions would require an analysis of longer experience and its results. Imported equipment accounts for the greater part of the electrical and electronic equipment placed on the Lithuanian market, the municipalities are just practically starting the separate collection of WEEE. The experience of the first year has shown, however, that the application of additional collection methods even in a short period can facilitate the achievement of the target set in Article 5(5) of the Directive – by 31 December 2008 to collect at least 4 kg per inhabitant per year of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Luxembourg: Positive experience: – Maintenance of the structures set up prior to Directive 2002/96/EC (container parks, SuperDrecksKëscht fir Biirger) – Use of the systems in place facilitated start-up of the system and made it readily understandable to WEEE holders (familiar structures resulting in a good coverage of Luxembourg). – The environmental agreement determines the quantities which may be returned to the various collection points, and establishes uniform acceptance criteria applicable in all the various container parks in Luxembourg. – Synergies with other collection structures have been used to reduce costs (www.sdk.lu). – Analysis of final waste in Luxembourg in 2004/2005 showed an increase in the amount of WEEE disposed of with household waste as compared with the figure for 1992/1994. Negative experience: a problem arose when the authorised body first became responsible for take-back, since take-back systems were not in place in neighbouring countries as at 13 August 2005, which created a risk of distortion of competition given Luxembourg's small size and the proximity of shopping centres in frontier areas.


Portugal: On the entry into force of the SIGREEE [General Integrated WEEE System], the experiences of the two management undertakings have generally been positive, although the objectives set and planned have not been fully achieved. Nevertheless, the management undertakings consider as positive points the guidelines given to the reception centres that they should also take in WEEE of non-private origin, which provides a motivating factor for

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the delivery of such waste, while on the negative side they draw attention to the fact that at the initial stage of activity of the Reception Centres attempts were made to deliver waste that did not come within the definition of WEEE or came from different origins, over and above the difficulties relating to the minimum conditions for reception centres imposed on prospective management undertakings.

Romania: The coordination between producers and local authorities is difficult concerning the aim to organize collection points for WEEE and agree investments for infrastructure of collection points. The Ministry of Environment have organized many meetings with all stakeholders for a better understanding of WEEE provisions and their applicability. Although collection points/centers have been established by the municipalities, the interest to separately collect WEEE has been low. There was no interest from the industry to organize systems to meet the requirements of the EU Directive during 2005 (date of transposition of the directive in Romania). Since then it has taken the industry two years to organize collective schemes, although they were provided support from a twinning project financed by the Netherlands during 2005 - 2006. Collective organizations have just been licensed and they start working.

Slovakia: Positive experience is reflected in greater public awareness and hence in an increase in the quantity of WEEE collected. Likewise, significant experience was acquired from the point of view of setting up similar systems in other areas as well (management of waste batteries). The most negative experience is the time needed to set up the system on account of its complexity and the number of players involved. A further difficulty also lay in the fact that this is the first system where the principle of producer responsibility was fully established. Producers themselves were not yet fully prepared for such a system.

Spain: no info.

Sweden: The availability of a collective collection system since 2001 has been of benefit in implementing the article.

UK: The Distributor Takeback Scheme was established to provide an alternative mechanism for distributors to discharge their obligation to provide takeback, without having to physically handle WEEE themselves. So far, distributors accounting for over 75% of EEE sales by value have chosen to participate in this scheme. This has allowed the disbursement of funds to collection facilities to assist them in configuring for the separate collection of WEEE, as well as the creation of a central scheme for providing information to consumers, at www.recycle-more.co.uk. Due to existing waste legislation and the framework within which local authorities operate in the UK, it is not always possible to guarantee distributors access to collection facilities operated by local authorities, as these have a mandate only to provide services to household users. Regulation 32 allows distributors to return WEEE collected through in-store takeback, either via a producer compliance scheme or directly to an approved treatment facility, from which point a producer compliance scheme will take over the financing of the treatment. For distributors only handling small quantities of WEEE, making such arrangements to return WEEE has proved to be difficult.

Resumé: Respondents’ experiences of establishing collection systems were positive overall. Many of the EU 15 already had some forms of collection system for WEEE before the Directive was introduced and these did not need extensive adaptation. The one-to-one take-back option has generally been implemented satisfactorily with only occasional problems reported (e.g. Austria, Finland, France have experienced difficulties with distance-selling companies).

Many countries that did not have an obligatory take-back system prior to the WEEE Directive’s implementation reported positive increases of masses of WEEE collected and better public awareness of the issues (see e.g. Ireland, Slovakia). However, they have also encountered a variety of difficulties. These include: a lack of interest on the part of

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consumers or industry (Romania) in take-back possibilities (Hungary); a lack of willingness of public authorities to co-operate with systems (Greece and Romania); and the difficulties in establishing collection centres throughout the whole national territory (Italy). Some MS faced difficulties in implementing the system, especially due to insufficient co-operation and awareness of producers/distributors (Estonia) and the general complexity of the system (Slovakia).

As a rule, individual solutions to WEEE collection are rarely used especially with regard to WEEE from household.

Problems stemming from interpreting the directive have been reported including: the differentiation between WEEE from households and WEEE not from households (see Czech Republic, Estonia); the scope of the Directive (esp. the fixed installation exception in Art. 2); the exclusion of luminaries; and the division of EEE into ten categories which adds complexity during collection.

Several countries reported problems linked to the theft of WEEE due to the high prices for metals.

Problems have also been reported with regard to the responsibility for historical household WEEE (Czech Republic, Finland).

In general, the most serious potential problems or hindrances in implementing collection measures have been reported by Cyprus (non-implementation so far), Greece and Romania (lacking interest of industry and unenthusiastic co-operation between industry and public authorities).

3.4 Article 6: Treatment

MS shall ensure that producers or third parties acting on their behalf, in accordance with Community legislation, set up systems to provide for the treatment of WEEE using best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques. The systems may be set up by producers individually and/or collectively. To ensure compliance with Article 4 of Dir. 75/442/EEC, the treatment shall, as a minimum, include the removal of all fluids and a selective treatment in accordance with Annex II to the WEEE Directive.

All MS answered affirmatively to the question whether they have transposed the Article.

The details on implementation was supposed to include

- a general description of treatment systems available in the Member State, (a)

- if treatment requirements or minimum quality standards for the treatment of collected WEEE in the Member State are different from or go beyond Annex II of the Directive, a description of these requirements or standards, (b)

- if the derogation from the permit requirement referred to in Article 11(1b) of Directive 75/442/EEC(1) is applied to recovery operations concerning WEEE, a description of the terms under which this derogation applies and how the foreseen inspections under Article 6(2) of Directive 2002/96/EC are carried out, (c)

- if the requirements for storage and treatment sites go beyond those set out in Annex III, a description of those, (d)

- a short description of the rules, procedures and controls applied to WEEE exported out of the Community to be counted for the fulfilment of the obligations and targets of Article 7(1) and (2) of the Directive, taking into account Article 6(5) of the Directive. (e)

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Where there is no relevance for b.)-d.), this is said in the text meaning that there is no going beyond the standards mentioned.

Austria: a.) Producers must ensure that the requirements of the Waste Treatment Regulation, BGBl. II No. 459/2004, are fulfilled. (collection and recovery schemes).

b.) The minimum requirements for the collection, storage and treatment of WEEE have been incorporated in the Waste Treatment Regulation of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management (BGBl. II, No 459/2004) with practically no change. With regard to the collection of (ozone-depleting) coolants, minimum collection quantities are defined, based on Quality Standard 2 RAL-GZ 728 of the RAL – German Institute for Quality Assurance and Labelling, which is recognised throughout Europe as the yardstick for the quality of cooling appliance recycling.

c.) not relevant

d.) no information

e.) In the case of exports subject to a notification obligation, it must be ascertained whether the treatment of WEEE is in accordance with the requirements of the Austrian Waste Treatment Regulation. Exports for recovery must only be authorised if a recovery procedure can be shown to take place in the importing State, and this must be proved in each individual case. It must be pointed out, however, that the export of electrical and electronic equipment containing no harmful substances is not always subject to a notification obligation (e.g. in the case of export to OECD States) and that there is therefore no prior check on the quality of recovery in the importing State

Belgium (Brussels): a.) Article 6 of the WEEE Directive has been transposed by “Arrêté du 3 juin 2004 du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale relative aux gestionnaires de déchets d’equipements électriques et électroniques” (MB 03.06.2005). WEEE is collected via three channels: municipal/regional collection centres, second-hand shops and distribution stores of new equipment. At the municipal/regional collection centres and the distribution stores, a selection is made to find equipment suitable for reuse. This material is handed over to second-hand shops to be repaired or sold.

b.) Brussels adheres to Annex II. WEEE is sorted into five fractions.

c.)-d.) no information.

e.) The import and export of WEEE is subject to the requirements of the EC Regulation 1013/2006.

Belgium (Flemish Region): Via sorting the following fractions are produced: 1. refrigerators and freezers; 2. other large domestic appliances (washing machines, dishwashers, etc.); 3. picure tube TV and PC screens (CRT); 4. other appliances (mobile phone, iron, VCR, lighting appliance…); 5. gas discharge lamps. Recycling Appliances2 are dismantled, stripped of pollutants and recycled in an environmentally–friendly way at specialised treatment firms. Some highly polluting components, such as batteries and condensors are removed and dismantled manually and treated accordingly. Recycled materials (ferrous and nonferrous metals, plastic, glass) are used to make new products. Components that cannot be used again are disposed of.

b.) Treatment requirements and minimum quality standards for the treatment of collected WEEE is adopted from Annex II of the Directive.

c.)-d.) no information.

e.) The import and export of WEEE is subject to EC Regulation 1013/2006.

2 Read probably: appliances to be recycled, A. Neubauer, Ecologic.

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Belgium (Wallonian Region): a.) The Walloon Government decree of 10 March 2005 laying down the sectoral conditions applying to installations for grouping or sorting, pre processing and processing WEEE lists the conditions with which such installations must comply.

b.) - d.) not relevant.

Bulgaria: a.) Persons engaging in the collection, transport, temporary storage, treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE must hold an authorisation or registration documents issued under Chapter Five, Section I or II of the Waste Management Law or an integrated permit issued under Chapter Seven, Section II, of the Environmental Protection Law. The Regulation governs the treatment of WEEE, which includes removing all fluids and the operations listed in Annex 7 (Annex 2 to the Directive). Under Article 41, the operators of facilities and plants for the treatment, recycling, recovery and/or disposal of WEEE must apply the best available techniques.

b.) –d.) not relevant

e.) Article 16 of the Regulation stipulates that the export of WEEE and of components, materials and substances from WEEE, subject to the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 for non member countries and for certain non-OECD countries, is to count towards the fulfilment of the targets laid down in Article 15 when the operator of the plant or facility performing recovery and/or recycling holds the requisite authorisations for these activities issued in accordance with the legislation of the country of import and the plant or facility performing recovery and/or recycling guarantees the achievement of the targets laid down in Article 15 of the Regulation.

Cyprus: no specifications.

Czech Republic: a.) Operators of the collective systems which are entered in the register of operators of collective systems kept at the Czech Republic's Environment Ministry and which fulfil the obligations set out in the Directive and transposed in the Czech Republic in Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste, as amended, and in Decree No 352/2005 Coll. on details concerning the disposal of EEE and WEEE and on further conditions concerning the financing of their disposal (EEE and WEEE Disposal Decree), enter into contractual relations with individual treatment operators of EEE. Contracts with treatment operators contain an unambiguous requirement for the environmental behaviour of the treatment operators and the fulfilment of the aims of recovery, reuse and material recovery.

b.)-d.) not relevant

e.) no reply

Denmark: a.) The rules are laid down in §§ 9j and 33 of the Environmental Protection Act and § 1(4), §§ 21, 23 and 24 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005. For certain kinds of substances (asbestos, batteries, etc.) in WEEE, specific rules of storage and treatment are laid down.

b.) and d.) no info

c.) not relevant

e.) The rules, procedures and checks relating to WEEE exported from the Community are laid down in § 1(4) and § 19 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005, as amended by Consolidating Regulation No 591 of 9 June 2006.

Estonia: a.) general requirements in the Waste Act: Division 3 of Chapter 1 (general requirements for waste handling), Chapter 3 (special conditions for handling hazardous waste), Chapter 6 (waste permit), Chapter 7 (hazardous waste handling licence), Chapter 9 (transboundary movement of waste).

b.) - d.) not relevant.

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e.) The Ministry of the Environment is the competent authority to issue the transboundary waste shipment permits. Issuing goes in accord with the rules of Regulation 1013/2006/EC on shipment of waste. After that when waste is brought to Estonia (if Estonia is destination country) Estonian Environmental Inspectorate supervises if all is done correctly according to shipment permit and Estonian legislation or not. Additionally, Register of Product of Concern asks from producers details to prove that WEEE are handled in proper way if WEEE are exported (especially outside EU).

Finland: a.) Article 6 in the Directive has been laid down in the legislation in section 7 in the Government Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and Annex II of the Directive has been included as such as a legal obligation in the same Decree (Annex 2 in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment).

b.)-d.) apparently not relevant

e.) Article 6(5) of the Directive has been laid down in the section 5(2) in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. So far no-one has tried to include EE-waste lots exported outside EU to fulfil their requirement. Exporting of waste is controlled by Finnish Environment Institute.

France: a.) The treatment of the WEEE collected selectively must be performed in facilities meeting the technical requirements set by the Order of 23 November 2005 relating to the methods of treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment provided for under Article 21 of Decree no. 2005-829 and complying with the provisions of Title I of Book V of the Environmental Code (see also point e.). Pursuant to Article R.543-200 of the Environmental Code, the treatment operations must include a selective treatment of the materials and components of the WEEE as well as an extraction of all the fluids.


e.) The treatment operations may also be performed in any other facility authorised for this purpose in another MS of the EU or in another State, provided that the shipment of this waste outside France is performed in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation of 1 February 2003). Checks that these procedures are being complied with are regularly carried out by customs officers, as well by the Central Office for Combating Environment and Public Health Offences (OCLAESP). Moreover, the bodies approved for household WEEE perform conformity audits, particularly with regard to the regulations, and all their activities in the processing of WEEE.

Germany: a.) - b.) and d.) An efficient disposal structure is available to treat the ten categories of WEEE. Equipment with particular contaminant potential is treated in special facilities. The other equipment is treated at facilities equipped to remove contaminants in accordance with the legal requirements and to sort materials and extract those that are usable. Treatment of WEEE must be state-of-the-art, and in important areas this means in line with Memorandum No 31 of the Länders’ Working Group on Waste (LAGA). For certain types of equipment specific minimum standards are laid down by law.

c.) First treatment of WEEE may be carried out solely by "first treatment operators". "First treatment" status entails compliance with all obligations regarding the keeping of records on recovery targets and material streams. At the same time, operators of such facilities are subject to annual certification. Export of material streams derived from treatment of WEEE to other States is subject to quality assurance in the context of certification.

e.) Export of WEEE as waste is subject in addition to the legislation on shipment of waste, in particular Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006.

Greece: a.)-b.) All collected WEEE is treated in accordance with the requirements laid down in Annex II of the WEEE Directive. Dismantling and selective treatment of all collected WEEE, with the exemption of gas discharged lamps, is carried out within the country.

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Regarding recovery and recycling, in the existing facilities WEEE substances, preparations and components have to be manually removed prior to any treatment, with the result that hazardous substances, preparations, and components are contained as an identifiable stream or identifiable part of a stream at the end of the treatment process. After removal, the hazardous waste is regulated in accordance with the hazardous waste legislation and not as a former component of EEE. As far as radioactive substances are concerned, appliances are detected in treatment sites, separated and have to be carried off to a specialized infrastructure for handling and management of radioactive waste, which is covered by National legislation. Fridge’s recycling is carried out by a certified procedure from RAL Quality Assurance Association for the Demanufacture of Refrigeration Equipment.

c.)-d.) All sorting and treatment sites have been set up in compliance with the technical requirements set out in Annex III of 2002/96/EC Directive and are permitted from the competent authorities, in compliance with Articles 9 and 10 of Directive 75/442/EEC, for the operations.

e.) The recovered materials are either recycled within Greece or exported for recycling in other Member States or outside the Community, in line with the rules and procedures of Council Regulations (EEC) No 259/93 and No 1420/1999 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1547/1999 for shipment of waste.

Hungary: a.) The whole treatment system is connected organically to the separate collection systems. As producers bear the general responsibility for proper treatment and recovery of collected WEEE, all treatment facilities have to have a contract with at least one of the compliance schemes.

b.) –d.) Not relevant

e.) In Hungary all EU legislation relating to waste shipment fully applies (Hungary does not foresee derogations). In the case of WEEE exported out of the Community the competent authority demands a contract with the full description of recovery processes or if it possibly a certificate from the competent authority of destination. The exporter has to prove with movement documents that the proper recovery process has been completed. This stipulated in our Governmental Decree on WEEE in section 4 point (4).

Ireland: a.) - b.) Article 21(1) of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers of EEE, and final users of B2B WEEE who have responsibility for the environmentally sound management of B2B WEEE that is not being replaced or on account of availing of alternative financial arrangements to ensure that all WEEE they are responsible for is treated in accordance with specified standards. These specified standards correspond with those prescribed in Annex II of the Directive.

c.)-d.) not relevant

e.) Article 21(2) of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers of EEE to – (a) ensure that WEEE exported to third countries “is treated at a facility appropriately licensed or, as appropriate, permitted by the relevant authority or authorities in the third country concerned” and (b) furnish documentary evidence that the treatment of WEEE in third countries has been carried out in accordance with specified standards, which correspond with the standards prescribed in Annex II of the Directive.

Italy: a.) In order to ensure the environmentally sound treatment of WEEE by preventing and reducing its environmental impact as far as possible, Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down, in Annexes 2 and 3 respectively, specific technical requirements and procedures for WEEE management in WEEE treatment facilities.

b.) These procedures encompass, and go beyond the provisions of Annex II to Directive 2002/96/EC, and include measures concerning the following: - Collection and return procedures - Waste storage criteria - Making WEEE safe. For facilities which treat

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equipment containing substances that are harmful to the ozone layer, the emission limit values and the related checks are laid down in Articles 3 and 4 of the aforementioned Ministerial Decree of 20 September 2002. Additional, more stringent technical requirements for WEEE treatment and recovery facilities are laid down in the Ministerial Decree of 29 January 2007 (laying down guidelines for the identification and use of the best available waste management techniques for the activities listed in Annex I to Legislative Decree No 59 of 18 February 2005). This Decree identifies the best available techniques for WEEE treatment and recovery facilities subject to the IPPC rules.

c.) Article 8(4), (5) and (6) of Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down the provisions to be followed to obtain the derogation and the checks to be carried out via inspections. Where WEEE recovery is subject to the simplified procedure referred to in Articles 31 and 33 of Legislative Decree No 22/1997, work may begin only following an inspection by the relevant provincial authorities within 60 days of submission of the "commencement of business activity" notification. The purpose of this inspection is to check: a) the type and quantities of waste being recovered; b) compliance with the technical requirements and WEEE management procedures (Annexes 2 and 3) as well as the technical requirements and safety precautions laid down in the provisions adopted pursuant to Legislative Decree No 22/1997; c) the safety precautions to be taken. After activities have commenced, an inspection is carried out at least once a year. The "commencement of business activity" notification for the simplified procedures must mention the measures taken to guarantee compliance with the requirements laid down for the treatment systems, which must use the best available techniques, include the removal of all fluids and have treatment facilities which comply with the technical requirements and WEEE management procedures (indicated in Annexes 2 and 3). Application of the simplified procedures is conditional upon compliance with the quantity parameter, understood as the maximum acceptable quantity of waste recovered by each facility. The notification must also include information on the measures envisaged for achieving the recovery targets. Annex 2 to Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down specific technical requirements for WEEE treatment facilities. Facilities which treat equipment containing substances that are harmful to the ozone layer must comply with the requirements of the Ministerial Decree of 20 September 2002, which was published in Official Gazette of the Italian Republic No 230 of 1 October 2002.

d.) not stated explicitly.

e.) no answer.

Latvia: a.) In accordance with part (5) of Section 20.4 of the Waste Management Law, collected WEEE is transferred to processing enterprises (facilities), if the operators of such facilities have been issued with the permits provided for under legislation, except for integrated electrical or electronic appliances intended for re-use. For the processing and recycling of WEEE, category B permits are needed to engage in a category B polluting activity in accordance with Cabinet Regulation No 294 of 9 July 2002 "on the procedure governing the notification of category A, B and C polluting activities and the issue of permits to engage in category A and B polluting activities".

b.) and d.) not relevant; c.) see above

e.) In accordance with Cabinet Regulation No 923 of 9 November 2004 "on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment", manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment must, once per quarter, submit information to the register of manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment on the amount of electrical and electronic appliances placed on the market by the manufacturer in Latvia (weight or number), on the weight of WEEE collected separately, on the weight of WEEE processed in Latvia or exported for treatment outside Latvia, and on the amount (weight or number) of waste electrical and electronic goods re-used, recycled and recovered..

