# Presentation: 116494

## WEEE 

- Rosemary Gallant
- Commercial Officer
- U.S. Mission to the EU
- Brussels, July 2005

**The Commercial Service at the US Mission to the EU**

## Introduction:

- European Commission: WEEE & RoHS
- 10 WEEE Categories
- Implementation Schedule
- Examples of Implementation
- Requirements for B2B
- Resources

## WEEE Directive: 2002/96/EC 

- The aim of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is to limit the amount of WEEE in landfills.
- As of August 13 2005 ‘Producers’ need to finance the collection and recycling of WEEE.
- This Directive applies to companies in all stages of the creation and recycling of WEEE.
- Because it is an environmental directive there will be differences in implementation across the member states.

## RoHS Directive: 2002/95/EC

- The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive limits the amount of mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium VI, PBB and PBDE in products from July 2006.
- The RoHS Directive is an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of WEEE.
- Because it is a Single Market Directive it must be applied equally in all Member States

## WEEE Product Categories in Annex 1B

- Large household appliances
- Small household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- Consumer equipment
- Lighting equipment
- Electrical and electronic tools
- Toys, leisure and sports equipment
- Medical devices*
- Monitoring and control equipment*
- Automatic dispensers

## *Exemptions & Delays *

- Category 8
- No current WEEE recycling targets
- Exempt from RoHS until 2008 at the earliest
- Category 9
- WEEE targets 50% recycling and 70% recovery
- Exempt from RoHS until 2008 at the earliest

## Implementation Schedule

## Slide 8

| On Time | Extension | Delayed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Belgium | Cyprus | Austria |
| Finland | Czech Republic | Denmark |
| Hungary | Estonia | France |
| The Netherlands | Greece | Germany  |
| Portugal | Ireland | Italy |
| Spain | Latvia | Luxembourg |
| Sweden | Lithuania | Slovenia |
|  | Malta | United Kingdom |
|  | Poland |  |
|  | Slovakia |  |

## Delayed Implementation: the UK

- The WEEE Directive's implementation deadline of August 13, 2005 will not be met by the UK.  WEEE is due to be transposed in "summer 2005", with producer responsibility and take-back obligations being introduced in January 2006. The UK government does, however, intend to implement WEEE obligations on the marking of equipment from August 13, 2005.

## Implementation Complete: Spain 

- The WEEE Directive's implementation deadline of August 13, 2005 will be met by Spain.
- The Spanish Registration Authority has yet to finalize their registration system but, it is expected before the August implementation.
- In Spain collective schemes must be approved by National and Regional Authorities

## Implementation Delayed, Fines Ready

- Though many member states have delayed implementation of WEEE legislation they are preparing for implementation.
- For example, Poland is preparing to levy fines up to the value of the product if it is found to be non-compliant

## The “Producer” is... 

- Any person who:
- (i) manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand,
- (ii) resells under his own brand equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the "producer" if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in subpoint (i), or
- (iii) imports or exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a Member State.

## Importers Register:

- The aforementioned definition of producer creates some confusion for US companies.  Whomever puts the product on the EU market for the first time is considered the “producer”.  In practice, this is generally the importer.  This importer must be an EU legal entity.
- In fact, most countries require that registration be completed by a legal entity in that country.

## B2C:

- B2Consumer WEEE must be collected and recycled.
- This recycling is sometimes financed by a fee imposed on new appliance purchases.
- The producer is required to take back the old WEEE.  Most comply with this obligation through a take-back scheme (i.e. in Belgium, Recupel)

## New B2B:

- After August 13, 2005 producers who sell new equipment to a business must arrange the collection of this WEEE.
- Producers may charge a fee for this service.
- If the business chooses not to return their unwanted WEEE to the producer they are held responsible for transporting historic WEEE to an approved recycler, meeting recycling targets and reporting data to Member State WEEE Agencies.

## B2B

- For new B2B, many EU states include the provision from the Directive that alternative financing arrangements can be made between the producer and the user.
- In many countries producers who do not join collectives must provide financial guarantees such as blocked bank accounts to finance collections and recycling.

## Historic B2B:

- After August 13, 2005 producers who sell new equipment to businesses in order to replace old equipment arrange for the take-back of the historic WEEE.
- Producers may charge a fee for this service.

