WEEE instruction

European Parliament and Council resolution 2002 / 96 / EC of 27 January 2003

Directive on scrapped electronic and electrical equipment

The European Parliament and the Council,

Noting the Treaty establishing the European community, in particular its Article 175 (1),

Taking note of the proposal of the European Commission,

Taking note of the views of the economic and Social Commission of the European Union,

Taking note of the views of the Regional Commission of the European Union,

In accordance with the procedures laid down in article 251 of the Treaty of the European Community and the joint text adopted by the Coordinating Committee on 8 November 2002,

Whereas:

(1) The focus of community environmental policy is to maintain, protect and improve environmental quality, protect human health and use natural resources reasonably and prudently. This policy is based on the principle of prevention and other principles, such as preventive measures should be taken, priority should be given to the remediation of environmental damage in terms of resources, and compensation should be made by polluters.

(2) The community's policies and action plans related to environment and sustainable development (the fifth environmental action plan) ① believe that the realization of sustainable development requires obvious changes in the current development mode, production mode, consumption mode and behavior mode, and especially advocates reducing the wasteful consumption of natural resources and preventing pollution. Considering the applicable principles of waste prevention, recovery and safe disposal, the project requires that the scrapped electronic and electrical equipment be one of the target areas to be regulated.

(3) The European Commission Communication of 30 July 1996 on the review of the community's waste management strategy states that where waste cannot be avoided, materials and energy from waste should be reused or recovered.

(4) On February 24, 1997, in its decision on community waste management strategy ②, the Council insisted that in order to reduce waste disposal and protect natural resources, waste recovery should be promoted Means of over reuse, recycling, synthesis and obtaining energy from waste, and recognizing that the measures selected in any special case must take into account the impact on the environment and economy, but until scientific and technological progress and further development of biological cycle analysis technology are achieved, reuse and material recycling can be regarded as priority when they are regarded as the best choice meeting the environmental requirements Measures. The Council also requested the committee to develop as soon as possible appropriate follow-up measures for key waste logistics plans, including waste electrical and electronic equipment.

(5) In its decision (3) of 14 November 1996, the European Parliament requested the Commission to provide a number of proposals on key waste logistics, including electronic and electrical waste, which were based on the principle of producer responsibility. In the above-mentioned decision, the European Parliament also requested the Council and the European Commission to put forward proposals to reduce the total amount of waste.

(6) Council Directive 75 / 442 / EEC of July 15, 1975 on waste (4) provides for special provisions on the management of special waste categories that can be supplemented by a single directive in the form of special circumstances or directive 75 / 442 / EEC.

(7) The number of discarded electronic and electrical equipment generated in the community is growing rapidly. In the waste management stage, the content of harmful components in electronic and electrical equipment is a major hidden danger, and the recycling of waste electronic and electrical equipment has not been fully implemented.

(8) The goal of improving the management of end-of-life electronic and electrical equipment cannot be achieved through individual actions of Member States. In particular, different application of the principle of producer responsibility by Member States may lead to significant differences in the economic burden of operators. The effect of recycling policy will be affected by different policies of member countries on the management of discarded electronic and electrical equipment. Therefore, basic standards should be developed at the community level.

(9) The provisions of this directive apply to products and producers without regard to the sale of technology, including remote and electronic sales. In this case, the obligations of producers and sellers who use remote and electronic sales channels shall, as far as practicable, adopt the same standard and implement it in the same way, so as to avoid other channels from assuming the obligations stipulated in this Directive on remote or electronic sales of discarded electronic and electrical equipment.

(10) This directive is applicable to all electronic and electrical equipment used by consumers and professional electronic and electrical equipment. This directive is not in violation of the community's laws on the protection of the health and safety of persons in contact with end-of-life electronic and electrical equipment and the community's special regulations related to waste management, in particular Council Directive 91 / 157 / EEC of March 18, 1991 on batteries and accumulators containing specific hazardous substances.

(11) Directive 91 / 157 / EEC shall be amended as soon as possible, in particular in accordance with this directive.

(12) According to this directive, the establishment of a producer responsibility system is one of the ways to encourage the design and production of electronic and electrical equipment that fully considers and facilitates its maintenance, possible upgrading, reuse, dismantling and recycling.

(13) In order to ensure the safety and health of workers engaged in the recovery and treatment of waste electronic and electrical equipment, Member States shall, in accordance with their own and community legislation on safety and health requirements, decide on the conditions under which the seller may refuse to recycle the waste.

(14) Member States should encourage the design and production of electronic and electrical equipment that considers and facilitates decomposition and recycling, in particular the reuse and recycling of end-of-life electronic and electrical equipment, its components and materials. The producer shall not prevent the reuse of discarded electronic and electrical equipment through special design features or processing processes, unless these special design features or processing processes have the best advantages, such as considering