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Lithuania: a.)-d.) According to Lithuanian legislation, waste electrical and electronic equipment treatment enterprises must hold IPPC permits issued according to the requirements of the rules for the issue, extension and cancellation of integrated pollution prevention and control permits approved by Order No 80 of 27 February 2002 (Official Gazette, No 85-3684; 2005, No 107). The rules for the issue, extension and cancellation of integrated pollution prevention and control permits lay down the requirements for the storage and treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment, which are in line with the requirements presented in Annexes II and III to the Directive and the requirements of the relevant Lithuanian legal acts. Lithuania does not have minimum quality standards for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment but certain guidelines for storage has been reported. e.) WEEE shipment from the European Community is subject to the requirements set in Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste and in the Procedure for Waste Shipment approved by Order No D1-207 of 27 April 2004 of the Minister for the Environment (Official Gazette, 2004, No 65-2310; 2007, NO 76-3036). Responsibility for the control of compliance with the requirements of the Procedure by consignors, Lithuanian consignees and carriers of waste, including waste electrical and electronic equipment, rests with the regional environment departments of the Ministry of the Environment.

Luxembourg a.) –b.) Cooling appliances, fluorescent tubes and low-energy lamps are treated abroad. The PCB content of oil-filled radiators is analysed at the SuperDrecksKëscht fir Biirger depot before final treatment. Generally treatment requirements do not go beyond Annex II of the WEEE Directive. However, cooling appliances are treated in accordance with the quality standards laid down by the RAL Quality Assurance Association for the Demanufacture of Refrigeration Equipment Containing CFCs (www.ozon-online.de.)

c.)-d.) not relevant

e.) To date, no WEEE has been exported out of the European Community for treatment. Any exports would have to comply with Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006. Proof of treatment in accordance with Annex II to the Directive and the rates set in Article 7 of the Directive would have to be produced along with the documentation on notification of a transboundary shipment of waste.

Poland: a.) The operators of the treatment facilities have to ensure that the waste equipment and the resulting waste products are treated in a manner which does not harm the environment or human health. After accepting waste equipment, they must immediately remove the hazardous components, materials and parts specified in Annex 2 to the Act on waste electrical and electronic equipment.


e.) If waste equipment is exported, the treatment facility must forward written confirmation that recovery or recycling will take place in installations that meet requirements such as are laid down for installations operated in Poland. Furthermore, exports of waste must be carried out in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

Portugal: a.) The technical requirements are laid down in Annex III to Decree-Law No 230/2004 of 10 December, and the management targets defined in Article 7 of the said Decree-Law.

b.) and d.) No specification.

c.) All management operations as they exist - storage, treatment and recovery of WEEE - are subject to licensing under Decree-Law No 178/2000, of 5 September, without prejudice to the

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legislation on industrial licensing, environmental impact evaluation and, where applicable, environmental licences.

e.) no answer

Romania: a.)-b.) The collective organization or producers will choose the best solutions for waste treatment, recovery and recycling in order to achieve the targets in the best conditions. The treatment of WEEE shall, as a minimum, be carried out with the removal of all hazardous fluids and a selective treatment in accordance with Annex 2 at this decision and with the provisions of art. 5 paragraph (1) of the EGO 78/2000 on waste regime, approved with changes and amendments by the Law 426/2001 and modified by EGO 61/2006 approved by the Law 27/2007 (which transposed Directive 2006/12/EC).

c.) not relevant

d.) For storage and treatment sites go beyond those set out in Annex III. For economic operators who have permits for treatment operations, the technical requirements set out in Annex III regarding the storage and treatment of collected WEEE are binding.

e.) The export of WEEE: The export of WEEE out of Community is done according to the provisions of the Regulation 1013/2006. All collection points and treatment facilities which have environmental permits, as well as EEE producers, have to report yearly the quantities they have collected and the management method to the local environmental authorities.

Slovakia: a.) The issue is resolved in Section 8(3)(d) and Sections 9 to 14 of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. and in Section 4(3) to (8) of Order of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 208/2005 Coll. The said paragraphs of the act resolve i.a. the conditions and procedures of authorisation, which is required for the processing of waste from electrical and electronic equipment.

In line with the above Order, facilities for handling WEEE must satisfy the following requirements: a) the technology must be operationally tested; b) each new technology must ensure the same or better protection of the natural environment than technology already established in the Slovak Republic; c) the recovery and disposal of WEEE and wastes produces after treatment of WEEE must be demonstrably secured.

Specific rules are laid down with regard to the handling of specific substances.


e.) This issue is resolved in Section 54b(3) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. Fulfilment of the prescribed limits as per paragraph 1(i) shall be deemed also as the confirmed recovery, re-use or recycling of WEEE also in the territory of some other Member State of the European Union. Upon the export of WEEE to the territory of a non-member of the European Union, fulfilment of the prescribed limits shall be deemed as recovery, re-use or recycling, provided the exporter demonstrates that is was carried out under conditions comparable to those laid down by this act.

Slovenia: a.) Producers and importers have involved in the collective system for the fulfilment of their obligations regarding WEEE economic operators who are required to satisfy the necessary standards to prevent negative effects on the environment, in relation to the treatment of WEEE. This requires the use of the best available technologies for treatment in a way which ensures the protection of public health and a high degree of environmental protection. These allow the controlled separation of dangerous substances from WEEE in specific facilities or sites for which they have the requisite environmental permit, in accordance with the legislation governing the management of waste, in compliance with the conditions for the storage and treatment of WEEE laid down in Annexes 2 and 3 to the Decree on the management of WEEE. At present there are 19 such facilities in which dangerous substances from WEEE are exposed and separated.

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b-d.) not relevant

e.) No concrete example of recovered WEEE being exported from the Community has yet been recorded. There are no specific rules or procedures; treatment is to be on a case-by-case basis.

Spain: a.), b.), d.) The basic measures to guarantee ecological treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment are contained in Article 5 of Royal Decree 208/2005.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment which contains dangerous materials or elements shall be decontaminated. Decontamination shall include at least selective removal of fluids, components, materials, substances and preparations in accordance with the provisions established in annex III (of the Royal Decree). The minimum requirements for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (annex III of Royal Decree 208/2005) and the basic directives applicable to storage and treatment facilities (annex IV of Royal Decree 208/2005) are similar to those contained in the Directive.

c.) no specification.

e.) The shipment of waste electrical and electronic equipment for treatment into or out of Spanish territory must comply with the rules on shipment of waste established in Act 10/1998, of 21 April, on Waste and in Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

Sweden: a.) and b.) Waste is treated in accordance with Annex II. This is implemented by means of the Regulations on preliminary treatment (NFS 2005:10). Special rules apply for certain appliances (e.g. mobile phones etc.). There are certain exceptions.

c.) no info

d.) not relevant

e.) The rules, procedures and checks which apply to electrical or electronic waste exported from the Community and have to be complied with in fulfilling the obligations and targets in Article 7(1) and (2) of the Directive, in accordance with Article 6(5) thereof, are as follows: the Ordinance (SFS 1995:701) on cross-border shipments of waste and Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

UK: Legislation has been passed which provides that WEEE must be treated in accordance with the requirements of Article 6. In England and Wales, this provision is implemented through SI 2006 No. 3315, as amended by SI 2007 No. 1085. In Scotland, this provision is implemented through Scottish Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 172. In Northern Ireland, this provision is implemented through Statutory Rule 2006 No. 519.

b.)-d.) This legislation charges the appropriate environment agency with ensuring that any licenses granted which authorise an establishment or undertaking carrying out treatment operations to store or treat WEEE contains provisions in accordance with Article 6. This legislation also requires operators of treatment facilities to apply treatment techniques in accordance with Article 6, as described in the Guidance on Best Available Treatment, Recovery and Recycling Techniques (BATRRT) and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Executive, on 27th November 2006 Regulation 25 of SI 2006 No. 3289 provides that operators of producer compliance schemes must treat WEEE at ATFs and must export WEEE using approved exporters. Regulation 46 provides that only AATFs and approved exporters may issue evidence of treatment, recovery and recycling of WEEE.

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e.) WEEE may only be exported for treatment by an approved exporter. Schedule 8, Part 3, paragraph 1 of the Regulations, provides that it must be exported in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 259/93, and must be treated at an establishment which is of equivalent standard to an Authorised Treatment Facility.

Resume: In relation to the provision of treatment requirements for WEEE, very few countries lay down treatment requirements going beyond those specified in Annex II (e.g. Denmark, Sweden), it is unclear as for Germany and Greece whether they go beyond these requirements, Luxembourg applies RAL quality standards). Additional requirements tend to focus upon certain kinds of appliances with particular characteristics e.g. appliances featuring ozone-depleting substances.

As regards simplified permit procedures, only Italy has reported to apply a “simplified” procedure for the issuing permits.

Only Romania reported that sites go beyond Annex III, however they did not describe in what way.

As regards the rules, procedures and controls applied to WEEE exported out of the Community, most MS referred to the procedures laid down by the Waste Shipment Regulation without giving further information. No specific control mechanisms have been reported for WEEE.

3.5 Experiences reported regarding the implementation of Art. 6 on WEEE treatment

Austria: The provisions on treatment were implemented in Austria without any problems.

Belgium (Brussels): Positive: treatment of WEEE provides employment. Reuse is encouraged as a result of the implementation of the Directive. Negative: According to the waste processors, treatment according to Annex II of the Directive is expensive. A lot of treatment is done manually. High prices threaten to encourage illegal traffic.

Belgium (Flemish Region): Positive is the fact that the treatment of WEEE provides employment to a wide range of people. Also positive is the local treatment of WEEE. A better overview is obtained. Re-use is stimulated as a result of the implementation and enforcing of the Directive. Some additional remarks: large industrial federations have a substantial influence on the functioning of systems as mentioned above. Negative: (see answer from Brussels)

Belgium (Wallonian Region): The WEEE processing installations are subject to strict rules and requirements which ensure environment friendly processing. Part of the WEEE is processed in other Member States, in installations authorised for that purpose.

Cyprus: The collective system is not in full operation yet. Many treatment plants have submitted an application for WEEE management. All applications are under evaluation. The EST of WEEE will be secured through the permit that will be issued.

Czech Republic: Positive experiences: Every year, operators of collective systems issue a call for tenders for treatment capacities. However, the supply of treatment operators in the Czech Republic is currently greater than the demand, so the tendering procedures lead to improved treatment quality. Negative experiences: The rate of reuse of whole EEE and individual parts in the Czech Republic has remained very high, but is not officially recorded because of administrative overload.

Denmark: The Environmental Protection Agency takes the view that the requirements in the Directive on separate handling are inadequate as implemented in Denmark. Denmark has therefore utilised the possibilities for setting more detailed requirements at national level.

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Estonia: Most of WEEE are exported to another EU country for recycling (mainly to Lithuania and Finland). In the end of 2006 (in October) the first waste treatment facility started. They recycle for example TVs, washing machines, ovens, phones, fax machines, radios, amplifiers, video recorders, musical instruments, printers. They plan to expand their activities and start to recycle also other type of WEEE. Installation of facility (treatment technology) is best available technique. No negative experiences with the implementation of Article 6 since requirements of holding waste permit, hazardous waste handling licence and permit of waste shipment do not constitute new requirements in waste management and waste handlers are used to holding these.

Finland: There is no experience on this matter.

France: Starting up the management stream for WEEE has involved the development of transit activities, sorting, grouping, repairing, dismantling and treating this waste.

Finding that the existing headings in the French nomenclature for facilities classed as being for the protection of the environment (facilities subject to declaration or authorisation by the public authorities) were sometimes poorly adapted to this situation, a new heading for the facilities classed no. 2711 relating to transit, grouping, sorting, dismantling and repairing of discarded electrical and electronic equipment was therefore, published in the Official Journal of the French Republic on 16 October 2007. This heading provides for the fact that the facilities capable of storing between 200 m3 and 1000 m3 of discarded electrical and electronic equipment come from the declaration system, while the facilities capable of storing more than 1000 m3 of discarded electrical and electronic equipment must have received prior authorisation. An order providing for the general rules applying to the facilities subject to declaration under heading no. 2711 is to be published very shortly in the Official Journal of the French Republic.

No major of non-conformity with the provisions imposed by Directive No 2002/96/EC on the subject of the treatment of WEEE.

Germany: Gearing the collection of WEEE to the presence of specific contaminants is a sound approach, but there is room for improvement as regards collection of cathode-ray equipment in a way that prevents breakage. Outlets for salvaged display screen glass are problematic, as in the EU the high-grade recycling of waste glass into new display screen glass has collapsed with the closure of production capacities and changes in display screen technology. Consequently the Article 7 targets for categories 3 and 4, which consist largely of display screen equipment, can be met only with difficulty or via questionable recovery channels. The lack of a clear distinction between WEEE for reuse and WEEE for recovery or disposal makes exports a grey area. In this area the situation could be improved in future by application of EU Correspondents' Guidelines No 1 on shipments of waste electrical and electronic equipment of June 2007. However, since these Guidelines are non-binding, problems can arise with the enforcement authorities if the undertakings concerned (exporters) do not apply the Guidelines but the authorities wish to impose certain criteria. The Federal Government has therefore asked the Commission to examine whether some points of the Guidelines could be given legal force, and if so how.

Greece: Before the implementation of Directive 2002/96/EC there was no organised infrastructure for the collection and treatment of WEEE in Greece. Ever since, a significant number of companies have been licensed and are operating in an environmental sound collection, transportation and treatment of WEEE.

Hungary: No special comments.

Ireland: The new facilities providing for the processing of WEEE have informally reported recovery rates in excess of 80%. While producers in Ireland need not achieve these targets until 31 December 2008, competition in the market to provide recycling and recovery

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services to producers in other member states is encouraging the current achievement of these targets.

Italy: At the moment there are no particular problems.

Latvia: A system for the processing and recycling of WEEE has been set up in Latvia as a whole. However, the Latvian market is too small for large-scale WEEE recycling (breaking up of equipment of this type, separating out recyclable materials and processing the materials in question) to be viable.

Lithuania: The experience gained in the first year of the application of Article 6 of the Directive shows that the results are positive. Owing to the efforts of the waste treatment enterprises and the regional environment departments controlling such enterprises, waste treatment is under control and more progressive technologies are increasingly introduced in the process. Luxembourg: Positive experience: (a)The quality standards in force since 1990 for the treatment of appliances containing CFCs have been maintained. (b) Large white goods are pre-treated before crushing. Negative experience: Black market in large white goods.


Portugal: positive experiences: the efforts of the recycling operators in adapting their installations and obtaining licences for them to process WEEE, and the opportunity for the management undertakings, jointly with the treatment and recovery operators, to test a number of specific treatment techniques. Negative experiences include the fact that at first the management undertakings were able to find only very few properly prepared operators throughout the country, and scant resources for the correct treatment of WEEE. Even now there are still a few geographical areas that are short of licensed installations, particularly the inland areas in the North, Centre and South of the country.

Romania: Until the end of 2006, no treatment facility for WEEE has been permitted from environmental point of view. During 2007, producers started to invest in WEEE management, so it is expected that treatment facilities will be developed.

Slovakia: none

Slovenia: The biggest difficulties with the implementation of the provisions of this Article lay in the lack of an infrastructure for the processing and recovery of WEEE. In view of the necessary technology and the small quantities of WEEE it is not to be expected either that processing and recovery can be ensured for all types of WEEE as part of national solutions.

Sweden: It is not possible to give any such assessment.

UK: There have been no significant technical challenges for the existing UK waste infrastructure in meeting the treatment requirements set out in Article 6. No problems with achieving the standards or providing capacity are anticipated.

Resumé: In relation to the implementation of provisions regarding the treatment of WEEE, Member States do not report major positives nor problems. Some countries highlight that they had to adapt infrastructure to the new WEEE requirements and establish new systems and consequently now deliver a higher environmental protection (Belgium (Wallonian Region), Greece, Ireland, Portugal).

Most experiences reported are MS specific. MS like Portugal, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia report shortages in recycling facilities making them dependent on foreign capacities. Germany mentioned that the distinction between WEEE for reuse and WEEE recovery/disposal burdens the enforcement of waste shipment law. Here the application of

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EU Correspondents' Guidelines No 1 on shipments of waste electrical and electronic equipment of June 2007 could be useful to improve the enforcement of waste shipment law.

3.6 Systems to provide for the recovery of WEEE (Art. 7(1))

According to Art. 7(1) MS shall ensure that producers or third parties acting on their behalf set up systems either on an individual or on a collective basis, in accordance with Community legislation, to provide for the recovery of WEEE collected separately in accordance with Art. 5. MS shall give priority to the reuse of whole appliances.

All respondents have answered affirmatively to the question if they have taken the necessary measures to ensure the environmentally sound re-use, recovery and recycling of WEEE according to Article 7 of the Directive.

The MS have been asked to provide a general description of the national measures to encourage the achievement of the reuse, recovery and recycling targets.

Austria: Intact WEEE have to be reused, in so far as their technical condition allows, and provided it makes sense from an ecological and economic point of view; the categories and volume of WEEE reused have to be recorded and reported. Producers, or the collection and recovery schemes working on their behalf, must ensure that the one-to-one recovery and recycling quotas taken over from the WEEE Directive are met, keep records and enter the relevant information annually in the electronic register which has been set up in Austria.

Belgium (Brussels): Article 7 of the WEEE Directive has been transposed in Brussels by means of “Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale modifiant en ce qui concerne les déchets d’équipements électriques et électroniques, l’arrêté du gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitlae du 18 juillet 2002 instaurant une obligation de reprise de certains déchets en vue de leur valorization ou de leur elimination (MB 28.07.2004). Recycling targets are derived from the WEEE Directive and are incorporated in Brussels legislation.

Belgium (Flemish Region): In Belgium, the WEEE is collected via 3 channels: municipal collection centres, the second-hand shops and the distribution stores of new equipment. There, the WEEE is stored until it is transported further on. At the municipal collection centres and the distribution stores, a visible selection is made to find equipment, which is suitable for reuse. This equipment then goes to second-hand shops where it is either repaired or sold directly. The rest of the WEEE is transported to recycling facilities. Recycling targets are derived from the Directive and are incorporated in Flemish Region legislation.

Belgium (Wallonian Region): The environmental agreement of 19 February 2001 between the regional authorities and the industrial sectors concerned refers to the requirement to sort the WEEE collected and separate what is reusable from the rest. The agreement also contains the same objectives as those listed in the Directive. Recupel must make sure that the objectives set are achieved. Each year Recupel submits to the regional authorities a report containing the results in terms of collection, reuse, recovery and recycling. The report also gives the recycling rates for different materials (ferrous and non ferrous metals, plastics, etc.), the names of the processing installations, a description of the forms of processing, the substances resulting from processing, the quantity of appliances placed on the market and the average composition of the different categories of appliance.

Bulgaria: The Regulation provides for the return of separately collected WEEE, for re use as a whole appliance or treatment, recycling and/or recovery, since the quantity of re used WEEE in the form of whole appliances does not count towards fulfilment of the targets for recycling and recovery.

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In order to determine the total quantity of EEE placed on the market in the Republic of Bulgaria, producers and importers of EEE provide the executive director of the Executive Environmental Agency with information on the quantities of EEE placed on the market by producers, imported by importers and exported by them in the format laid down by the Regulation.

Cyprus: 1. Collective Scheme is being set up. 2. Treatment plants are in the phase of getting their permit. 3. Many lectures are done to inform local authorities, producers and the public.

Czech Republic: Article 37m of Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste establishes the requirements for fulfilment of the targets established for recovery. Collective system operators who fulfil the recovery obligations of producers of EEE enter into contractual relations with those EEE treatment operators which use their technologies to attain the required recovery targets.

The purpose of the tendering procedures for treating WEEE is to choose technologies with the best available technological level and the least impact on public health and the environment.

Denmark: The rules are laid down in §§ 19, 23 and 24 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005.

Estonia: These are provided in Waste Act § 21 (2), § 24 (1) 2) and § 7 in Governmental Regulation No. 376 of 24 December 2004. Measures shall be taken in any activity, as far as possible, to: 1) Implement the best available techniques for sustainable use of natural resources and raw materials, including technologies whereby waste is recovered to the highest possible extent; 2) Design, plan, manufacture and import products which are, above all, durable and reusable and which after they are removed from use produce waste which is recoverable to the highest possible extent. When manufacturing products, the producers shall, as far as possible promote integration of secondary raw materials in products. Upon recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment, priority shall be given to the reuse of whole appliances where possible. Producers have to provide data about recycling, recovery and reuse of WEEE to the Register of Products of Concern (register counts the targets) (Waste Act § 26-1, Governmental Regulation No. 28 of 30 January 2006).

Finland: Article 7 of the Directive has been laid down in the section 6(3) (organizing the treatment of EE-waste and the primary nature of reuse) and in the section 5(1:2-5) (minimum targets) in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

France: Article R.543-201 of the Environmental Code states that “recovery and, in particular, the reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment is preferable to its destruction”. According to Article 3 of the Order of 23 November 2005 relating to the methods of treatment of WEEE, the selective treatment performed by the producers of electrical and electronic equipment and, if appropriate, by users of professional equipment must make it possible to reach, by 31 December 2006 at the latest, all the recovery, recycling and reuse targets set by the Directive. In order to do this, account is taken of the provisions arranged for reuse of the electrical and electronic equipment as well as recovery targets for waste, recycling and reuse of the components, materials and substances, during the approval of the bodies to which the producers belong in order to meet their obligations regarding the removal and treatment of household WEEE (Article R.543-189 of the Environmental Code), and during the approval of the individual systems put in place by the producers to meet these same obligations (Article R.543-191 of the Environmental Code).

Therefore, as regards the development of the reuse of WEEE, the approved bodies for household WEEE, as well as the producers of professional EEE, have forged partnerships with structures specialising in the collection and repair of WEEE in order for it to be reused.

Germany: Pre-sorting according to contaminants (separate collection of gas discharge lamps, cooling appliances and breakage-proof collection of display screen equipment in

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categories 3 and 4) systematically promotes environmentally sound reuse, recovery and recycling in the collection of WEEE from private households. Compulsory annual certification of first-treatment facilities underpins the necessary quality assurance as regards meeting targets and documenting material streams.

Greece: Taking into account environmental considerations and the desirability of reuse of components or whole appliances, collection and transportation of WEEE is carried out in such a way that reuse is not hindered, in accordance with the requirements established by the competent authorities, which provide the licences for this operation.

Hungary: Under the extended producers’ responsibility principle Hungary has set up minimum targets for every single producer for each year (2005-2008). Every producer3 shall (collect) re-use, recover and recycle a certain percent (that depends on products categories) of the EEE amount put on the Hungarian market in the previous year by themselves. The way of calculation is stipulated in detail in Governmental Decree on WEEE section 3, section 4 and Annex to the decree. Such calculation is easy to perform by producers and competent authority as well. Producers shall report about their activities in this field to the competent authority every year (see Ministerial decree No. 15/2004 on WEEE). Producers missing the pre-established targets have to face high fines.

Ireland: Article 22 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers of EEE, and final users of B2B WEEE who have responsibility for the environmentally sound management of B2B WEEE that is not being replaced or on account of availing of alternative financial arrangements to ensure that specified recovery rate together with specified component, material and substance reuse and recycling rates are achieved (see Art. 7(2) of the WEEE Directive). Ireland has, however, availed of the 24 month extensions in accordance with the provisions of Article 17(4)(a) of the Directive to the time limit prescribed in Article 7(2) Article 41 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires end users, distributors, producers, local authorities and treatment facilities to give priority to reuse as required in Article 7(1) of the Directive. Consultations concerning reuse have recently commenced with stakeholders.

Italy: The measures needed to guarantee the re-use, recovery and recycling of WEEE, in compliance with Article 7 of the Directive, are laid down in Article 9 of Legislative Decree No 151/05. Owners of WEEE treatment facilities are to note, in a special section of the register of incoming and outgoing material divided into the categories in Annex 1A, the weight of the incoming WEEE and the weight of the outgoing components, materials and substances thereof. The owners of WEEE recovery and recycling facilities are to note, in this section, the weight of the incoming WEEE and components, materials and substances thereof and the outgoing quantities actually recovered. In order to verify whether the recovery targets have been achieved, the persons responsible for facilities which treat and recover WEEE are to send an annual notification of data concerning the WEEE treated and the materials derived there from and sent for recovery. To do this, they are to use the environmental declaration form referred to in Law No 70 of 25 January 1994, to which a special WEEE section has been added. Exporters of WEEE are also required to make this notification, specifying the relevant category under Annex 1A and the weight or, if this cannot be measured, the number of items of WEEE. Achievement of the targets is monitored by APAT (Agenzia per la protezione dell'ambiente e per i servizi tecnici), which sends an annual report to the Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Conservation containing the data from the environmental declarations.

Latvia: Every six months, payers of the natural resources tax (see answer to Art. 5) send the Ministry of the Environment information on the amount of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market by the manufacturer in Latvia (weight or number), on the weight of WEEE collected separately, on the weight of WEEE processed in Latvia or exported for processing outside Latvia, and on the amount (weight or number) of WEEE reused, recycled

3 (“maker” in the original text)

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and regenerated, and once a year they send an audited report on implementation of the plan to set up and run a system for the management of waste products that are harmful to the environment.

Lithuania: According to the state strategic waste management plan, producers and importers of EEE must ensure that, beginning with 2008, the recovery of WEEE collected from its holders, the re-use of the components and substances contained in the waste and/or their recycling should meet the targets set in Article 7(2) of the Directive.

According to the requirements of the rules for the management of EEE/WEEE, WEEE management enterprises must ensure that WEEE, the substances, preparations and components contained in it should be re-used. WEEE, the substances, preparations and components contained in it which are not suitable for re-use should be managed in accordance with the Law on Waste Management and the Rules for Waste Management.

Pursuant to the provisions of the rules for waste management and the rules for the management of electrical and electronic equipment and its waste, WEEE management enterprises must keep primary records of waste and produce reports on such records. The records must be summed up at least once a month in the procedure set by the head of the enterprise. Records on waste management include specific data on the waste of each category and products of electrical and electronic equipment:

- weight of WEEE collected in Lithuania broken down in two groups: waste collected from private households and waste from sources other than private households;

- weight of treated WEEE broken down into three groups: WEEE treated in Lithuania, in other EU Member States and outside the EU;

- weight of re-used or recycled components and substances contained in WEEE broken down into two groups: reused or recycled WEEE in Lithuania, in other EU Member States;

- weight or units of re-used entire electrical or electronic equipment.

In cases where WEEE was treated, recovered, reused and/or recycled outside Lithuania, the report on the records must be accompanied with:

- information on the shipments of waste, the procedure for the shipment of waste, or

- a copy of the contract with the enterprise treating, using, reusing and/or recycling waste. The contract should stipulate that WEEE must be treated, recovered, reused and/or recycled in compliance with requirement equivalent to the requirement set in Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Lithuania has been granted a transitional period until 31 December 2008 for the achievement of the targets set in Article 7(2) of the Directive. In developing the WEEE management system and in its efforts to achieve the required targets, Lithuania will seek new ways and methods to promote the reuse of equipment, its components and substances, to ensure more detailed records on reuse and to promote the recovery and recycling of the waste.

Luxembourg: Legal base: Article 8 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005. Articles 9 and 10 of Ministerial Authorisation N 1AG-DEEE/05 oblige ECOTREL to satisfy itself that a system exists for the total or partial reuse of the WEEE which it accepts. ECOTREL must at all times guarantee that the WEEE which it accepts is disassembled, reused, treated, recycled, recovered and disposed of using the best available technology. It must in particular satisfy itself and see to it that as far as possible the procedures implemented enable WEEE to be recovered with a view to re-entry to the economic cycle as secondary raw materials. The waste may be used as a source of energy only if it is suitable only for incineration. The annual report submitted by ECOTREL on 23 March 2007 under

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Article 14 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005 indicates the rates of recovery and recycling for WEEE treated in 2006. These rates were calculated using the Reptool system. In 2006 Luxembourg was already complying with the rates set in Article 7 of the Directive.

Poland: An obligation has been imposed on persons placing equipment on the market to achieve the rates of recovery and recycling specified in the Directive which will be in force from 1 January 2008, having regard to the two-year transitional period obtained by Poland, (Commission Decision 2004/486/EC). Persons placing equipment on the market must also keep additional records containing information on the quantity and weight of equipment placed on the market. It is on the basis of these records and of certificates that they calculate the waste equipment recovery and recycling rates achieved. Persons placing equipment on the market must also keep waste equipment records and certificates for five years.

Portugal: At national level, under the licences granted to two management undertakings in April 2006, these undertakings are contractually bound to achieve the re-use, recovery and recycling targets set out in their respective licences. Both the management undertakings have implemented a data and information recording system that enables them to keep up-to-date records of both the quantities of WEEE collected and the results obtained in the treatment and recovery of that waste.

Romania: Producers or collective organizations shall take the most appropriate measures to provide for the targets of recovery, reuse and recycling of WEEE collected separately. According to provisions of Accession Treaty of Romania and Bulgaria to EU, the targets from Article 7 of Directive shall be met by Romania until 31st December 2008. For the purpose of monitoring the objectives of recovery, reuse and recycling, the producers or collective organizations have the obligation to keep records on the mass of WEEE, their components, materials or substances when entering (input) and leaving (output) the treatment facility and/or when entering (input) the recovery or recycling facility. Users of EEE in private households are given the necessary information according to Art. 10(1) WEEE Directive.

Slovakia: This issue is resolved in Section 54b(1)(i) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. and in Regulation of the Slovak Republic Government No. 388/2005 Coll. on obligatory limits for WEEE recovery, re-use and recycling of components, materials and substances. Manufacturers of EEE are obliged to ensure minimum adherence to the prescribed limits of WEEE recovery, and the re-use and recycling of components, materials and substances, laid down in Regulation of the Slovak Republic Government No. 388/2005 Coll. The said Government regulation sets out the limits for individual categories of electrical and electronic equipment differentiated into the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and onwards.

Slovenia: Producers and importers must ensure at their own expense by 31 December 2007 that the recovery of waste equipment reaches proportions in line with the recycling/recovery targets of Art. 7 of the WEEE Directive.4

In the event of failure to achieve the targets on the part of the producers and importers, Article 36(3) of the Decree on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 107/06) makes it possible to set up a public service for the management of WEEE: A public service shall begin to operate on 1 January 2009 with regard to those categories or sub-categories of equipment laid down in Annex 1 to the Decree in respect of which the reports for 2007 show that the targets of the operational programme of environmental protection regarding the management of waste equipment for the period 2006–2008 have not been met.

Spain: Legal basis: paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 5 of the Royal Decree:

4 So it seems from the response.

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Treatment operations shall have the following priorities, in this order: re-use, recycling, energy evaluation and disposal. The legal system established in Act 10/1998, of 21 April, on Waste, will apply to evaluation operations according to the characteristics of the operation in question and the dangerousness of the components being managed.

All treatment operations shall make use of the best available technology. In particular, operations to transport waste electrical and electronic equipment will be carried out so as to achieve the best possible decontamination, re-use and recycling of whole items of equipment or their components.

The Autonomous Communities and local bodies shall promote the adoption of internationally accepted certified environmental management systems for the environmental management of the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Sweden: Annex 3 to the Ordinance (SFS 2005:209) sets waste recovery targets. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Regulations (NFS 2005:10) on preliminary treatment of waste electrical and electronic products lay down rules on commercial preliminary treatment of WEEE. The rules are supervised by the municipalities. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency carries out supervision and provides supervisory guidance by telephone and via the EE register. In conjunction with a consultative group composed of representatives of the recovery industry, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has produced guidance as to how preliminary treatment operators are to go about reporting recovery levels. One of the aims of the Ordinance (SFS 2005:209) is that producers should achieve the national waste recovery levels set in Annex 3 thereto. For recovery centres, requirements are laid down in the Ordinance (SFS 1998:899) on environmentally hazardous activities and protection of health. As regards recovery targets and achievement of them, considerable responsibility lies with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, but supervision here will in fact primarily focus on producers, who are actually responsible for meeting recovery targets.

UK: Producer compliance schemes, which are responsible for arranging and reporting on re-use, recovery and recycling of WEEE on behalf of producers, must make an annual declaration of compliance to the environment authority they are approved by. Schemes will be issued with evidence notes from approved authorised treatment facilities and approved exporters, which will detail levels of treatment, recycling, re-use and recovery. These notes will support the declaration of compliance. This declaration must show that each scheme has met the recovery, re-use and recycling targets as set out in Article 7 and transposed by Regulation 26.

Resumé: All Member States reported that they have taken measures to ensure the environmentally sound reuse, recovery and recycling of WEEE. On the other hand, no MS reported that they have set more ambitious targets than those specified in the Directive.

In terms of giving priority to the reuse of WEEE, some MS elaborated on their approaches for providing for the preferential re-use of WEEE, such as Austria and Belgium (Flemish Region Region and Wallonian Region), however no practical enforcement of this was reported. Concrete partnerships fostering re-use (e.g. second-hand shops) have been reported by Belgium (Flemish Region) and France. Ireland reports stakeholder consultations about reuse.

Not all MS report as to how they gain an overview of compliance with the WEEE Directive’s recycling and recovery targets. Most MS use some kind of reporting mechanism (such as Austria, Belgium Wallonian Region, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Poland, Sweden, UK) and force producers to report their recycling/recovery activities. Others use recording mechanisms.

Member States did not report on sanction mechanisms applied; only Slovenia stated that in case of non-compliance a public management system would be installed.

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3.7 Development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies

Art. 7(5): Member States shall encourage the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies

Austria: Austria features a wide range of aid measures, pursuant, for example, to the Environmental State Aid Act, which ensures that the development of new technologies in the areas in question is encouraged. For example, waste treatment plants qualify for aid.

Belgium (Brussels): No specific actions were taken.

Belgium (Flemish Region): No specific actions were taken.

Belgium (Wallonian Region): No specific actions were taken.

Bulgaria: Under Article 41, the operators of facilities and plants for the treatment, recycling, recovery and/or disposal of WEEE must apply the best available techniques.

Cyprus: No relevant action has been taken yet.

Czech Republic: In the framework of the National Research and Development Policy adopted for the period 2004-2008, research aiming at sustainable development and materials research are supported. On 14 November 2006, 14 Operational Programmes of Research and Development for Innovation were approved and published. These programmes are also in the spirit of the strategic goals of the National Strategic Reference Framework of the Czech Republic for the period 2007-2013.

Denmark: Danish WEEE legislation places emphasis on setting further requirements for the treatment of WEEE to ensure maximum possible reuse. In general, in connection with environmental approval under § 33 of the Environmental Protection Act, use of the best available technologies is required. See also the reply regarding Art. 4 WEEE Dir. above.

Estonia: Measures are provided in Waste Act § 21 (2): Measures shall be taken in any activity, as far as possible, to: implement the best available techniques for sustainable use of natural resources and raw materials, including technologies whereby waste is recovered to the highest possible extent.

Finland: No specific actions concerning EE-waste have been carried out. The principle of using the best available technology stated in the Article 6(1) in the Directive has been laid down in the section 7(2) in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Government funds can be admitted to projects developing new methods for recovering, recycling and treatment of waste according to project-specific applications (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, TEKES).

France: Following the launch of calls for projects, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) supports certain research and development projects in the area of WEEE recovery. For example in 2005, following a call for projects relating to WEEE recovery, four projects were selected (out of 20 dossiers received):

• automated sorting of plastics from WEEE (Mines Alès – PELLENC-VARRAY PARISI), • recycling of ABS and PC plastics and breakdown mechanisms (CNRS – Blaise

Pascal University – Bordeaux University I – Cooper Menvier), • recovery of polymers from WEEE through mixing (CNAM – CRITT – INERIS – PMG), • plastics separating techniques (BRGM – GALLOO France – CTP). • other operations have been or are currently being supported (not printed in this

report).

Germany: The Environment Ministry's programme to promote investments with demonstration value in order to reduce environmental pollution makes it possible to carry out

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large-scale demonstration projects which show for the first time how advanced methods of avoiding or reducing environmental pollution can be realised. For example, a plant for separating display screen class using laser technology was promoted under the programme.

Greece: No actions

Hungary: To meet the obligatory targets set up by the legislation the producers have encouraged the deployment of new treatment technologies in Hungary. In the course of this 20 000 t/y new WEEE treatment capacity has been established, 3 CRT dismantling machines have been deployed and removal of HCFC has been solved by a new SEG type closed technology.

Ireland: Each of the three new WEEE processing plants established since the implementation of the Directive accord with best available technology. This is driven by a combination of regulatory requirements, a robust licensing/permitting regime and market forces.

Italy: New recovery, recycling and treatment technologies are encouraged through the use of the best available techniques. The Ministerial Decree of 29 January 2007 (laying down guidelines for the identification and use of the best available waste management techniques for the activities listed in Annex I to Legislative Decree No 59 of 18 February 2005) identified the best available techniques for WEEE treatment facilities. Article 9(7) of Legislative Decree No 151/05 provides for the issuing of a decree to lay down, within the limits of the ordinary budgetary allocations envisaged for the aims under this article, measures aimed at encouraging the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies.

Latvia: During the period under review, no new recovery, recycling or treatment methods have been devised in Latvia.

Lithuania: No specification

Luxembourg: Article 7(5) of the Directive was incorporated into national law by Article 8(4) of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005: environmental agreements may be used to encourage the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies. To date no agreement has been signed in this area.

Poland: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Law Act of 27 April 2001, the technology used in installations and facilities brought into service for the first time or substantially modified has to meet requirements which are set taking account of: 1) the use of substances with a low risk potential; 2) manufacturing and energy efficiency; 3)rational use of water and other raw materials, materials and fuels; 4) the use of no-waste and low-waste technologies and the possibility of recovering any waste that is generated; 5) the nature, scope and volume of emissions; 6) the use of comparable processes and methods which have been applied effectively on an industrial scale; 7) scientific and technical progress.

Portugal: Under Article 18 f) of Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, the management undertakings are made responsible for promoting research into and development of new methods, etc. In that respect, the two management companies' practices have taken on various aspects, as regards both the sponsorship of new projects and national and Community research in that specific area. Technical and financial backing is provided for various projects in the following areas:

• Economic and technical, on new forms of re-use, recycling and recovery aimed at improving the efficiency of processes and achieving a better performance in terms of management results.

• Studies to promote the definition of rules and procedures at all stages of the integrated system so as to improve the levels of environmental and economic efficiency of those activities.

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• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Studies of equipment and processes to make it possible to compare management options.

• Promotion of these developments with recyclers and recoverers.

At the same time, work has started on an analysis of WEEE content to obtain statistical data on types and quantities of such waste for subsequent coordination between operators, new uses for recycled materials, and support for a current national research project for recycling printed circuits using biotechnological methods. Also in terms of R&D, we have developed programmes for the re-use of WEEE and more specifically a project designed to study the most efficient way of managing its logistical and operational infrastructure (for example, they will lead to the configuration of a logistical and operational infrastructure for the operational flow of light bulbs, as distinct from that defined for other categories).

Romania: According to GD no. 448/2005, Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development conduct research programs for the development of new technologies for WEEE recovery, treatment and recycling within the Sectorial Research Programs. Studies on different WEEE-related issues were produced. (…) In 2007, the study “Update of data base for different type of waste flow and elaborate of different indicators for decisional support (PCB/PCT, battery, ELV and WEEE)” was elaborate by ICIM (Environmental Protection Research Institute). ICPE has proposed two new studies for 2007: “Neutralization of hazardous substances from WEEE components – LCD” and “The separation of glass and plastic components from WEEE” but these are not finished yet.5

Slovakia: The respective issue is resolved in Section 63(1)(i) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll., Section 4(3)(b) of Order of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 208/2005 Coll. and Section 18(5) of Act No. 245/2003 Coll. on integrated prevention and control of environmental pollution and on the amendment of certain acts.

Slovenia: No action has been taken with regard to Article 7(5) of the Directive.

Spain R&D&I programmes have been implemented at the Ministries of the Environment and Industry, Tourism and Commerce in the area of WEEE. These programmes are aimed at promoting recycling of plastics and glass from that equipment as a raw material for manufacturing traffic signs, separation screens for interior office spaces or street furniture. The Ministry of the Environment has promoted the re-use of electrical and electronic waste through campaigns to raise awareness at a national level. Private initiatives aimed at the re-use of PCs have also been promoted and supported by companies in the computer industry.

Sweden: The financial guarantee is indirectly designed to encourage producers to manufacture products facilitating recovery. Levels of financial guarantee should, if possible, be based on actual circumstances; producers who can show that the costs of dealing with their products are lower than for other, similar products should therefore be required to provide the relevant guarantee only at that lower level. This will act as an incentive to pay more heed to recovery in designing products.

UK: The UK is encouraging the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies through administrative means for example the UK Technology Strategy. The producer responsibility scheme set up in the UK is designed to provide an in-built incentive to develop new recycling technologies, as it is in the producers' interest to innovate in order to drive costs down.

Resumé: In relation to the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies, six respondents (Flemish Region, Wallonian Region, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovenia) stated that no action has been taken. Lithuania did not specify this point.

5 The latter information concerns developments posterior to the reporting period 2004-2006.

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A significant proportion of MS prescribe the use of Best Available Technologies when permitting an installation, however it is not clear from which legal or informal source they derive the BAT as WEEE recycling installations are not (yet) mentioned in Annex I of the IPPC Directive. Only Italy reports to have a definition/further criteria of what BAT for WEEE treatment plants is. Poland copies the general aspects that are to be taken into account for identifying “BAT”.

In general, the respondents that have reported to take actions make use of national R&D programmes to identify innovative recycling technologies.

3.8 Positive and negative experience with Art. 7

Austria: The provisions on recovery were implemented in Austria without any problems. It is suggested that in future legislation, instead of the 10 categories of equipment listed hitherto, it would be better to consider only 5 for the treatment and recovery process. In Austria those are: large appliances, small appliances, cooling appliances, visual display units and gas discharge lamps.

Belgium (Brussels): no specific actions were taken Belgium (Flemish Region): none Belgium Wallonian Region: The results achieved by Recupel are at least equal to or exceed the objectives set by the Directive. The annual report sent to the authorities makes it possible to check whether the objectives have been achieved and to determine the improvements to be made to the system, particularly by comparing one year's results with another's. The description of the forms of processing in Recupel's annual report is not yet sufficiently clear, however.

Bulgaria: No info. Cyprus: The collective scheme is not in full operation yet. Many treatment plants submitted an application for WEEE management. All applications are under evaluation. The EST of WEEE will be secured through the permit that will be issued. Czech Republic: No info.

Denmark: Nothing to report.

Estonia: Till October 2006 we haven't any treatment facility of WEEE in Estonia. Positive is that WeeRec AS planned to have best available treatment technology from the beginning and there was no need to argue into (encourage to) have best available technique.

Finland: Not any specific experiences.

France: As regards the reuse of WEEE, partnerships forged by producers with specialised structures guarantee the continuation of these activities. The increase in the tonnages reused will have to be accompanied by an increase in the demand on the market for second-hand equipment, which is not always the case because of the fall in the selling price of many types of new electrical and electronic equipment.

As regards the meeting of reuse, recycling and recovery targets set out in Article 7 of Directive 2002/96/EC, the producers’ declarations on the tonnages actually re-employed, reused as parts or recycled, recovered and destroyed taking place at the latest by 1 March of each year, France does not yet have consolidated data on this subject for 2007, the first full year of operation of the whole of the WEEE chain. There are also questions as to the exact definition of the ways in which these different rates are calculated. It would be appreciated if the Commission could issue recommendations before the first set of these data are sent to the Commission by the Member States.

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Germany: Documenting the targets in Article 7(5) of the Directive is extremely complex, as there is very little correlation between the form in which data are collected and the form in which recovery actually takes place. Data for the purposes of reporting on targets have to be meticulously broken down according to the 10 WEEE categories, and yet they are still not transparent because of the cross-category mix of material streams. A pragmatic approach therefore has to be taken: WEEE from private households is collected according to categories for which there are equal quotas. The breakdown by category is determined by spot checks by first treatment operators. Further documenting of material streams is confirmed by "certificates" from operators carrying out subsequent treatment and recovery. Given the complexity of the situation, data monitoring can be introduced only gradually, and needs to go hand in hand with quality assurance, e.g. in the form of scientific monitoring.

Greece: Referring to the collection of WEEE, the raised problems concern the share of Local Authorities in the collection of bulky appliances from the private households. Thus a substantial quantity of bulky WEEE is picked from the pavements by peddlers, which sell them to scrap dealers. Subsequently, the producers via the approved system buy the WEEE against high cost from the scrap dealers and treat them in accordance with the existing regulations. A direct collaboration with the peddlers is not feasible, due to the fact that peddlers do not invoice their job. As for the treatment of WEEE, since there are no reference documents made for best available techniques of WEEE treatment, by interpreting environmental sound recovery the manual removal of substances, preparations and components, imposes high labour cost to the treatment of WEEE.

Hungary: Introducing the above described system seems to be very efficient. On that basis we are very confident of reaching the targets set out in WEEE directive.

Ireland: The development of a regulatory framework has provided a stable environment has encouraged indigenous investment in the WEEE processing sector. This has led to the creation of 200 new jobs. Implementation of the Directive has led to a fivefold increase in the recycling of household WEEE.

Italy: At the moment there are no particular problems.

Latvia: Latvia has introduced a system that ensures the processing, recovery and re-use of WEEE. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the system might be complicated, as the effectiveness of WEEE treatment would have to be assessed, and this generates a great deal of red tape.

Lithuania: Lithuania has been granted a transitional period until 31 December 2008 for the achievement of the targets set in Article 7(2) of the Directive. In developing the WEEE management system and in its efforts to achieve the required targets, Lithuania will seek new ways and methods to promote the reuse of equipment, its components and substances, to ensure more detailed records on reuse and to promote the recovery and recycling of the waste.

Luxembourg: Positive experience: In 2006 Luxembourg was already complying with the rates set in Article 7 of the Directive. Negative experience: The rates to be achieved for the various categories of WEEE under Article 7(2) do not tally with the method of collection and treatment of the various categories. In Luxembourg the following categories of WEEE are collected: 1) cooling appliances 2) television sets and other cathode-ray screens 3) large household appliances 4) small electrical and electronic white, brown and grey goods 5) oil-filled radiators 6) fluorescent tubes, discharge lamps, low-energy lamps. In order to separate small white, brown and grey goods into the Directive's various categories, a sample quantity of 12 860 kg (1.37% of small white, brown and grey goods) had to be analysed in 2006.


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Portugal: The activity of both management undertakings in relation to research and development projects is still in its infancy, and we therefore consider it risky to draw up a balance-sheet of experience already acquired. We would, however, emphasise as positive factors the interest shown by the various parties involved, in research and in innovative processes for the recycling and treatment of WEEE, although there is still a need to improve cooperation between them, particularly between Research and Development (R&D) teams and waste operators.

Romania: The collection and treatment of WEEE according to the EU Directive has just started; therefore there is no Romanian experience to report.

Slovakia: None.

Slovenia: No info

Spain No info Sweden: The provisions came into force too recently for any such assessment to be given.

UK: It is too early to evaluate the implementation of this provision, as investment in new technologies usually produces results in the medium term.

Resumé: Art. 7 obliges MS to ensure that

(1) producers set up systems for the recovery of WEEE giving priority to reuse.

(2) MS meet certain recycling/recovery targets

(3) MS shall encourage the development of new recovery, recycling and treatment technologies.

In general, the implementation of Art. 7 seems to have led to a much improved rate of WEEE recycling/recovery in certain MS. However, many stated that the time was too short to report experiences in detail.

Implementation difficulties have been reported by Germany, stating that reporting recycling/recovery rates split according to the current categories in Annex I A is difficult given that the categories do not correspond to the practical management of WEEE. Luxembourg also echoed these concerns. Austria stated meanwhile that there were too many categories - five categories would be enough.

While the extent of reuse has been praised by France, it said that demand for a larger quantity of second-hand appliances would need to be kindled.

Greece highlighted the lack of a definition for Best Available Techniques in the WEEE Directive and the absence of reference documents, meaning interpretation is difficult. The manual removal of substances, etc. is costly.

This question has not been answered homogenously by all respondents as it was not clear to which paragraph of Art. 7 the question appealed.

3.9 Financing Mechanisms (Art. 8/9)

Art. 8: MS shall ensure that producers provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private households deposited at collection facilities, set up under Art. 5(2).

Art. 9: MS shall ensure that the financing of the costs for the collection, and environmentally sound disposal of WEEEE from users other than private households from producers put on the market after 13 August 2005 is to be provided by producers. For historical waste being replaced by new equivalent products of by new products fulfilling the same function, the

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financing of the costs shall be provided for by producers of those products when supplying them. For other historical waste, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by the users other than private households.

All respondents have answered affirmatively to having taken the necessary measures to ensure the financing in respect to WEEE in accordance with Articles 8 and 9 of the Directive.

The details of transposition shall include:

(a) a general overview of the financing arrangements in the Member State and of the main schemes to implement the financing requirement,

(b) details concerning the use of visible fees for historical waste from private households, if these are applied,

(c) details concerning particular arrangements for producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication, if there are such arrangements.

Austria: (a) As regards private households, producers have to bear the cost of collection, transport from collection points and treatment. The procedure followed differs depending on the date the appliance was placed on the market (before or after 13 August 2005) and whether it was for private or business use. Where producers join a collection and recovery scheme, they must make a financial contribution to the scheme corresponding to their share of EEE placed on the market. In Austria the coordinating body responsible for the correct distribution of the waste equipment collected among the (currently 5) authorised collection and recovery schemes is the EAK (Waste Electrical Equipment Coordinating Body), which assigns collection orders to collection points in accordance with the market share of each scheme. As regards WEEE from users other than private households, the Directive has been copied, i.e. financing of take-back and treatment to be provided principally by producers. These arrangements may, however, be altered by means of other agreements.

b.) The costs of collection and treatment of WEEE from private households which was placed on the market before 13 August 2005 may be shown to the buyer separately on purchase of a new appliance from the producer, with this possibility being limited in time depending on the category of appliance and in accordance with the timetable laid down in the Directive.

c.) In the case of EEE for private households distributed through distance selling to final consumers in other MS, producers must comply with the requirements of Article 8(1) to (3) of the WEEE Directive as implemented in the Member State in which the purchaser of the equipment is resident. Furthermore, those producers must report the quantities of EEE for private households sold, broken down by Member State and by collection and treatment categories in Austria, so as to ensure that checks can be carried out. This guarantees financing and compliance with any other obligations in the receiving State.

Belgium (Brussels): a.) legal basis Article 18-20 of the “Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale modifiant en ce qui concerne les déchets d’équipements électriques et électroniques, l’arrêté du gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitlae du 18 juillet 2002 instaurant une obligation de reprise de certains déchets en vue de leur valorization ou de leur elimination” (MB 28.07.2004).

b.)-c.) no specification Belgium (Flemish Region): a.)-b.) In the Flemish Region waste legislation, currently under review, article 8 and 9 are integrally adopted.

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c.) For producers supplying EEE by means of distance communication the definition of producer is altered in Flemish Region legislation so that these suppliers fall within the reach of the legislative articles concerning financing.

Belgium (Wallonian Region): a.) The members of Recupel have to pay a financial contribution based on the quantity of EEE which they place on the market each year. The funds collected are used for collecting and recycling WEEE and for Recupel's administrative operations/communication with consumers. For products placed on the market before 13 August 2005 which come from households and in respect of which the manufacturers cannot be identified, management of the resulting WEEE is financed by all the manufacturers based on the quantity of EEE which they place on the market.

The manufacturers finance the management of WEEE of professional origin resulting from products placed on the market after 13 August 2005.

For WEEE of professional origin resulting from products placed on the market before 13 August 2005, management is financed:

- by the manufacturers if the users purchase similar products (on a one for one basis);

- by the users if they do not purchase similar products.

b.) Until 13 February 2011 manufacturers may refer separately to the cost of the contribution paid by consumers. c.) no answer

Bulgaria: a.) The Regulation is consistent with the principles of "producer responsibility" and "polluter pays". Producers and importers of EEE are responsible for the separate collection, transport, temporary storage, treatment, re use, recycling, recovery and disposal of WEEE. The holders of WEEE from non household sources which is not marked in accordance with Article 8 are responsible for its collection, transport, temporary storage, treatment, re-use, recycling, recovery and disposal. A product tax is payable for the financing of the system to the Enterprise for the Management of Environmental Protection Activities (PUDOOS) if producers or importers of EEE fail to meet their obligations through a recovery organisation or individually, or if they fail to achieve the quantitative targets for separate collection and recovery, including recycling and re use,

b.) no specification

c.) The definition of "producer" includes persons placing EEE on the market by distance selling under Article 48(1) of the Law on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts. No separate arrangements are planned.

Cyprus: no answer.

Czech Republic: a.) The financing of household WEEE is addressed in Article 37n of Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste. To finance EEE placed on the market up to 13 August 2005, producers contribute in proportion to their market share through the established collective system or systems.

b.) The use of visible fees for sales of new EEE is decided on by each collective system and is binding thereafter for each producer participating in that collective system. Article 37n(3) of Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste establishes for producers the option of using visible fees only for sales of new products.

c.) Producers supplying EEE by means of distance communication have the same obligations as other producers, because by virtue of Article 37g of Act No 185/2001 on waste, a producer is any natural or legal person authorised to operate a business, regardless of the technique of selling, including by means of distance communication.

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Denmark: a.) The rules are laid down in § 9j of the Environmental Protection Act together with §§ 5, 10, 12 and 13 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005, as amended by Regulation No 591 of 9 June 2006. There is no general overview of financing arrangements for collective and individual schemes or of municipalities' charges for the collection of WEEE from private households and delivery to municipal collection points. Financing arrangements for collective schemes generally involve a member's quota per producer and an environment contribution depending on the type and quantity of the EEE placed on the market and registered in the collective scheme. The producer-registration WEEE-system requires a financial security in the form of a guarantee on demand (bank guarantee); for further details see www.weee-system.dk (Producer responsibility > Economy >Financial guarantee).

b.) The Environmental Protection Agency has no information on the extent to which producers avail themselves of the option of informing purchasers of household equipment separately about the costs involved in the management of historical waste.

c.) no answer

Estonia: a.) Measures are provided in Waste Act § 26 (1)-(2), § 26 (4)-(7), § 26-2 (1)-(4) and in Governmental Regulation No. 376 of 24 December 2004 § 9 (3). When being attached to a collective system, a guarantee may take the form of participation by the producer in appropriate schemes for the financing of the management of waste arising from products of concern, a recycling insurance or a blocked bank account. The costs of management of the waste shall be borne by the producer or collective scheme. Waste handlers shall bear the costs of waste handling if they take WEEE from final owner without having any contract with producer or collective scheme. The costs of historical waste (WEEE arising from EEE put on the market before 13.08.2005) shall be borne by all producers together who are existing on the market when the respective costs occur, contribute proportionally to their market share of this type of EEE. The producer of nonhousehold EEE is dispensed from covering the costs of historical waste if these are not returned 1:1 basis. Producers were exempted to recycle any historical WEEE arised from nonhousehold EEE till 13.08.2007 (they could do it voluntarily).

b.) not relevant

c.) Distance sellers have the same requirements as other producer (there are no exemptions for distance sellers to fulfil requirements of producer responsibility, they are equal with other producers).

Finland: a.) legal basis: Waste Act: Producers have to take care of the expenses of B-to-C –products so that bringing the product to the collection point is always free of charge. Producers have to arrange nationwide collection, transport, pre-treatment and treatment of B-to-C EE-waste and pay the expenses. In practice, producers buy the service from public or private waste operators. Expenses are divided between members of producer organisation according to the nature and size of the company so that it does not affect to competition situation between companies. Article 9 of the Directive has been transposed in section 18m(1) in the Waste Act. Producers have to arrange collection, transport, pre-treatment and treatment of B-to-B EE-waste (all "new" and "old" in 1:1 basis) and pay the expenses. In practice, producers buy the service from public or private waste operators. Producer can also make agreement with their customers, that they pay some part or all of the expenses. None of the other producer responsibilities can be transferred.

b.) Not relevant.

c.) By Section 9 of the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, a distant seller shall participate in organizing financing for waste management of waste electrical and electronic equipment from private households in the European Community Member State to which the equipment is supplied, complying with sections 18c(1-2) and 18m(2) of the Waste Act. By section 13 of the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, a distant seller shall, by the end of April each year, notify the Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre

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of the quantity of items of new electrical and electronic equipment supplied to the domestic market. The Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre shall play its part in organizing the appropriate exchange of information among European Community Member States, including information on distant selling.

France: a.) As regards household WEEE (Articles R.543-188 to R.543.194 of the Environmental Code), the producers are responsible operationally and financially for the removal and treatment of the waste collected selectively, pro rata to the tonnages of equipment placed on the market by category, and whatever the date the equipment, from which the household WEEE collected selectively, is put on the market. The producers meet these obligations either by belonging to a body approved by a joint order from ministers responsible for ecology, industry and the local authorities, or by putting in place an individual system approved by an order of the same type.

As regards professional WEEE (Articles R.543-195 to R.53-199 of the Environmental Code), the producers organise and finance the removal and treatment of the waste from equipment that they have put on the market after 13 August 2005, unless they have agreed otherwise directly with the users in the sales agreement. They may meet their obligations either individually or collectively. In the second case they meet their obligations by belonging to a body approved by a joint order of the ministers responsible for ecology and industry. Currently no body has been approved to take responsibility for professional WEEE. Therefore all the producers of professional EEE are meeting their obligations individually.

For equipment put onto the market before 13 August 2005, the removal and treatment of professional WEEE which has resulted from it are the responsibility of the users, unless agreed otherwise with the producers.

b.) The consumer is actually informed, by a special note at the bottom of the invoice on purchasing a new product, of the amount of the costs of handling waste from household electrical and electronic equipment put on the market before 13 August 2005. This provision is temporary and only applies until 13 February 2001, and up to 13 February 2013 for certain large household appliances. In the event of no invoice being drawn up, the customer must be informed by any appropriate means (marking, labelling, adhesive labels, etc.). The cost given must not exceed the costs actually incurred.

c.) No, there are no particular arrangements for producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication. For France the question of sales by distance communication is not a real problem in itself. In fact the producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by distance communication (mail order, internet, etc.) from France are subject to the same arrangements as any other French producer.

On the other hand, the household EEE sold directly to French consumers from abroad are never placed on the national market professionally by a person in France and to whom the provisions of the Environmental Code apply. In this case, there is the question of knowing which professional is responsible for the end of the life of this equipment. Nevertheless, France allows a company based abroad selling household EEE directly to French consumers to declare, on a voluntary basis, on the register of producers held by ADEME and take on the corresponding quantities of household EEE. Nevertheless this system is not entirely satisfactory and a concerted and homogeneous reply to this question, which challenges all the Member States, should be given at Community level. In the case of a sale of an item of professional EEE directly to a French professional, the latter, even though he is only a user of the equipment may be considered to be the person who puts the item of EEE on the French national market for the first time (and who is therefore “the producer” for this purpose), and is therefore responsible for the end of life of this item of equipment.

Germany: a.) As provided for in the ElektroG, producers have acted promptly to set up a "clearing house" for compulsory registration, the "Stiftung Elektro-Altgeräte-Register" (EAR); with every application for registration for b2c products an insolvency guarantee has to be

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provided; the guarantee may be given individually or under a collective guarantee system, but not in the form of participation in take-back systems. All costs incurred in registration, guarantee checking, data management and calculation of collection obligations are financed by fees charged to producers. It is for the local authorities, in the framework of shared responsibility for products, to set up and operate collection points for b2c equipment (historical and new WEEE). Producers pay for collection containers, transport and environmentally sound disposal of all WEEE collected, according to the individual obligations determined by the EAR. Failure to comply is an offence and is prosecuted by the Federal Environment Agency. For b2b WEEE (new WEEE only) each producer must offer reasonable arrangements for take-back and ensure transport and environmentally sound disposal.

b.) To cover the costs of disposal of historical b2c WEEE producers may for a limited period charge visible fees; to the respondent’s knowledge, this has so far been done for gas discharge lamps only.

c.) no answer.

Greece: a.) Each producer placing EEE on the Greek market, either B2C or B2B, should participate at RECYCLING APPLIANCES S.A., providing funds for the management operations relating to the waste from his own products. The financial contribution is in proportion to the type and quantity of EEE put on the market and has been estimated from a feasibility study. The financial arrangements constituting are an integral part of the approved dossier of the system, are approved also by the Minister for the Environment.

b.) no answer.

c.) Any natural or legal person from abroad, when shipping its products directly to an end user in Greece, should also contract with the system and provide funds for his own products put on the Greek market.

Hungary: a.) As for financing in respect of WEEE from private households: Producers shall provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from their own products, furthermore in case of historical waste in proportion to their respective market share in categories relating to their products. The producer can choose to fulfil this obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme. Those producers who do not join a collective scheme shall provide a separate guarantee when placing a product on the market. No producer has chosen the individual form of guarantee so far. As for financing in respect of WEEE from users other than private households: Producers, in this field too, shall provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from their own products. For historical waste being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by producers of those products when supplying them. For other historical waste, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by the users other than private households.

b.) In the Hungarian legislation producers are allowed to show purchasers, at the time of sale of new products, the costs of collection, treatment and disposal in an environmentally sound way. See Governmental Decree on WEEE section 19 point (6). According to the reports provided by producers far not all producers live with this opportunity, those who use it mainly are the members of CECED.

c.) Details concerning particular arrangements for producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication: In our law the definition of the producer involves producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication too. So they also have to fulfil all provisions of the rules. In the case they are located abroad they have to have a contract with a natural or legal person who is under the Hungarian legal authority and this person has to arrange all those things for them.

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Ireland: a.) Article 16(1) of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers of household EEE to finance the recycling/recovery of – (a) household EEE he or she has placed on the market on and from 13 August 2005, and (b) household EEE placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005 in proportion to his or her current share of the market. Article 16(2) of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers of household EEE to provide a guarantee by the 10th working day of the month following the placement of household EEE on the market. Producers who are participating satisfactorily in a collective compliance scheme are, however, exempt from these requirements as each collective scheme is required by the terms and conditions of their approvals to have a contingency reserve in place to cover the withdrawal of producers with financial obligations from the market. Article 9 of the Directive Article 17 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 requires producers, which can include business users importing EEE for their own use to finance the collection, treatment and recover of B2B WEEE. Article 18 allows producers of B2B EEE and business users to make alternative financial arrangements for the environmentally sound management of B2B WEEE. The responsibility for the environmentally sound management of WEEE arising from EEE placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005 that is not being replaced, however, rests with the B2B end user.

b.) Visible Fees are described in the Irish transposing legislation as “Environmental Management Costs (EMC’s) or Producer Recycling Fund (PRF). Article 16(9) of S.I. No. 340 of 2005 prohibits the display of EMCs subject to the provisions of article 16(10) which permits the display of EMCs until – (a) 13 February 2011 in respect of EEE falling within categories 2-10, and (b) 13 February 2013 in respect of EEE falling within category 1.

c.) Notwithstanding any distributor and/or producer (importing on a professional basis into Ireland) obligations distance sellers have in accordance with the provisions of S.I. No 340 of 2005, Article 13 specifically requires distance sellers to register with the national WEEE Register. Furthermore it requires each distance seller supplying householders in other member states, when requested, to satisfactorily demonstrate he or she has complied with his or her obligations in accordance with the provisions of Article 8 . Furthermore, Article 14(7) requires distance seller with distributor obligations to – (a) advise consumers of its WEEE take-back arrangements, and (b) take back the old appliance – (i) on the delivery of a new product either at the time of delivery, provided the old product has been disconnected from any utilities and is ready for immediate collection, or (ii) at their premises within a maximum of 30 days from the date of delivery.

Italy: a.) With regard to WEEE from private households: "Historic" WEEE is to be financed by the producers on the market in the calendar year in which the costs arise, in proportion to their respective market shares, calculated on the basis of the number of items, or weight if this is specified in Annex 1B, per type of appliance in the reference calendar year. Producers are to comply with this requirement by establishing collective WEEE management systems; WEEE from households placed on the market after 13 August 2005 is to be financed by the producer, with each producer being responsible for products that they placed on the market with effect from that date. Producers are to comply with this requirement either individually or by joining an appropriate collective or mixed system. In order to guarantee financing, when they place EEE on the market, producers must put in place an adequate financial guarantee in accordance with Law No 348/1982 or in accordance with procedures to be laid down in a decree to that effect, which has not yet been issued. With regard to industrial/commercial WEEE, Article 12 of Legislative Decree No 151/05 lays down that: - the management of EEE placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005 is to be financed by producers where a new appliance is supplied to replace an equivalent product used for the same purposes as the new appliance, and by the holder in other cases; - the management of EEE placed on the market after 13 August 2005 is to be financed by the producer, with each producer being responsible for products that it placed on the market. In order to guarantee financing, when they place an appliance on the market, producers must put in place an adequate financial

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guarantee in accordance with the provisions of Law No 348/1982 or in accordance with procedures to be laid down in a decree to that effect, which has not yet been issued. - Producers and users other than private households may enter into voluntary agreements providing for alternative financing methods for the management of industrial/commercial WEEE, provided that they comply with the objectives and requirements of the Legislative Decree. However, Article 20 of Legislative Decree No 151/2005, which contains transitional and final provisions, laid down that, pending the establishment of a European system for identifying producers in accordance with Article 11(2) of Directive 2002/96/EC, and in any case until 13 August 2007 at the latest, WEEE management may continue to be financed under the "historic" system for equipment placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005.


c.) it is envisaged that producers engaged in distance selling are to comply with the aforementioned requirements in accordance with procedures to be laid down in a decree to that effect, to be issued in compliance with the provisions adopted at EU level.

Latvia: a.) Pursuant to part one of Section 20.5 of the Waste Management Law, in order to ensure that the costs of managing WEEE are covered, the manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment pays a natural resources tax in accordance with the Law "on the natural resources tax", but part three of 20.5 stipulates that the costs of managing waste from household EEE placed on the market up until 13 August 2005 must be covered by all manufacturers of electrical and electronic goods. Pursuant to part one point 2(a) section 3 of the Law on the natural resources tax (adopted on 15 December 2005), a natural resources taxpayer is a person who first sells environmentally hazardous goods within the territory of the Republic of Latvia or who uses environmentally hazardous goods in order to carry out his or her economic activity. In turn, electrical and electronic goods that are hazardous to the environment are listed in Annex 6 to the Law on the natural resources tax. This being the case, manufacturers of electrical and electronic goods pay a natural resources tax in proportion to the amount of electrical and electronic goods they place on the Latvian market.

The above-mentioned scheme also applies to historical waste from private households.

b.) obviously not relevant.

c.) The above-mentioned scheme also applies to producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication.

Lithuania: a.) The requirement for producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment to produce documents showing that the management of WEEE will be financed is established by legal acts. The procedure for the execution and enforcement of such documents and the use and recovery of funds received under them is set in the rules for the conclusion and implementation of bank guarantee, surety and other agreements showing that the WEEE management will be financed and for the accumulation, use and repayment of funds received under those agreements.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Law on Waste Management and the aforementioned rules, a producer or importer of electrical or electronic equipment, at the time of the registrations, must produce one of the following documents showing that the management of WEEE will be financed:

The management of historical WEEE is financed by producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment in proportion to their market share, i.e. producers and importers must meet their targets for WEEE management from household sources (the targets are defined in percentage).

c.) Article 34(4)(6) of the Law on Waste Management requires that persons supplying electrical or electronic equipment by means of distance communication:

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- distribute only electrical or electronic equipment manufactured or imported by a person registered in the Register of producers and importers;

- accept free of charge WEEE at the places of collection of electrical or electronic equipment acquired by means of distance communication;

- transfer the WEEE accepted from consumers to waste managers;

- provide information to consumers on the opportunities for turning in WEEE to distributors of electrical and electronic equipment.

Luxembourg: a.) Producers and importers belonging to ECOTREL pay a recycling contribution for the treatment of WEEE which is passed on in the retail price of new EEE. This contribution is not a tax or special levy but a contribution to the financing of WEEE treatment. It is payable when EEE within the meaning of the VAT code is placed on the market. The current rates of contribution may be found on the website ( www.ecotrel.org)

b.) During a transitional period ending on 13 February 2011 (or 13 February 2013 in the case of category 1 in Annex IA), producers have the possibility of informing purchasers of the costs of collection, treatment and non-polluting disposal when new products are sold. The costs indicated must correspond as closely as possible to those actually incurred.

c.) Producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication also comply with the requirements of Article 9 for equipment supplied within Luxembourg.

Poland: a.) Persons placing equipment on the market must, if they have not concluded an agreement with an organisation which recovers WEEE, or if an agreement with such an organisation has expired or been terminated, or if the organisation has been wound up or declared bankrupt, provide financial security for the calendar year in question for the purpose of financing the collection, treatment, recovery (including recycling) and disposal of waste equipment from households, resulting from equipment of a type specified in Annex 1 to the Act which they have placed on the market.

The financial security provided by persons placing equipment on the market may take the form of:

1) a deposit paid into a separate bank account of the National Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund;

2) a liability insurance contract concluded by the person placing the equipment on the market in respect of non-fulfilment of the obligation to ensure the collection, treatment, recovery (including recycling) and disposal of waste equipment, and the submission to the National Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund of the policy or another document attesting to the conclusion of such a contract;

3) a bank guarantee lodged with the National Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund. There are no arrangements for persons who place equipment on the market by means of distance communication.

b.) In addition, persons placing household equipment on the market may forward to retailers and wholesalers information on waste management costs, including the cost of the collection, treatment, recycling, recovery (other than recycling) and disposal of the waste equipment. Retailers and wholesalers of household equipment must inform purchasers of the level of such costs, provided that they have obtained such information from the persons placing the equipment on the market. Such charges are to be used for the treatment of waste equipment and the recovery and disposal of waste products resulting from its treatment.

c.) no specification.

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Portugal: a.) In accordance with Article 19 of Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, the management undertakings are financed by means of financial contributions payable by the producers according to the EEE they place on the national market. The amount of the financial contribution is determined according to the characteristics and number of EEE placed on the market and reflects the general principles laid down in the said Decree-Law. In their licence applications, the management undertakings have stated the criteria and amounts of the said financial contributions, valid for the two year period from 2005 to 2006, the implementation of which will make it possible to generate the requisite financial resources for the development of the SIGREEE.

The coordination model as between the various agents and the management undertaking is expressed in formal agreements between the parties, laying down their respective rights and obligations, particularly as regards financial considerations, quantities of WEEE to be collected, stored, transported or treated, the transmission of information and regulations for the purposes of sampling, analysis and control of WEEE flows.

Financing for the integrated systems is obtained by means of financial contributions paid by EEE producers to the management undertakings, in consideration of the transfer of the responsibility for end-of-life management of their products. Each producer's total financial contribution is calculated on the basis of the current EcoREEE [Ecological Tax on WEEE] for each category of equipment and the quantity of products placed on the market in each category.

By way of an example, contact has been made with EEE producers with the object of widening the network, so as to ensure a degree of financial stability capable of financing its management costs. It is emphasised that the producers that have joined the management system of one of the undertakings include some foreign EEE distance-selling companies.

b.)-c.) no specification.

Romania: a.) WEEE from private households: Producers have the obligation for financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of historical WEEE from private households deposited at collection facilities. For products put on the market after 31 December 2006 each producer shall be responsible for financing the operations referred above relating to the waste from his own products. The producer can choose to fulfil this obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme. When placing a product on the market, the producers provide a guarantee showing that the management of all WEEE will be financed and that producers clearly mark their products in accordance with Article 11, paragraph (2). The guarantee may take the form of participation by the producer in appropriate schemes for the management financing of WEEE, a recycling insurance or a blocked bank account. The financing costs of “historical wastes” management shall be provided by one or more systems to which all producers, existing on the market when the respective costs occur, contribute proportionately, e.g. in proportion to their respective share of the market by type of equipment.

WEEE not from households: Starting 1st January 2007, the financing costs for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from users other than private households for products put on the market after this date is provided by producers. For “historical wastes” (put on the market before 1st of January 2007), the financing costs of management shall be provided by producers, as follows: a) For “historical wastes” replaced by new equivalent products or by new equipment fulfilling the same function, the financing costs of management shall be provided by producers of those new products when supplying them. The users other than private households may contribute, partial or total, at the financing costs of management of those waste categories. b) For “historical wastes” other than those mentioned under letter a) the financing costs of management shall be provided by the users other than private households. Producers and users other than private

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households may, without prejudice to this Directive, conclude agreements stipulating other financing methods.

b.) The costs of collection, treatment and environmentally sound disposal shall not be shown separately to purchasers at the time of sale of new products. Up to 13 February 2011, producers may inform the purchaser, at the time of sale of a new product, about the costs of collection, treatment and disposal in an environmentally sound way related to products of Annex 1A, except for the products of category 1 of the same annex for which the date is 13 February 2013. Presently, there are three licensed collective organizations. They use visible fees, but the system has just start working. There is no individual system that use visible fee.

c.) Producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment for export by means of distance communication have to comply also the requirements set out in this Article for the equipment supplied in the Member State where the purchaser of that equipment resides.

Slovakia: a.) Producers of electrical and electronic equipment that satisfy the obligations individually and producers of lighting equipment that satisfy obligations individually shall be obliged when placing equipment on the market to provide a guarantee to secure these obligations in the form of a tied bank account or corresponding insurance. The amount of these guarantees shall be determined as the product of volumes of electrical and electronic equipment according to categories and respective rates.

Collective arrangement of take-back, separate collection and handling of WEEE shall not waive the producer of the responsibility to meet the prescribed limits.

Producers of equipment that place products on the market in the Slovak Republic shall pay the contributions and be accountable for the correct calculation of the contribution.

b.) This issue is resolved in Section 54e(3) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. Producers of electrical and electronic equipment are entitled upon the sale of equipment to state on the equipment, or on its packaging or label, or on the tax or other similar document produced upon its sale, the amount of the recycling fee determined for settlement of costs for handling historical waste from private households coming from such equipment. The amount of the recycling fee must correspond to actually incurred costs for handling the WEEE. After expiry of the prescribed terms (Section 81(21)) the application of recycling fees for electrical and electronic equipment is prohibited.

c.) Obligations with regard to the above indent shall apply also to producers of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the electrical and electronic equipment market by electronic communication means, this in the event that the place of performance or destination is in the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Slovenia: Producers and importers fulfil the financial obligation under a collective arrangement within the framework of the collective WEEE management plan whereby the financial obligation is based on the quantity of EE put on the market reported to the Slovenian Customs Administration.

b.) Under the Directive, the use of visible fees is possible but not obligatory. Article 35(2) of the Slovenian Decree on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 107/06) provides as follows: Notwithstanding Article 6 of this Decree, producers and importers as well as distributors in agreement with them may at the point of sale charge for the actual costs incurred for acceptance, collection and recovery of waste equipment under the requirements of this Decree:

– until 13 February 2011 for equipment falling within classes 2 to 10 in Annex 1 to this Decree, and

– until 13 February 2013 for equipment falling within class 1 in Annex 1 to this Decree.

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c.) There are no particular arrangements for producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication. All obligations are the same as for all other producers.

Spain: a.) In accordance with Article 7.1 of the Royal Decree, the principle of individual responsibility applies to waste electrical and electronic equipment for households placed on the Spanish market after 13 August 2005. Each producer must finance the management of the products for which it is responsible, due to having placed them on the Spanish market, at the end of their life cycle. In the case of electrical and electronic waste of professional origin, the Royal Decree establishes that the financing of equipment of professional origin is similar to that of equipment of domestic origin: the manufacturer is responsible for electrical and electronic equipment placed by it on the market when it becomes waste. Producers may fulfil this responsibility collectively, by means of an integrated management system, or individually.

For historical WEEE different rules apply. Royal Decree 208/2005 specifies that producers must finance the management of historical waste of domestic origin on the basis of collective responsibility. For historical waste of professional origin, Royal Decree 208/2005 establishes a financing system which differs from the system for equipment of domestic origin. In cases where old equipment is replaced by new equipment, the producer is responsible for financing the management of the historical waste. In cases where the user only delivers the waste to the producer without purchasing replacement equipment, the user will be responsible for financing the management.

b.) In equipment placed on the market from the entry in force of this Royal Decree, producers must inform users that the final price of the equipment includes the costs of managing the equipment existing on the market prior to 13 August 2005 when it becomes waste. This information must be specified in the invoice. The said obligation may be applicable up to 13 February 2011, except for equipment included in category 1 in annex I, for which it may be extended to 13 February 2013.

c.) With regard to producers engaged in distance selling, Article 2.c of Royal Decree 208/2005 imposes the same obligations on them as on producers which have their corporate headquarters in Spain.

Sweden: a.) Costs for products placed on the market up to 12 August 2005 are financed on the basis of producers' market shares. For products placed on the market after 13 August 2005, a financial guarantee is required.

b.) There are no visible charges for historical waste from private households.

c.) Producers supplying electrical or electronic products by means of distance communication have to take responsibility for an equivalent proportion of the waste arising in each country where such remote sales are made.

UK: a.) Producers have a legal obligation to finance the collection, treatment and recycling of household WEEE (Regulation 8) and non-household WEEE (Regulation 9). In transposing Article 8 of the Directive, the UK Regulations do not distinguish between new WEEE from private households and historical WEEE from private households. All producers who exist on the market in the United Kingdom in a compliance period will be collectively responsible for financing the costs of any waste that arises from WEEE from private households deposited at designated collection facilities in the United Kingdom during that compliance period. Regulation 28A, inserted by paragraph 6 of Schedule 3, requires that all producer compliance schemes produce a report by the end of 2007 which gives proposals for how their members could most effectively assume individual producer responsibility and provide financial guarantees.

Producers are required to join an approved producer compliance scheme under Regulation 10, and to provide information to the scheme on their sales under Regulation 11. Producer

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compliance schemes are approved under Regulations 41-45, and their obligations are set out in Regulations 19-30. Once a producer joins a scheme, their obligations in relation to financing of WEEE pass to the scheme.


c.) Article 8(4) is transposed by Regulation 18, which imposes an obligation for a producer who makes distance sales into other member states to fulfil their Article 8 obligations in that member state.

Resumé: The resumé is given in the following for the different aspects treated in the answers from a.-c

As for a.): In general, the obligations for the financing of the different WEEE streams (i.e. WEEE from households and non households, and historic WEEE and waste put on the market after 13 August 2005 on the other hand) are copied out by Member States from the Directive with notable exceptions e.g. in Sweden or the UK. France exempts producers of EEE for professional use from financing when specifically set out otherwise in the sales agreement. Bulgaria has instituted a product tax in case the producers do not comply with their duties. Most countries (see expressly UK) do not require an individual financial guarantee from producers when they take part in a collective scheme, the exceptions being Germany and Italy.

As for b.) Some MS show the costs of collection, treatment and environmentally sound disposal separately to purchasers at the time of sale of new products: Belgium (Flemish Region), Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia. There are interim phases that allow this practice in Ireland, Belgium (Wallonian Region), Luxembourg, Slovenia.

As for c.) Most MS do not have special requirements for distance sellers, yet many MS have not reported on this specific issue. Austria, Finland lay down that the distance seller has to comply with finance systems in the MS where the purchaser of the equipment is resident. Greece invites distance sellers putting items on the Greek market to participate in the Greek collective system. Similar requirements apply in Ireland, which has reported very elaborately on this issue.

3.10 Evaluation of the positive and negative experiences with the implementation of provisions under Art. 8/9

Austria: By and large Austria has had no problems with implementation of the financing obligations. However, thought should be given to whether there will still be a need in future to have separate financing obligations for historical and new waste electrical equipment. The distance selling provision pursuant to Article 8(4) of the WEEE Directive can be implemented meaningfully and in a manner satisfactory to all Member States only if they all adopt the appropriate implementing provisions. Furthermore, no undue bureaucratic and financial obstacles should be set up, in order to make it easier for foreign producers to comply. Austrian producers point out that in Germany there is no explicit obligation on German distance sellers to contribute to financing in Austria.

Belgium (Brussels): Positive: the contribution paid by consumers is still visible at the moment in which the consumer buys an EE-product. This contribution covers for a part the cost of historical waste as well as the treatment cost of the good he bought.

Belgium (Flemish Region): The (still growing) sale of EEE via internet causes problems with enforcing and monitoring the provisions of the Directive. Foreign companies can often not be addressed by the competent authorities. A part of the solution could be to change the definition of import from 'import in an Member State' to 'import in the European Community'.

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Belgium (Wallonian Region): The recycling contribution was introduced in order to finance the future taking back of appliances sold now, regardless of when they re enter the waste collection system. In reality, the recycling contributions collected in 2004 and 2005 exceed the future recycling costs for the appliances sold: they also cover the costs of taking back and recycling appliances sold before the system was introduced in July 2001 ("historical waste") for which no contribution was collected.

The importers and manufacturers affiliated to Recupel pay a recycling contribution when marketing any appliance in Belgium. All the intermediaries in the commercial chain invoice the net amount of the contribution, separately from the selling price. Only the end user eventually pays the recycling contribution.

The amount of the environmental contribution is determined by Recupel, taking into account the estimated costs of collection and processing as well as a reserve because the future trend of these estimated costs is not known. The amount of the contribution is proposed for opinion to the supervisory authorities, which ensure that a build-up of funds and particularly of unjustified reserves is avoided.

Bulgaria: No specification. Cyprus: The collective scheme is not in full operation yet.

Czech Republic: Positive experiences: Consumers who, when buying new EEE, see that a part of the price is assigned to cover recycling, request not only information but also the service - cost-free take-back of EEE.

Negative experiences: Use of visible fees with products is mainly opposed by major retailers and chain stores (super- and hypermarkets), which see the measure as just an accounting complication, not as a contribution to civic behaviour. They consider it rather to be a potential form of discrimination against their products.

For other distributors and sellers there is a greater administrative cost in providing both options, i.e. hidden and visible introduction of contributions according to their suppliers' requirements. The producer has the option of choosing a visible contribution; the whole of the rest of the distribution network is obliged to follow the means of introducing the contribution as chosen by the producer.

Denmark: The Environmental Protection Agency's view is that the most appropriate and effective approach would be to maintain the existing system for the delivery of WEEE from private households to municipal collection points. This means that the producers, including the collective schemes, assume responsibility for and the financing of the further management of waste from the municipal collection point. This utilises the existing municipal infrastructure for waste collection. The Environmental Protection Agency does not have separate information about B2B agreements on financing of the management of WEEE from users other than private households.

Estonia: Up to now none of Estonian insurance companies offers recycling insurance. A lot of producers of non-household EEE voluntarily collected, recycled and covered the costs of the historical waste arising from non-household EEE (the same type they put on the market) though they were exempted to do that till 13.08.2007 (except 1:1 basis). Since we haven't any clearing-house body then producers are afraid a little bit how will work the settlement of costs between different producers and collective schemes (2007 is the first year they will do it).

Finland: Lack of European-wide information exchange makes the implementing difficult. There are no rules of compliance either. There has been seminar about this subject, arranged in Copenhagen in autumn 2006. This seminar was arranged by the Nordic States and supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. There is a publication from this seminar available.

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France: Positive experiences: Today the first declarations of EEE tonnages placed on the market in 2006 and in the first half of 2007 by French producers make it possible to estimate that the vast majority of producers of household EEE meet their operational and financial obligations under the regulations, by belonging to an approved body for household WEEE. Care should still be taken to ensure that the producers of professional EEE are meeting their obligations, even though few items of professional EEE put on the market after 13 August 2005 have in fact reached the end of their lives. Furthermore, particularly with regard to professional EEE, a more precise definition of the scope of Directive 2002/96/EC would make it possible to clarify and therefore make credible the obligations which the producers have to meet in this respect.

As regards the introduction of a visible fee for household WEEE for a temporary period, this has made it possible to make the consumer rapidly aware of the introduction of this new recovery chain for WEEE. Care has been taken to show that the addition of this extra cost corresponds in return to a real collection service for WEEE. This requirement by consumers regarding not only distribution, but equally by local authorities has greatly encouraged the latter to also very rapidly introduce selective collections of household WEEE on a voluntary basis.

Negative experiences: From the regulatory point of view the harmonisation of the provisions relating to the visible fee for household EEE with the general rules applying to invoicing and pricing makes it undeniably and inevitably complex to implement them.

Therefore the introduction of the visible fee for household EEE has caused heavy administrative charges for the enterprises, whether they are producers or distributors. The necessary modification of the computer systems for accounting and invoicing has been complex and costly, in particular for the smallest enterprises. Furthermore, posting up this fee in the shops has required a large investment by the distributors. In relations between enterprises the implementation of this provision has raised a certain number of questions regarding invoicing and accountancy charges, most of which now do, however, appear to have been resolved.

Finally, as the provision relating to the visible fee is only applicable to household EEE, the inflexibility caused by its implementation has exacerbated the debate concerning the sometimes subtle distinction between the household or professional status of some items of EEE.

Germany: Providing guarantee documents and a trustee agreement is a particular effort for small and medium-sized undertakings, and to assist them comprehensive information has been posted on the EAR website. For the EAR, too, the checking of guarantees accounts for much of the work involved in the registration process. To date there is no experience of guarantees having been called in.

Greece: Since the entrance into force of the relative legislation and up to the end of the year 2006, six hundred and nineteen (619) producers have been contracted with the system. This number has increased to 712 by the end of August 2007. This participation represents a percentage of roughly 85% of EEE put in the Greek market. Our experience regarding the implementation of provisions in respect to financial engagements of producers supplying electric and electronic equipment by means of distance communication, apart from the cases where the producers communicate the system with their own initiative, is rather negative. As far as it concerns distance sales from other Member States, there is no mechanism to monitor the imported products in the country. On the other hand, although products sold by means of distance communication from third countries are controlled in the customs, the custom formalities are implemented by the user.

Hungary: We have had no problem in implementation of this Article but with producers supplying electrical and electronic equipment by means of distance communication. From

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legal point of view it is solved but in practice it is unenforceable as it has been highlighted on EU workshops.

Ireland: A number of distance sellers whose core business is exclusively selling goods over the internet that were supplying EEE to householders in Ireland were found not to be complying with either their distributor and/or producer obligations. When contacted by the enforcement authorities some refused to register with the National WEEE Register. Despite the specific requirements of the Directive, they did not consider themselves as producers as they were not manufacturers and/or did not import EEE into the Community. They also complained that implementation of the WEEE Directive is a barrier to trade and distributors who normally sell from premises that the public has access to a competitive advantage. They also had concerns regarding the duplication of financial obligations. These distance sellers have, following the threat of prosecution, have either come into compliance or withdrawn from the Irish market.

Duplication of Financial Obligations: Internet sellers have valid concerns regarding the duplication of financial obligations on account of goods originally being placed on the market in one member state, and subsequently placed on the market in another. It is, however, up to producers to have clearing mechanisms to avoid such duplication. The clearing mechanisms in Ireland to avoid the multiplying of financial provisions or indeed adjustments when such multiplication has occurred are operating satisfactorily. For example if a distance seller in Ireland finds that EEE that he/she declared to the “Black Box” function of the national WEEE Register was in fact supplied to householders outside the State, the distance seller concerned can have the quantities concerned offset against the quantities declared in his/her next “Black Box” return. Thus the distance seller will have the Environmental Management Costs in respect of the quantities found to have been shipped outside the State deducted from his/her next payment to the compliance scheme (WEEE Ireland or ERP) in which he/she is participating.

Italy: For industrial/commercial WEEE, which on average has a long life-span, producers have highlighted problems concerning the system for financial guarantees and seem to be more in favour of voluntary agreements providing for alternative financing methods. These issues are being examined in greater detail.

Latvia: Latvia has applied the system of natural resources taxation to the funding of WEEE management, the system in question having been operational in the country for more than 10 years, and it has proved effective for funding the management of many flows of refuse. As regards the Article in question, Latvia thinks its requirements are complex, its implementation placing too great an administrative burden on the Member States.

Lithuania: Experience gained in the implementation of the requirements of Articles 8 and 9 of the Directive has shown that there is no practical difference between managing historical WEEE and managing waste from electrical and electronic equipment produced after 13 August 2005. Application of additional and rigorous measures motivating producers and importers to finance waste management facilitates the collection of significant quantities of waste electronic and electrical equipment. But in setting targets for collecting a certain quantity of waste (particularly in respect of the target of 4 kg per inhabitant per year) it is necessary to take into account the consumption level in the Member State and other specific (social and economic) conditions. The experience of the first year has shown, however, that the application of additional collection methods, even in a short period, can facilitate the achievement of the targets set, but the development of waste collection, particularly household waste collection system requires a much longer time.

Luxembourg Positive experience: The market share of producers affiliated to the authorised body is put at 90%. Negative experience: – Free riders not participating in the financing system probably account for 10% of the market. — It is difficult to identify producers supplying equipment by means of distance communication and established abroad

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(teleshopping, catalogues, Internet). We are also aware of firms coming to Luxembourg occasionally to sell EEE (international fair, local fairs).


Portugal: The experience obtained by the management companies makes it possible to define as positive points the high level of compliance with their financial obligations by members of the system and the high rate of membership of Portuguese producers listed and registered with ANREEE, the registration authority. As negative points, we would mention delays on the part of certain economic agents with producers' responsibilities; we have noted certain undertakings in breach of the law and the existence of certain unregistered producers, despite our awareness-raising campaign, resulting in situations of unfair competition.

Romania: The implementation of the Directive has just started; therefore there is no Romanian experience to report.

Slovakia: None.

Slovenia: No specification. Spain: No specification. Sweden: It is too soon to assess positive or negative experience of these provisions, as producers' market shares have not yet been reported and funding has not yet been monitored.

UK: To date over 3,500 producers have registered in the UK representing all the major producers with a combined sales of just under 2 million tonnes of EEE sales. This is broadly in line with estimates of total volume of EEE placed on the UK market. These producers are members of the 37 approved compliance schemes operating in the UK. In order to receive approval, each scheme had to make an application detailing their operational plans for meeting their obligations. Over 75% of collection facilities have so far made arrangements for a compliance scheme to collect and arrange treatment for WEEE arising at their sites.

Resumé: Overall, there appears a high level of compliance with the WEEE Directive’s financing requirements, as reported by the MS. The main problems reported concerned EEE purchased via the internet from distance sellers in other MS. In general, it is difficult to “get hold of the distance sellers” situated in other countries (Flemish Region, Hungary, Luxembourg). Ireland said it had a clear clearing house system exonerating distance sellers situated in Ireland but selling items to other countries from paying fees for these items.

Other problems

Estonia commented that no company in Estonia wants to insure EEE producers.

As regards the approaches to implementation, Finland suggested to the harmonised implementation of the Directive.

France stated that more attention should be paid to professional WEEE managed at an individual level. Italy envisages a new approach to the finance system for WEEE with a long-life span.

3.11 Art. 10: Information for users

MS shall ensure that users of EEE in private households are given the necessary information about: (a) the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to

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collect such WEEEE separately; (b) the return and collection systems available to them; (c) their role in contributing to reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE; (d) the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in EEEE, (e) the meaning of the symbol shown in Annex IV

3.11.1 Actions and measures taken All MS have responded affirmatively to having transposed this article except for Belgium (Wallonian Region) who specified: “The environmental agreement of 19 February 2001 between the regional authorities and the industrial sectors concerned refers to the requirement to inform consumers and make them aware of the take-back requirement and how they can participate in it. Each time Recupel wishes to launch a communication campaign, the regional authorities must be consulted and give their approval regarding the campaign's content before it can start. These campaigns are carried out via media such as the Internet, newspapers, radio, television and specialist economics magazines. Retailers also play a role in informing consumers. In each sales outlet they must put up an information notice on how they discharge their obligations under the requirement to take back WEEE.”

Austria: Producers must make information available in an appropriate form to the final consumers of electrical and electronic equipment for private households, for example in print media and via the Internet, which involves consulting all relevant local authorities and business circles. A working party has been set up for this purpose within the Austrian coordinating body. In 2006 a total of some EUR 800 000 was spent on public relations measures in Austria.

Belgium (Brussels): Recupel organised information campaigns on a large scale to inform the citizens about sorting out WEEE (advertisements, television commercials, etc.) and the infrastructure set up for WEEE management. Each selling point of EEE exhibits information on how the final seller complies with the concerned legislation and how the consumer can dispose of WEEE.

Flemish Region: sensitizing by the managing system (Recupel) - in the Flemish Region waste legislation currently under review the following principal will be entered: the final seller of products for which a Flemish Region acceptance obligation applies (eg. WEEE) must install a message with the title "AANVAARDINGSPLICHT" (acceptance obligation) on a manifest spot in each of his points of sale. This message explains how the seller complies with the concerned legislation and in what ways the consumer can dispose of his end-of-use product. Also when a sale takes place outside a store this information must be clearly mentioned.

Bulgaria: Producers and importers of household EEE are obliged to include in the instructions for the use of the appliance information in Bulgarian on the requirement for the separate collection of WEEE and the prohibition on depositing it in wheeled bins for mixed household waste, the systems set up for the take back and collection of WEEE, the role of consumers in separate collection, re-use, recycling and other forms of WEEE recovery and the potentially harmful effects on the environment and human health of hazardous substances in EEE. Distributors of EEE and retailers must display visibly at points of sale tables containing information on the possibilities and reasons for take back at the point of sale of household WEEE, other places for the return of WEEE and the meaning of the symbol representing a crossed-out wheeled bin.

Cyprus: 1. Publications in Newspapers and Magazines. 2. Lectures and TV appearances.

Czech Republic: While the legislation has been prepared, take-back of WEEE has already been promoted in the media. Articles appear in the press, and information for the public is broadcast on television and radio. Massive information campaigns have been launched by collective system operators after their entry in the Register. Regional initiatives by individual

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collective systems targeting the public are also under way, e.g. via competitions for children and the creation of statues of "scrap aliens" made of consumer EEE brought along by the public, etc. Consumers are also being targeted by promotional materials and advertisements, and are thus being alerted to the possibilities of dropping off their WEEE at take-back points. When buying new EEE, consumers are generally provided with this information in user guides. The producers' obligation to inform consumers is laid down directly in Act No 185/2001 Coll. on waste. References to specific actions and articles are given in yearly reports on producer compliance with obligations.

Denmark: The rules are laid down in §§ 8, 17, 18 and 20 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005, as amended by Regulation No 591 of 9 June 2006. To facilitate producers' obligation to inform users the Environmental Protection Agency has drawn up a standard text which producers can use when providing the requisite information to users.

Estonia: Measures are provided in Governmental Regulation No. 376 of 24 December 2004 § 2, § 3, § 5 (1). The producer shall ensure that the users of EEE are provided, through the points of sale, with the information on: 1) return facilities (locations and telephone numbers where relevant information can be obtained); 2) the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment; 3) the meaning of the mark. Upon collection of waste, a waste holder shall keep WEEE apart from other waste. The producer shall apply the following information on EEE placed on the market: 1) information identifying the producer; 2) on equipment placed on the market after 13 August 2005 a mark pursuant to standard EVS-EN 50419:2006. Any information indicated on electrical and electronic equipment, including a mark, shall be clearly legible, indelible and visible until the equipment turns into waste. If there is not enough space to attach the mark on the surface of equipment or if a mark attached on the surface of equipment is likely to cause inconvenience upon use of the electrical or electronic equipment, the mark may be provided in the instructions for use or warranty document.

Finland: Article 10 of the Directive has been laid down in section 11 in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Like before the implementation of the Directive, the regional and municipal waste authorities as well as other actors such as waste management companies provide information for the users. The producer organisations have information for companies and households on their Internet pages.

France: Pursuant to Article R.543-187 of the Environmental Code, the municipalities or their groupings, the producers, distributors and coordinating bodies must inform the users of household EEE of the obligation of selective collection, the collection systems available to them and the potential effects on the environment and on human health of the dangerous substances contained in the appliances. To this end, they put in place the action they consider to be appropriate.

In practice the approved bodies for household WEEE have distributed many information documents to the general public since the chain has been put in place, either in the form of printed matter, notices or inserts in the press. Furthermore in 2007 Recyclum sent out messages by radio about the selective collection service and used lamp recovery service.

The use of the label depicted in Art. 10(1)(e) is prescribed. If the size of the appliance does not allow this, this symbol must appear on the packaging and on the guarantee documents and instructions for use which accompany it. The pictogram must be affixed in a visible, legible and indelible manner.

Germany: Legislation (local authorities are obliged to provide information under § 9(2) ElektroG and producers under § 10(3) ElektroG). With Government support, extensive information material was developed for both local authorities and traders and was made available to them free of charge; in addition, various information sessions were held for local authority employees (waste advisers) and when WEEE take-back was introduced a free

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hotline was set up. The Environment Ministry conducted its own extensive publicity campaign, which was complemented by a Federal Environment Agency press campaign. Almost all local authorities produced special information for final holders when WEEE collection began, with some even organising special events. Individual businesses provided consumer information via their own brochures or posters and various producer associations ran their own publicity campaigns.

Greece: The measures for information and stimulation are set as Annex VII in the published Presidential Decree N. 117/2004. The communication policy should be addressed nationwide to producers, consumers and users of electric and electronic equipment, private and public Organisations and should cover: • WEEE alternative management programmes • WEEE take-back/ return systems • Reuse/ recycling/ recovery information • The significance of the contribution of users – consumers for achieving the collection targets.

The proposed actions include at least elaboration of data bank accessible through internet, and printed material (posters, leaflets, etc), radio, TV and press campaigns and production of audiovisual material of specific target orientation (i.e students) Both individual and collective systems should describe in detail their plan for the implementation of the above provisions, in the dossier for their approval from the Minister of Environment.

Hungary: We have obliged the producers to inform users about all provisions included in Article 10 in the instructions for use, manuals, etc. For details please see Governmental Decree on WEEE section 13. It also comprises the marking obligation.

Ireland: Article 27 of S.I. No 340 of 2005 requires producers to apply the wheeled-bin symbol to all products. If it cannot be applied to the product; it must be printed on the packaging as well as in the instruction manual together with the warranty card and applied in the form of a flag or tag on a cable or cord attached to the products. The wheeled-bin symbol must also be indelible, visible and legible. It also requires producers to ensure that consumers when purchasing a new product are informed of the aspects mentioned in Art. 10(1) of the Directive. Article 29 requires distributors to ensure that consumers when purchasing a new product are informed the return and collection systems available to them.

Italy: Article 13(1) and (2) of Legislative Decree No 151/2005 lay down that EEE producers are to provide, in equipment's instructions for use, adequate information concerning: the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as municipal waste and for it to be collected separately; WEEE collection systems and the option of returning appliances to the distributor when purchasing a new one; the potential effects on the environment and human health of hazardous substances in EEE and the improper use of EEE or parts thereof; the meaning of the symbol indicating separate collection, which is shown in Annex 4; and the penalties in the event of unlawful disposal of WEEE. In the event that, on account of the type of EEE, instructions are not provided, this information must be provided by the distributor at the point of sale using publications or the display of information material.

Latvia: Cabinet Regulation No 736 of 24 August 2004 "on the requirements governing the labelling of, and submission of information on, electrical and electronic equipment" stipulates that EEE manufacturers and distributors must provide consumers with the following information on their internet sites, at commercial outlets and in the instructions enclosed with household electrical and electronic goods: see aspects Art. 10(1).

In addition to the labelling requirements set out in other regulatory acts relating to electrical and electronic equipment, manufacturers must, when labelling equipment, indicate the relevant symbol given in the Annex to the Regulation, as well as the date of manufacture.

Lithuania: The Law on Waste Management requires that producers and/or importers of electrical and electronic equipment mark their electrical and electronic equipment so that users are informed of the need to collect such waste equipment separately. The rules for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment require that producers and

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importers themselves, or through distributors of their products, provide users with information on: the aspects mentioned in Art. 10(1).

The aforementioned information must be provided in the instructions for use of the equipment or in a separate publication. Where the information is provided to the users through distributors, it must be provided in writing at the retail points. In order to implement those requirements, the Administrative Infringements Code provides for administrative liability for failure to fulfil the aforementioned obligation.

Luxembourg: Article 10 of the Directive was incorporated into national law by Article 12 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005: 1. EEE users obtain from producers, distributors or government the necessary information on the aspects mentioned in Art. 10(1) of the WEEE Directive. 2. Consumers are required to contribute to take-back and separate collection of WEEE and facilitate the process of reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery. 3. To minimise disposal of WEEE with unsorted municipal waste and facilitate separate collection, producers must ensure that EEE placed on the market after 13 August 2005 is clearly marked with the symbol in Annex V. Exceptionally, where the size or function of the product so requires, the symbol is printed on the packaging, the instructions for use and the guarantee certificate. 4. Producers and distributors may supply all or part of the necessary information in the instructions for use or at the point of sale.

Poland: In accordance with the Act of 29 July 2005 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, persons placing household equipment on the market must affix information to the equipment. This information must indicate that waste equipment is not allowed to be placed together with other waste, and include an explanation of the meaning of the marking, a specimen of which is presented in Annex 4 to the Directive. It should also include a description of the potential effects on the environment and human health of the presence of hazardous components in the equipment, as well as information on the weight of the equipment. Persons placing household equipment on the market must also provide information on the system for collecting waste equipment and on the contribution made by households to the re-use and recovery (including recycling) of waste equipment.

Portugal: Article 21 of the Decree-Law No 230/2004 provides that the information related to the aspects in Art. 10(1) WEEE Directive must be given (by management undertakings) in information and awareness-raising campaigns:

With regard to the management undertakings' activities, these have been carried on at various levels of intervention, particularly at the institutional level, aimed at distributors/retailers and final consumers. In that area, the management undertakings have taken various actions relating to communication and dialogue, exhibitions, explanation sessions, conferences, interviews with the media and social information communication campaigns.

Romania: Romanian legislation copies the requirement of Art. 10(1) The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Ministry of Environment and Water Management and the public authorities are requested to promote information and educational campaigns of consumers and to encourage them to facilitate the process of reuse, treatment and recovery of WEEE. With a view to minimising the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to facilitating its separate collection, the producers shall mark electrical and electronic equipment manufactured after 31 December 2006, with the symbol shown in Annex 4. In exceptional cases, where this is necessary because of the size or the function of the product, the symbol shall be printed on the packaging, on the instructions for use and on the warranty of the electrical and electronic equipment. Producers and/or distributors shall provide all of the information needed with regard to the aspects mentioned above in the instructions for use or at the point of sale.

Slovakia: This issue is resolved in Section 54b(1)(k) and Section 54c(4) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll. Producers of EEE are obliged to inform consumers about the requirement not to

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dispose of WEEE together with unsorted municipal waste, but to hand it over at determined collection points (free of charge), about their duty by which they contribute to the re-use, material recovery or other manner of recycling WEEE, about potential impacts of WEEE on the environment and on human health as a consequence of contained hazardous substances, and about the meaning of the graphic symbol which electrical and electronic equipment is marked with.

Slovenia: 6

Spain: Article 3.d of Royal Decree 208/2005 makes it obligatory for producers to inform users of the correct management of electrical and electronic equipment when it becomes waste and to inform them of the meaning of the symbol referred to in annex V of that Royal Decree:

Inform users on the criteria for correct environmental management of waste electrical and electronic equipment from private households, the systems for returning that equipment, the fact that it may be returned free of charge and its selective collection. Information must also be provided on the meaning of the symbol referred to in annex V in the instructions for use, the guarantee or the documentation accompanying the equipment and the possible impact on the environment or on human health of any dangerous substances that it may contain.

Likewise, the Framework Agreements between the integrated management systems and the Autonomous Communities include an investment by the integrated management systems of EUR 0.12 per head of population per year on campaigns to raise awareness and provide information on the management of electrical and electronic waste.

Sweden: Under Ordinance (SFS 2005:209) producers must supply the information needed by municipalities in order to inform households or users. Municipalities have to provide households or users with the following information: the effects of hazardous substances in electrical or electronic products on human health and the environment; the meaning of the marking on such products; the requirement for users to dispose of electrical or electronic waste separately from other waste and how to do so; the collection systems available to households; the waste recovery results brought about by sorting.

UK: Under Regulation 33, all distributors of EEE are required to provide their customers with the information set out in Article 10(1). The Distributor Takeback Scheme has additionally made information available to consumers via its website www.recycle-more.co.uk, which allows them to locate their nearest collection facilities. The Government is also working to ensure that local authorities are making their residents aware of the facilities available for disposing of WEEE. Producers are obliged under Regulation 15 to mark EEE with the crossed out wheeled bin symbol as required in Article 10(3).

Resumé: All Member States reported some action in relation to ensuring that users of EEE are provided necessary information about disposal, collection and return, their role in reuse and recycling, potential impacts on the environment and human health and the presence of harmful substances.

There are two primary approaches to the provision of information, i.e.

Information provided by public authorities or the WEEE management systems/producer association and targeted to the public at large. Means could be e.g. websites, newspaper articles, etc.

Information provided by the producer directly to the purchaser/consumer of EEE, i.e. use manuals, declarations of take-back in the shops.

6 Here obviously the same answer was given as to the previous question re. Art. 8/9?

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Some MS combine these approaches, others report adopting exclusively one or the other approach.

3.11.2 Positive and negative experiences gained from the implementation of Art. 10 Austria: In 2006, as a result of efficient public relations work, 7.6 kg of electrical waste per inhabitant was collected.

Belgium Brussels: The fact that legislation obliges sellers to inform each consumer individually about how he can return WEEE (flyer, etc.) is seen as a positive experience.

Belgium (Flemish Region): The amount of seperately collected WEEE that increased rapidly over the years indicates a succesful informing of the public.

Belgium Wallonian Region: Recupel often advertises its own system in order to attract new members, but does not promote prevention and reuse sufficiently. Retailers generally do not inform consumers sufficiently, and often refer only to the cost of the contribution paid to the Recupel system. They should also inform consumers of their role in the context of the take back requirement and explain the Recupel system.

Czech Republic: Because the public are generally aware of take-back, they insist on its being implemented. However, there is not yet sufficient awareness of the location of the nearest take-back points.

Denmark: Nothing to report.

Estonia: One of Estonia’s collective scheme (MTÜ EES-Ringlus) has done some campaigns (one of them was for children). NGO's have also more or less organised some campaigns (usually this is part of some other general campaign). Generally producers are not in favour of organising public campaigns very much. The reason is that they are afraid that if they do some campaigns then people return all their old equipments only to them and they need to do clearing-house (they haven't any experience with that yet how it will work). There have been no problems with marking.

Finland: Information is available mostly through waste authorities and retailers. Finland has a long tradition of collecting of EE-waste, so there are no big problems related to this.

France: Positive experiences: So far France only reported little feedback concerning the effects of the communication among users. However, as the collection levels are increasing regularly, just as much among the distributors as among the local authorities, it would appear that the communication campaigns being run are bearing fruit.

Negative experiences: Some ambiguity persists around the wrongly but often used term “eco-tax”, often erroneously considered by consumers and even by certain enterprises as an obligatory additional tax imposed by the State and not as a reflection of the management costs of the historic household WEEE resulting from the free choice of bodies selected by the producers. This confusion which to some extent unloads responsibility may be removed by stressing this point in future information documents. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 8(3) of Directive 2002/96/EC, as the visible nature of the fee for the household EEE is only temporary, this problem will disappear by itself in 2011 and 2013.

Germany: Local authorities made very good use of sample information, and the wide public awareness that the local authority was the body to consult on waste matters was an advantage. The trade made very little use of the specific sample information. When WEEE take-back began it received frequent media coverage.

Greece: The approval of the system was widely advertised through daily press on July 2004. At the same period Ministry of Environment announced the obligation of producers to implement new measures for WEEE. Thereafter several informative projects have been carried out by press realize, specific articles in magazines, organization of information

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meetings, participation in specific events, press and radio conferences. Ministry of Environment and “Recycling Appliances S.A” both have published with relevant information for WEEE producers and consumers on their web sites.

Hungary: The producers have executed the provisions. Experiments show that almost all products are marked; the instructions for use contain the necessary information. In some cases there are public signs on return and collection systems for the users at the points of sale.

Ireland: The fivefold increase in the recycling of household WEEE following implementation of the Directive is indicative of the benefits.

Italy: At the moment there are no problems.

Latvia: Latvia has transposed the relevant provisions of the Directive. However, there has been confusion about the concept of "date of manufacture" – whether the date the electrical or electronic equipment was manufactured needs to be given or whether an indication must also be given that the item of equipment was manufactured after 13 August 2005.

Lithuania: The experience gained during the first year of the implementation of the requirements has shown that more convenient ways of waste collection and the availability of information on them encourage people to be more actively involved in sorting waste, including WEEE.

Luxembourg: Positive experience: The authorised body, the Ministry of the Environment and the local authorities and local authority associations each play their part in informing users through their own media structures. Negative experience: nothing to report.


Portugal: The management undertakings mention the difficulty in changing the habits and behaviour of EEE users as a negative experience.

Romania: Until now, producers were not really aware about their obligations under the Directive. Collective organisations that have just been licensed have plans for developing information campaigns.

Slovakia: No specification. Slovenia: The fact is that informing end users is a key requirement for the successful operation of the system of separate collection. Experience shows that the prescribed information provision on the part of producers and importers is increasing proper management of WEEE on the part of end users. It is still not sufficient and as a result additional information campaigns are being carried out as an adjunct to the measures taken, and the Ministry is also involved. In addition to their primary aim of raising awareness and providing information, these campaigns are directly encouraging proper management of WEEE (competitions with prizes, opportunities for practical rewards when appliances are handed in).

Spain: No specification. Sweden: The Member State has not carried out any evaluation as to whether users of electrical or electronic products are satisfied with the way in which Article 10 of the Directive has been implemented.

UK: It is too early to evaluate the effects of Regulations 15 and 33, which came into effect on 1 April 2007 and 1 July 2007 respectively.

Resumé: In relation to the provision of information most Member States have reported no problems with the implementation of Art. 10. Some countries do not consider they have had sufficient experience yet, but state that awareness is growing, albeit in some MS slowly (e.g.

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for consumers: Slovenia, Portugal, especially for producers: Romania). Some MS indicate that the masses of WEEE collected have risen sharply specifically in countries that did not have a WEEE collection system before. Belgium (Wallonian Region) said that the collective systems/retailers should inform the public more on their role in WEEE collection.

3.12 Information for treatment facilities (Art. 11)

3.12.1 Measures taken in accordance with Article 11 of the WEEE Directive

In order to facilitate the reuse and the correct and environmentally sound treatment of WEEE, MS shall take the necessary measures to ensure that producers provide reuse and treatments information for each type of new EEE they put on the market. A mark on the EEE appliances shall make the producer identifiable.

All respondents answered affirmatively to having taking measures in accordance with Article 11, with the exception of Cyprus.

Austria: Producers must provide the necessary reuse and treatment information for every type of new electrical and electronic equipment.

Belgium (Brussels): WEEE-forum (association of producers/importers at the European level) has taken initiatives in this regard. Recupel is part of the WEEE-forum. Producers provide all relevant information on an internet forum shared with reusers, recyclers, etc.

Belgium (Flemish Region Region): In the Flemish Region Region, producers should provide information on re-use and treatment of new EEE within a year after bringing on the market to second-hand shops and treatment and recycling facilities. This information should contain directions on the different parts and components, and on where hazardous substances are located in the product. This information should be provided in bookform or electronically. Wether the abovementioned is common practice in the Flemish Region Region is not clear yet.

Belgium (Wallonian Regionn Region): Article 68a of the Walloon Government decree of 25 April 2002 introducing a requirement to take back certain waste with a view to its recovery or management stipulates that EEE manufacturers must provide processing centres and reuse centres with information on reuse and processing for each type of new equipment placed on the market within a year following the marketing of that equipment. The information must cover, if necessary, the different components and materials contained in the EEE as well as the location of dangerous substances and preparations in that equipment. The information is to be conveyed inter alia by means of manuals or electronic media.

In practice, there is no specific manual for reuse centres and processing centres. Processing installations do not work on the basis of the appliances' make or the manufacturer's name. Processing is specific to the category of WEEE. A recycler encountering problems with or having doubts about an appliance can contact Recupel, which then contacts the appropriate manufacturer.

Bulgaria: Producers and importers placing EEE on the market must clearly identify themselves by marking appliances legibly, visibly and permanently. Producers and importers of EEE must provide persons engaging in the collection, transport, temporary storage, treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE with information on the different EEE components and materials as well as the location of dangerous substances and preparations in EEE in order to facilitate the correct and environmentally sound treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE, including maintenance and repair. The information is provided in the form of manuals, instructions, electronic media and online access within three months of the placing of the EEE concerned on the market of the Republic of Bulgaria.

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Czech Republic: The obligation to inform WEEE treatment facilities falls to producers of EEE. Collective system operators take on this obligation on behalf of the producers. For information on the composition of EEE placed on the market, they have opted for an approach based on the agreement between European associations of recyclers and producers (http://www.elektrowin.cz/data/files/joint-position-information-to-recyclers-weee-art11-151-cz.pdf), enumerating hazardous materials and their locations. This provides standardised information from producers for all treatment facilities in the territory of the Czech Republic. Some collective systems publish "information sites", where producers give information on the composition of their products, on their internet sites, to which treatment facilities have access.

Denmark: The rules are laid down in §§ 18 and 20 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005. At the time of registration producers provide information on the management of their products. Producers give information, e.g. on their web pages, about the environmental conditions applying to their products. However, the Environmental Protection Agency does not have a general overview of the media used by producers to provide the information.

Estonia: It is provided in Governmental Regulation No. 376 of 24 December 2004 § 4. Producers shall make available to the facilities engaged in the treatment of WEEE all information related to the reuse and processing of each new type of EEE that is placed on the market not later than one year after such equipment is placed on the market, indicating the components and materials of such equipment and specifying the location if dangerous substances and preparations contained therein. How producers make available required information is left free. Most of cases it is done via Internet.

Finland: Article 11 of the Directive has been laid down in section 12 in the Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. There is not much information available from this subject.

France: In accordance with Article R.543-178 of the Environmental Code, the producers keep available for treatment facilities information relating to the treatment of each new type of EEE put on the market after 13 August 2005. They meet these obligations within a period of one year after marketing the equipment, electronically if necessary. The public authorities in particular assess the means used to meet these requirements when approving the individual systems put in place by the producers of household equipment, and when approving the bodies to which the producers of household equipment can also belong. As regards the labelling obligations of the appliances referred to in Article 11.2 of the Directive, Article R.543-177 of the Environmental Code states that each item of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market after 13 August 2005 carries a label making it possible to identify its producer and to see that it has been put on the market after this date.

Germany: refers to legislation.

Greece: Greek producers have been asked by written notice to provide information about the different types of materials and components as well as the location of dangerous substances, if any, of each type of products each one puts on the Greek market, in conformity with article 12 of PD 117/2004.

Hungary: This obligation for the producers was transposed into the national legislation. Please see Governmental Decree on WEEE section 13 point (4). There were complains on that provision from neither sides.

Ireland: Article 25 of S.I. No 340 of 2005 requires producers to ensure, that within one year of placing any and each new type of EEE on the market, he or she or a third party acting on his or her behalf furnishes to recovery facilities – (a) reuse and treatment information, (b) the different electrical and electronic components, and materials, and (c) the location of dangerous substances and preparations, in each type of EEE he or she placed on the market as far as it is needed by those recovery facilities. Article 26 permits the information to

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be made available in the form of manuals or by means of electronic media, including CD-ROM or through online services.

Italy: Article 13(3) of Legislative Decree No 151/2005 lays down that producers are to make available to re-use centres and treatment and recycling facilities, in paper or electronic form or on an electronic medium, information on re-use and treatment of every type of new appliance placed on the market, within a year of placing on the market. This information is to mention the EEE's various components and materials and the location of the hazardous substances and preparations, in such a way as to enable these facilities to comply with the provisions of the Decree.

Latvia: Cabinet Regulation No 736 of 24 August 2004 "on the requirements governing the labelling of, and submission of information on, electrical electronic equipment" stipulates that within one year of a new electrical or electronic appliance being placed on the market, its manufacturer must give the following information, electronically or in writing, to operators of facilities for the processing, re-use, recycling and recovery of WEEE:

1. materials and substances in, and components of, electrical and electronic appliances;

2. the location of the dangerous chemical substances and products within the appliance.

Lithuania: Article 34(6) of the Law on Waste Management requires that producers and/or importers of electrical and electronic equipment notify waste electrical and electronic equipment managers (and facilities treating this kind of waste) of the hazardous substances contained in the waste and the risks posed to human health and the environment. The rules for the management of electrical and electronic equipment and WEEE require that producers and importers provide information to waste management enterprises on the substances contained in electrical and electronic equipment, its components, their disassembly, potential re-uses, the hazardous substances and preparations contained and their location. This information must be provided in printed form and electronic form within a year following the date on which the product is placed on the market. Luxembourg: Legal basis: Article 13 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005: 1. To facilitate reuse and adequate, environmentally friendly treatment of WEEE, in particular maintenance, improvement, renovation and recycling, producers must supply information on the reuse and treatment of each type of new EEE placed on the market within a year of its marketing. This must include all information on the various components and materials used in the EEE, and the location of any dangerous substances and preparations which it contains, required by reuse centres and treatment and recycling plants for the purposes of complying with the Regulation. EEE producers must supply this information to reuse centres and treatment and recycling plants in the form of handbooks or electronically, e.g. on CD-ROM or online. 2. All producers of electrical or electronic appliances placed on the market after 13 August 2005 must be clearly identified on the product labelling. In addition, so that there is no doubt as to the date of marketing of the equipment, the equipment must be specifically marked as having been placed on the market after 13 August 2005.

Poland: Under the Act of 29 July 2005 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, persons placing equipment on the market must draw up, within 12 months following to the introduction of a new type of equipment, information for operators of treatment facilities on the re-use and treatment of waste equipment. The information, drawn up in written form or in electronic form on a data storage medium, should in particular:

1) identify the parts of the equipment which can be re-used;

2) indicate the location in the equipment of the hazardous components, materials and parts specified in Annex 2 to the Act, which should be removed from the equipment.

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Portugal: Under Article 29 of Decree-Law No 230/2004, producers must provide the various WEEE operators with information of the re-use and treatment of each new type of WEEE placed on the market, including in so far as may be necessary the various components and materials, and the location of any dangerous substances and preparations.

With regard to measures taken to provide information on WEEE treatment and recovery units that are partners in the SIGREEE, one of the management undertakings has made access to computerised systems a privileged means of communication, making it possible to handle data on the network of operators.

Romania: According to Romanian legislation, GD 448/2005, art. 11 – Information for treatment facilities: “(1) In order to facilitate the reuse and the correct and environmentally sound treatment of WEEE, including maintenance, upgrade, refurbishment and recycling, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that producers provide reuse and treatment information for each type of new EEE put on the market within one year after the equipment is put on the market. (2) This information referred to in paragraph (1) shall include data on the different EEE components and materials, as well as the location of dangerous substances and preparations in EEE. (3) Producers of EEE shall make available this information to reuse centres, treatment and recycling facilities, in the form of manuals or by means of electronic media (e.g. CD-ROM, online services).”

Slovakia: This issue is resolved in Section 54b(1)(b), (c) and (j) of Act No. 409/2006 Coll.

Producers of electrical and electronic equipment are obliged

- when placing equipment on the market, to indicate on the equipment or on the equipment packaging, or indicate on the tax or similar document issued upon the sale, details by which it is possible to identify the party placing the equipment on the market; this obligation shall not apply to lighting equipment;

- to place on the market equipment that is marked by the graphic symbol determined in generally binding legal regulation [Section 68 (3)(u)] for the purposes of take-back or separate collection; this obligation shall not apply to lighting equipment; where it is not possible to mark equipment in this way due to its size or functionality, the packaging, user manual and warranty are to be marked;

- to provide treatment facilities with information required for environmentally sound treatment of WEEE, in particular data on hazardous substances (Section 69), possibilities of re-use and recycling of WEEE, or appropriate method of disposal; it is obligatory to provide this information for each category of new electrical and electronic equipment when placing it on the market, and to promote this information especially in user manuals, on technical data media, or electronic communication means, within one year from placement of the equipment on the market.

Slovenia: Article 16(4) of the Slovenian Decree on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 107/06) provides as follows: Producers and importers shall inform the operator of the treatment centre of the reuse and treatment appropriate for each new type of equipment within a year of its being put on the market in order to ensure reuse and environmentally sound treatment of waste equipment as laid down in this Decree. At the request of the operator of the treatment centre, producers and importers shall ensure that the information provided includes particulars of the various components and materials forming part of the equipment and of the location of dangerous substances in it. Producers and importers shall provide information for the operator of the treatment centre in the form of manuals, via electronic media, etc.

Spain: The obligations imposed on producers in Article 3.c) of Royal Decree 208/2005 include the obligation to inform facilities on the correct treatment of their equipment, provided that the facilities request that information.

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To provide electrical and electronic waste managers, if they so request, with relevant information for dismantling equipment which allows identification of the various components and materials which may be re-used and recycled and the location of dangerous substances and preparations and how the aims of re-use, recycling and evaluation required in Article 9 can be achieved for each item of equipment. That information must be provided in the medium deemed suitable in each case, within a maximum term of one year from when each type of equipment is placed on the market.

Sweden: In the Regulations (NFS 2005:10) on preliminary treatment of waste electrical and electronic products, the Member State has prescribed the information referred to in Article 11 of the WEEE Directive. The Regulations are addressed to those engaged in preliminary treatment and/or recovery of electrical and electronic waste. This area is supervised by municipalities. In autumn 2006 the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency published guidance for preliminary treatment and recovery operators on its website. This provides information on their responsibilities and on producers' responsibilities towards them. The Ordinance (SFS 2005:209) requires manufacturers to mark products. The same Ordinance also requires manufacturers to supply information on the contents of products. This must be provided within one year after first sale and made available to those engaged in commercial management of electrical and electronic waste.

UK: Regulation 17 requires that producers make available information to aid re-use and environmentally sound treatment of their products, in particular identifying the different components and materials, and the location of any dangerous substances or preparations. The Regulations do not define the form of media through which this information must be supplied. Regulation 16 requires that producers mark EEE in such a way that they may be identified as the responsible producer, and that the product can be identified as having been placed on the market after 13 August 2005.

Cyprus: No experiences available yet. As soon as the collective scheme and the treatment facilities are permitted and ready to operate, these information will be collected.

Resumé: All MS with the exception of Cyprus have reported that they require producers to provide information to recycling/treatment operators within up to one year after placement on the market. The most often cited means are manuals and electronic means of publication. Other MS do not specify how the information shall be transmitted.

Not all MS report on requirements for product labelling by producers.

3.12.2 Positive and negative experiences Austria: The need for such information in respect of types of appliances already on the market is rather limited since treatment facilities already have sufficient experience.

Belgium (Brussels): Until now, the authorities are not linked to the forum mentioned above. Thus, no evaluation possible.

Belgium (Flemish Region Region): Information flow is slowed down and or discouraged because of market related delicacies concerning technical know-how and competition.

Belgium Wallonian Regionn Region: Manufacturers do not seem to wish to give the reuse centres access to technical information or to the Tradeplace software. They fear a loss of this information's confidentiality. But access would enable the reuse centres to improve their efficiency and to repair appliances properly.

Processing installations have not yet referred to problems relating to a lack of information from manufacturers regarding the composition of their products.

Denmark: The Environmental Protection Agency regards the marking requirement in Article 11(2), whereby the producer must be clearly identifiable by a mark on the appliance, as

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problematical. If the electrical and electronic equipment is imported from a third country outside the EU to an EU importer with producer responsibility, the equipment must be marked so that the EU importer can be clearly identified. This means that in the case of equipment imported in parallel and equipment transported between several EU countries, where the EU importer with producer responsibility does not have the same name or logo as the original producer, the same equipment must be re-marked by the EU importer. That means that the packaging will have to be broken in order to apply the clear mark required. However, it is unacceptable for the importer, with regard to the subsequent sale of the equipment, that it cannot be sold in the unbroken original packaging. The Environmental Protection Agency therefore takes the view that the provision in the Directive on marking equipment with producer identification should be amended.

Estonia: There has been no negative experience with making available the required information for treatment facilities and using identification mark on appliances put on the market after 13.08.2005.

Finland: Discussion with treatment operators has shown that there has been very little need for this kind of information.

France: To date, no major problem has appeared in implementing the provisions of this article. In particular, the professional federations representing the WEEE treatment enterprises have not reported any problems in this area.

Germany: There is not yet sufficient experience to do so.

Greece: Since Greek producers are mainly importers of finished products and components and assemblers of appliances, the compliance with this provision depends very much on the feedback from the manufactures abroad.

Hungary: We have consulted this Article with treatment facilities and the producers’ responsibility organizations, too. The producers are ready to provide the required information by this Article but the treatment facilities do not need it (at least so far). There was also a suggestion that this information should be provided on EU level, by a common data-bank.

Ireland: From the informal reports that treatment facilities are achieving rates of material and substance recovery in excess of 80% would indicate that they are in receipt of sufficient information from producers.

Italy: At the moment there are no problems.

Latvia: Latvia has transposed the relevant provisions and has not experienced difficulties implementing them.

Luxembourg: Positive experience: No agreement has yet been signed in this area, as the need has not arisen. Producers may supply information at the request of treatment plants. Discussion is taking place in the WEEE forum on the creation of a database similar to the IDIS system (International Dismantling Information System) for end-of-life vehicles (oral communication). Negative experience: nothing to report


Portugal: During the three-year period in question, in view of the fact that most of the WEEE collected has derived from EEE placed on the market before 13 August 2005 (historical waste), the WEEE management operators have not met with any challenges regarding the treatment and recycling of "new" components and substances. It should be emphasised, however, that up to the end of 2006 the management undertakings did not have any information provided by producers relating to new types of EEE that might have been designed and placed on the national market, and information is being gathered on EEE

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currently on the market with the object of preparing a document to assist waste operators with the dismantling, treatment or recycling of new WEEE.

As we have stated, the use of computers as a privileged means of communication between the parties involved is emphasised as a bonus.

As a negative point, it should be mentioned that there is a certain degree of inertia on the part of producers belonging to the system as regards supplying the management undertakings with data on new EEE designs, resulting in delay in the transmission of that information to the treatment and recovery operators.

Romania: The WEEE management system is currently introduced in Romania by the collective organisations, thus Romania has no experience.

Sweden: It is too soon to give any assessment of positive or negative experience of these provisions.

UK: It is too early to evaluate the provision of Regulation 17, which came into effect on 1 April 2007. Numerous producers have reported difficulties in complying with Regulation 16, particularly in relation to imported equipment. The Regulations place the producer obligation on the organisation which imports EEE into the UK, and require that that producer should be identifiable via the producer marking. However, that organisation may face difficulties in opening and rebranding EEE and unless purchasing in very large quantities is unlikely to be able to require that the original manufacturer mark the products with the importer’s producer mark.

Resumé: Most MS have not encountered any problems with the provision of information to treatment facilities or cannot give an evaluation yet due to the short period of since implementation.

The flow of information is sometimes hampered by producer concerns regarding the disclosure of technical details. However, more knowledge might improve the recycling efficiency. On the other hand, a series of MS have said that more information is not actually necessary given the high grade of information that the recycling/treatment centres already have.

The branding requirements are problematic when the producer of EEE is outside the EU and the brand would need to be put on the packaging etc. by the organization importing the EEE into the EU. In this case there are practical problems as the packaging would need to be broken and the brand stamped on the EEE or the (inner) packaging.

3.13 Details on the inspection and monitoring systems applied in the Member State to verify the proper implementation of this directive

Austria: The competence of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, the Environment and Water Management to monitor compliance with the obligations in the Directive is rooted in the 2002 Waste Industry Act (AWG). Large numbers of firms (producers, importers) are monitored annually by external technical and financial experts. Producers and importers are also monitored through the collection and recovery schemes.

Belgium (Brussels): Inspection teams are: detecting free-riders/controlling the storage of WEEE/controlling waste operators (storage, transport, treatment). Belgium (Flemish Region Region): In the Flemish Region Region two ways of inspection and monitoring exist: - upward inspection and monitoring: producers are detected through fieldcontrols of the accounting of points of sale . Moreover the storage of WEEE is inspected

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there and a lot of sensitizing is done while inspecting. - downward inspection and monitoring: waste collectors and processors are being inspected (storage, transport, treatment)

Belgium Wallonian Regionn Region: A database of retailers operating in the Wallonian Region has been compiled by the administration, on the basis of telephone directories. They have all been informed of the take back requirement and of how they can discharge their own obligations in that context. A large number of new Recupel members can be attributed to this initiative. Recupel's annual report to the regional authorities makes it possible to check whether the collection/recycling objectives have been achieved and whether the forms of processing applied to WEEE comply with the Directive and the Walloon Government decree of 25 April 2002.

Bulgaria: The Ministry of the Environment and Water or officials appointed by it control the implementation of recovery organisations' programmes.

The director of the regional environment and water inspectorate or an official appointed by him controls:

- the implementation of the programmes of persons fulfilling their obligations individually,

- the implementation by the persons referred to in Article 21(1) of obligations under the Regulation and the Waste Management Law,

- compliance with the conditions of authorisations under the Waste Management Law for activities involving WEEE and waste from WEEE,

- the mayors of municipalities in connection with the performance of their obligations under the Regulation.

Within the limits of their powers, the president of the State Agency for Metrology and Technical Surveillance and the president of the Consumer Protection Commission control the compliance of placing on the market with the requirements of Articles 5, 7 and 8.

Cyprus: Eight inspectors have been appointed by the Competent Authority, under the law transposing the Directive 75/442/EEC. These inspectors have also the responsibility to verify the the [roper implementation of the WEEE Directive. The formation of a data base with an electronic access where the producers will be able to provide the requested data, is under consideration. Czech Republic: The Czech Environmental Inspectorate (ČIŽP) monitors waste management. In 2006 for the first time it monitored compliance with WEEE disposal obligations. It focused primarily on monitoring compliance with the obligations of EEE producers and the obligations of EEE final sellers. For producers, the main check was on financial provision for EEE produced before 13 August 2005. Thirty-five producer checks were carried out and in all cases the producers transferred their obligations to collective systems, while fines were imposed on two subjects. Twelve final sellers were also checked and administrative proceedings were initiated with one, for selling products from a producer not entered in the EEE Producers' Register. Fines are imposed where infringement of Section 8 of Act No 185/2001 on waste, which transposes Directive 2002/96/EC, is detected.

Denmark: Rules on this matter are laid down in § 27 of Regulation No 664 of 27 June 2005.

Estonia: It is provided in Waste Act § 119 (3) that Estonian Environmental Inspectorate shall supervise all companies which have waste permit how they fulfil the requirements of waste treatment at least once a year. The system of inspection is designed in a way that inspectors control every environmental permit (includes also waste permit) holder at least once a year and others (for example producers) as it is planned in their workplan or reported to (by citizens). Beside Environmental Inspectorate has the right to supervise and be conducted extra-judicial proceedings Police prefectures and local government environmental protection inspectors. The penalties are up to 50000 EEK.

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Finland: As a national authority, Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre monitors the organizing and operation of systems concerning producer responsibility, enters the producer corporations and producers in the producer data register and submits the necessary reports to the Commission. Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre has also frequent meetings with producers and producer organisations and with other stakeholders. Also in annual reports provided by producers detailed information about fulfilling producer responsibilities are required. On a regional level, the collection points and treatment facilities are supervised by the local regional environment centres and municipal authorities depending on the scale of the operation in question. The supervising is carried out by environmental permits and inspections.

France: In accordance with Article R.543-202 of the Environmental Code and the Order of 13 March 2006 relating to the registration procedure and the information appearing on the national register of producers to which this article applies, a national register of producers of electrical and electronic equipment has been produced. It collates the information sent in by producers on:

- Registration (at the latest when the equipment is put on the market): - The quantities of EEE put on the market (declared at the latest on 1 September of

each year for the first half of the current year and on the 1 March of each year for the second half of the preceding year):

- The quantities of WEEE removed (during the six months before the declaration) - The quantities of WEEE actually re-employed, reused, recycled, recovered and

destroyed (at the latest on 1 March of each year for the preceding year)

Therefore, upstream in the chain, ADEME is responsible for keeping and running this register. Every year on this basis it checks the producers registered in the previous years and who have not having made a declaration for the current year.

As part of the checking procedure in this chain there are also customs officers who are competent to check electrical and electronic equipment imported into France and exported out of France, as well as checking that the provisions applying to shipments of waste from these items of equipment are adhered to (Regulation No 1013/2006/EC on waste shipments).

Further downstream in the chain fraud officers are authorised to check adherence to the rules governing posting and publicity, as well as adherence to the rules relating to consumer safety. These officers also ensure that the rules of competition between economic operators are adhered to, whether it concerns relations between the producers and the distributors or between the approved bodies and the transport and treatment service-providers with which they conclude contracts to meet the obligations to remove and treat WEEE collected selectively.

Right downstream of the chain, inspectors of the classified facilities are competent to check the facilities carrying out the treatment of the waste from electrical and electronic equipment. In particular they ensure that these facilities comply with the declaration and authorisation procedures prior to going on-stream, as well as the provisions regulating this, aiming in particular to limit the impact on the environment and health connected with this activity.

Moreover, the Central Office for Combating Environment and Public Health Offences (OCLAESP), attached to the directorate-general of the national police force within the Ministry of Defence, is also involved in checking the WEEE chain, in particular in checking the cross-border shipments of this waste. This recently created structure is competent to combat offences connected with the environment and public health.

Finally, as has already been mentioned in 2.3.1., the approved bodies for household WEEE carry out checks for conformity, particularly regarding the regulations, of the whole of the chain of their logistics and household WEEE treatment service-providers.

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Germany: Placing new equipment on the market without registration is an offence which is prosecuted by the Federal Environment Agency. Prosecutions may occur when initial suspicions are reported by the EAR (see 2.5.1), by competitors or by other authorities carrying out market surveillance. In addition, competitors are permitted by law to act directly against non-registered producers under competition law, and a number of such cases have already been successfully brought. In line with the Federal principle, monitoring of treatment plants is a matter for the Länder.

Greece: With the provisions of article 15 of PD 117/2004, the competent authorities of Ministry for the Environment control and inspect • The operation of the system and the observance of the certain rules applied for its approval • The operations of collection and treatment of WEEE in conformity with the rules and measures of waste management applied legislation. • The compliance of Greek producers with articles 8 and 9 of the WEEE Directive. By regular inspections every three years from the approval of the systems, in compliance with article of 8 PD 117/04, the competent authorities control the operation of the systems. Inspections are also carried out at the request of the system and the producers or at the discretion of the competent authorities. Inspection and control of WEEE management operations and the producers, in respect of their conformity, is carried out at the discretion of the competent authorities, or after accusations.

Hungary: All treatment facilities have to obtain a permit for treatment of WEEE from regional environmental inspectorates. During the permission process the authorities have carried out inspection and specify the technical requirements according to those set out in EC directives. Later on yearly basis inspectorates carry out inspections to verify how treatment facilities are following the regulation. In case of producers’ responsibility obligations, our competent authority is the National Inspectorate for Environment, Nature and Water. This body issues all the necessary permits, collects all the data and exercises control. In this field the Inspectorate took official measures in 40 cases or so in 2006. If necessary each of authorities can impose fines.

Ireland: Local municipal authorities are responsible for enforcing the provisions of articles 14, 15, 17(2), 29, 37 and 38 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005, which deal mainly with distributor obligations. The EPA is responsible for enforcing the provisions of articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17(1), 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 34, 35, 40 and 41 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005, which deal mainly with producer obligations. Both local municipal authorities and the EPA are responsible for enforcing the provisions of articles 19, 20 and 21 of S.I. No. 340 of 2005, which deal mainly with matters relation to the storage and treatment of WEEE. The EPA has established a WEEE Enforcement Network, which includes of all local municipal authorities. A WEEE Enforcement Group oversees this network. This Group has developed template inspection report forms that are used by all EPA and local municipal authority Enforcement Officers. These continue to be improved.

Furthermore it has been found that the prohibition in Article 14(a) of S.I. No. 340 on distributors distributing EEE placed on the market by unregistered producers together with including a distributor who sells EEE placed on the market by an unregistered producer in the producer definition in Section 53G of the Waste Management Acts as inserted by S.I. No. 290 of 2005 and Article 3(3) of S.I. No. 340 has forced a number of free-riding producers into compliance, without the need for inspections, as distributors refused to distribute their products.

Italy: With the exception of the advance and annual inspections that the provincial authorities carry out on WEEE recovery facilities operating under the simplified procedures, no provision has been made for monitoring procedures other than those normally applied with regard to the environment (sample-based or following reports to the relevant bodies).

Latvia: In accordance with Cabinet Regulation No 923 of 9 November 2004 "on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment", inspectors from the State

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Environment Service's regional environment authorities carry out checks on WEEE treatment and recycling facilities.

Lithuania: Pursuant to the Law on State Control of Environmental Protection, the implementation of the requirements established in the Law on Waste Management, the rules on the management of electrical and electronic equipment and WEEE, the rules on the registration of producers and importers and other legal acts regulating the management of WEEE is controlled by state administrative units subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment – eight regional environment departments. These authorities monitor producers, importers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment, register producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment in accordance with the established procedure, monitor the fulfilment of the established targets and other obligations.

Luxembourg: Inspection and monitoring systems applied: 1) Registration of producers Producers within the meaning of Article 3(i) of the Directive must register with the Ministry of the Environment on the Ministry's website (http://www.environnement.public.lu/guichet_virtuel/GV_dechets/GV_DEEE/index.html). Undertakings which have joined the collective system must provide proof of membership. Undertakings which have introduced an individual system must prove that it complies with the relevant legislation. 2) Annual reports The authorised body and producers with an individual system are required to submit a report to the Environment Department by 31 March each year in accordance with Article 14 of the amended Grand-Ducal Regulation of 18 January 2005. 3) Checks in collaboration with the Customs and Excise Department These checks are aimed primarily at free riders and the conformity of marking with Annex IV to the Directive. They are carried out in close collaboration with the Customs and Excise Department. The undertakings in question have three months in which to bring their products into line and if they fail to do so the non-conforming material is then destroyed. National free riders are to be checked in the autumn of 2007.

Poland: The Voivodship Environmental Protection Inspectorates carry out inspections at least once a year to assess the treatment facilities’ compliance with the requirements of the Act on waste electrical and electronic equipment. The Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection maintains a database of undertakings and organisations that recover waste electrical and electronic equipment, and this serves as a basis for monitoring compliance with the Directive.

Portugal: Article 31(1) of Decree-Law No 230/2004, of 10 December, provides for the supervision of compliance with the provisions of this directive by the Inspecção-Geral das Actividades Económicas [General Inspectorate of Economic Activities] (IGAE), the Inspecção-Geral do Ambiente [General Inspectorate of the Environment] (IGA), the Comissões de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional [Regional Coordination and Development Committees] (CCDRs) and other competent authorities, in accordance with the law. It should also be mentioned that as a result of certain institutional changes that have taken place in the meantime, the first two authorities are now known as the Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica [Food Safety and Economic Authority] (ASAE) and the Inspecção-Geral do Ambiente e do Ordenamento do Território [General Inspectorate of the Environment and Town and Country Planning] (IGAOT), respectively.

Similarly, the following information and monitoring measures provided in Portuguese legislation have been adopted:

• obligatory register of producers to make it possible to monitor and supervise compliance with the obligations and objectives laid down in the said Decree-Law and other applicable legislation.

• creation of the Waste Management Monitoring Committee, with the object of dealing with questions relating to waste management. This Committee is a consultant body and operates as an arm of the competent national authority. Its Office monitors waste

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management systems and operations and also plays an active role in the encouragement and adoption of new and better forms of technology available for waste management.

Romania: The National Environmental Protection Agency has responsibilities on: - producers registration; - data collection and reporting (both from producers and from collection points and treatment facilities); - takes part in the commission that issue the license for collective organizations and assures its secretariat; - issues the environmental permit for collection and treatment facilities (by its territorial structures). The National Environmental Guard controls and inspects both producers and collection and treatment facilities in order to check their compliance with the legislation in force. The National Authority for Consumer Protection shall ensure that any EEE put on the market after 31st December 2006 is clearly identifiable by a mark on the appliance. The authority should also ensure that the user information required by the legislation is available and is forwarded to buyers of EEE.

Slovakia: The state inspection authority in the field of handling WEEE is the Slovak Environmental Inspection (SIŽP) – see Section 69 of Act No. 409/2006 Coll.

The Slovak Environmental Inspection (SIŽP)

a) is the state inspection authority in waste management (Section 73);

b) imposes fines (Section 78);

c) decides on disputed issues on whether the particular product is waste in the case of transportation across the border;

d) authorised in cross-border transportation of waste to make checks at the place where the waste originates, at the reporter and recipient of the waste, and at border crossing points. It is also authorised to check documents in line with separate regulations (Section 45) and pursuant to this act, to make physical checks of the waste and take samples for analysis.

e) to refrain from transporting or selling the equipment and their use if they do not satisfy the provisions of this act;

f) to order the recall of electrical and electronic equipment from circulation if it is shown that they do not satisfy the provisions of this act.

Slovenia The basic inspection and monitoring system is based on documentation which, in accordance with the legislation governing waste management, monitors all consignments of waste, hence also WEEE. It also takes account of the periodic report from producers and importers of EE equipment regarding EE equipment put on the market (quarterly report) and on WEEE management (annual report). Separate legal entities which manage WEEE also report to the Slovenian Environmental Agency regarding quantities of WEEE collected and recovered. The Slovenian Inspectorate for the Environment and Town and Country Planning monitors only compliance with the requirements regarding WEEE management. Informally, its deputy directors, who manage WEEE, also inspect the managers of collective WEEE management plans.

Spain: Various types of control have been established throughout the management process to ensure that it functions correctly, as follows:

� Companies which manufacture or import electrical and electronic equipment for the Spanish market.

The companies which have registered as producers have most to gain from providing information on which companies have not registered since they are penalised in terms of their market share by the share that is not assumed by the unregistered companies, which therefore do not participate in financing waste management. For that reason, the companies which have registered are supplying lists to supplement the Register of Producers. Also, the Autonomous Communities have a list based on the financial classification of corporate activities, on which all companies producing equipment of this type must appear, and they

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contribute information on this. Finally, the integrated management systems also identify equipment from non-registered companies which cannot be charged to finance waste.

� Guarantee relating to waste management figures.

As has been stated above, the text of the Royal Decree establishes an obligation for the integrated management systems to supply figures for collection, re-use, recycling and evaluation once a year. These figures must be vouched for by auditing companies which are independent from the integrated system foundation.

� Correct waste management

Throughout the process, the Royal Decree encourages all agents taking part in the waste management process to have environmental management systems endorsed by certification companies.

� Treatment facilities.

These facilities, like all waste managers, must hold the relevant authorisation from each Autonomous Community, which entails an obligation to submit a management report each year to the Autonomous Community. The Autonomous Community carries out controls to verify that these facilities operate correctly.

� Waste transported to facilities located in other countries.

Meetings are held with customs posts at Spanish ports to arrange joint action with the environmental services of the relevant Autonomous Communities for carrying out controls on any type of export that may indicate non-compliance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community.

Sweden: The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency carries out operational supervision of producer responsibility for electrical and electronic products. Sweden's municipalities carry out local supervision of collection systems and recovery.

UK Obligations on producers, compliance schemes and treatment facilities are monitored and enforced by the Environment Agency in England and Wales, SEPA in Scotland, and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland. Obligations on distributors are monitored and enforced by the “VCA” throughout the United Kingdom. Under Regulation 71, enforcement authorities have the power to serve enforcement notices on obligated parties in cases where they have grounds for believing that the Regulations have not been complied with. An enforcement notice will state the suspected offence, and set out what the obligated party must do to comply and demonstrate that they are doing so. Failure to comply with the terms of the enforcement notice may lead to proceedings for an offence being brought. Obligated parties are required to keep records of their activities under Regulations 13, 30, 34 and 53. Failure to keep such records or provide them to an enforcement officer is an offence. Regulation 73 create offences for failure to comply with the obligations in the Regulations. Regulation 74 sets out the penalties for these offences. For the more serious offences, conviction on indictment allows for the imposition of an unlimited fine.

Resumé: All MS have reported on the establishment of inspection and enforcement regimes to ensure the implementation of the WEEE Directive. In some countries only one level of state administration comes into play, in other MS up to three levels have to co-operate.

The central registers of EEE producers are a helpful tool in supervising the producers’ obligations. Many MS institute reporting obligations to the national authorities about compliance with (national) WEEE law (especially on the quantity of WEEE collected and recycled/recovered).

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4 Resumé The following resumé including conclusions and recommendations to the European Commission does not replicate all the detailed conclusions drawn with regard to the MS’ compliance with the different articles but intends to limit the conclusions to the most important issues and to identify priorities.

For the more detailed article-related conclusions please relate to the preceding article-based chapters.

4.1 Mode of Reporting of the MS

The Member States have reported very intensively on the WEEE Directive. In general, the reporting covered all the aspects that were required and the information given was very detailed. Only on a detailed scale, there are gaps.

Some MS however have not responded within the format provided by the questionnaire that served as a basis for the reports but have answered several questions all at once in a flow text. This has made the analysis sometimes difficult.

Moreover, as regards the questions of the questionnaire related with Art. 5, 6, 7, and 8/9 of the WEEE Directive, these included a subset of aspects to be covered by the respondents. However, not all MS gave information about all the aspects probably also because the phrasing of the questions did not seem to make the coverage obligatory. The style of the answers was often very lengthy and ill structured.

Malta and the Netherlands failed to submit reports on time, thus these reports could not be taken into account for this report summary.

4.2 Implementation of the Directive and possible gaps

From the reporting MS Cyprus is the only Member State reporting that could be identified as failing to implement most of the requirements of the WEEE Directive (see preceding chapters).

The majority of Member States have been striving to implement the WEEE Directive and from analyzing the reported facts it seems that there are no major formal problems related with the transposition of the Directive.

There is an improved rate of WEEE gathering and recycling/recovery reported in a number of MS as a consequence of the Directive. This is especially true of the Member States that did not have a WEEE collection/treatment system before the coming-into-effect of the WEEE Directive. Many Member States note, however, that they have not had sufficient experiences as yet to evaluate impacts.

4.2.1 Product design (Art. 4) Many MS have adopted relatively soft provisions in their national laws related to product design for EEE. These provisions in general do not foresee sanction mechanisms for the case that producers disregard these provisions. This cannot be considered a breach of the WEEE Directive’s requirements as MS are only called upon to encourage EEE design facilitating dismantlement and recovery.

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4.2.2 Collection System (Art. 5) and WEEE Treatment (Art. 7) As regards the set-up of the collection systems for WEEE, the following issues are pointed out which should be considered in more in detail:

• As for the 1:1 take-back obligation of retailers of EEE, France does not rule out a small charge for customers profiting from home deliveries of EEE. It is not certain if this is compatible with the Directive.

• In general, collective collection/treatment systems have been set up for the collection of WEEE from households, there are only very rare exceptions, e.g. in part Brussels, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania where individual solutions that involve producers to organize take-back/collection and treatment themselves, exist.

• The overwhelming majority of MS have copied the treatment requirements of Annex II and III, some observe additional requirements. None of the MS has reported to prescribe softer requirements.

4.2.3 Set-up of systems providing for the recovery of WEEE (Art. 7(1)) No major breach of this article has been reported, so recovery systems have been installed. However, MS did not give any details on possible sanctions and enforcement mechanisms applied in case of producers not belonging to any system.

“Little interest and co-operation” in the set-up of such systems on the side of the producers has been reported by Romania.

4.2.4 Best Available Technologies: Identification and possible obstacles to BAT A series of MS said that it was hard to identify and lay down what “Best Available Techniques” are in the field of recycling/recovery of WEEE. Only Italy has said to have laid down a definition for this.

Some MS complained that the WEEE Directive contained too many categories of WEEE. The categorization of the concrete WEEE types moreover would not reflect the WEEE management practice.

4.2.5 Financing Issues

• In general the financing requirements of the directive are copied out directly into national law as regards the financing of collection/treatment of WEEE from households and from other sources.

• A number of Member States failed to report on the treatment of distance sellers with regard to financing issues.

• One of the main problems reported concerned EEE commanded by internet from other MS by distance sellers. Here the practical attribution of financial charges to the distance seller has proven to be tricky. As reported by Ireland, Internet sellers have concerns regarding the duplication of financial obligations on account of goods originally being placed on the market in one Member State, and subsequently placed on the market in another. On the other hand, it has often proven difficult to “get hold of the distance sellers” situated in other countries and involve them in national WEEE-related schemes (as reported e.g. by the Flemish Region, Hungary, Luxembourg).

Documents

Report on the - ec.europa.eu · WASTE REDUCTION: The Directive on Waste electrical and electronic equipment (hereinafter WEEE Directive) prescribes in Art. 4 that Member States shall