## Product Marking:

- Finished products ‘put on the market’ after August 2005 for the first time in any Member State must marked with:
- Producer identification (brand name, trade mark etc)
- Instructions for recycle and disassembly (if necessary).
- Crossed-out wheelie bin
- Finally, identify specific items which must be removed (see: Annex II)

## Crossed out wheelie bin:

- This mark was published as a European standard (EN 50419) by CENELEC in January 2005.  While it has not been approved by the European Commission, it is the best marking option.

## Arrange Take-back:

- Producers may fulfill the take-back obligation and provide the recycling or the producer may join a collective scheme.
- There are Member State as well as EU wide take back schemes.
- Take-back schemes make it easier for producers to collect and recycle their WEEE and report their data to the WEEE authority.
- US Companies should ensure that either they or their importer have arranged for take-back.

## Member State Take-back: 

- Each Member State is or has established a registering authority.
- The Registering Authority will authorize take-back schemes.

## EU Wide Compliance Schemes

- Producers may choose to join a pan-European WEEE compliance scheme.
- No one has complete coverage yet but they are building up quickly. This appears to be a way to reduce costs and ensure continued use of new technologies.

## EU Wide Resources:

- The following organizations may be helpful in fulfilling your compliance requirements:
- RENE, Recycling Network Europe: A network of SMB sized companies with experience in electronic recycling.
- EARN, European Advanced Recycling Network: A collection of recyclers specializing in solutions and funding R&D.
- ERP, European Recycling Platform: Set up by large corporations to enable efficient recycling.
- WEEE Forum: representatives of voluntary collective take-back systems.

## Links:

- US Mission to the EU: _[http://www.buyusa.gov/europeanunion/weee.html](http://www.buyusa.gov/europeanunion/weee.html)_
- RENE: _[http://www.](http://www.rene-europe.com/)__[rene](http://www.rene-europe.com/)__[-](http://www.rene-europe.com/)__[europe](http://www.rene-europe.com/)__[.com/](http://www.rene-europe.com/)_
- EARN: _[http://www.earn-electronics.com/](http://www.earn-electronics.com/)_
- ERP: _[http://www.](http://www.erp-recycling.org/)__[erp](http://www.erp-recycling.org/)__[-recycling.org/](http://www.erp-recycling.org/)_
- Dept. of Trade and Industry:  _[http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/](http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/)_

## Marking

## PRODUCT MARKING AND THE CENELEC STANDARD – AN UPDATE

- Article 10.3 of the WEEE Directive requires member states to ensure that producers appropriately mark electrical and electronic equipment put on the market after 13 August 2005 with the symbol shown in Annex IV (the crossed-out wheeled bin).  “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.”  Annex IV says that the symbol must be printed “visibly, legibly and indelibly.”
- The Commission mandated CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, to prepare a European standard for the marking requirements of the WEEE Directive.  The standard applies to both household and non-household WEEE.
- The standard – EN 50419,* **Marking of electrical and electronic equipment in accordance with Article 11(2) Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE* – was ratified on 7 December 2004.  1 August 2005 is the deadline by when all members of CENELEC must publish it as a national standard and withdraw any existing national standards which conflict with it.
- The standard says that to identify the producer and the equipment put on the market after 13 August 2005, the following shall be applied to the product:
-    a unique identification of the producer (a brand name, trademark, company registration number or any other suitable means of identification)
-    the date of manufacture or date put on the market, either in uncoded text or in coded text for which the code is made available to treatment facilities, and/or an additional mark used in conjunction with the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol.  This additional mark is a solid bar, containing no text or other information, which appears below the bin symbol and whose dimensions are specified in the standard.
- If size or other characteristics such as functionality of the product means that the marking cannot be applied on the product it shall appear on a flag on the fixed supply cord or in the operating instructions and warranty certificates included with the product.

## The Commission objected to the standard.  It said that the standard is not consistent with the Directive because the exemption has been defined too broadly:

- o        The Directive says that the symbol need not appear on the equipment itself if marking elsewhere is necessary “because of the size or function of the product”, the
- standard allows the exemption “if size or*** ******other characteristics such as*** functionality of the product” mean that it cannot be applied to it.
- The Directive limits the exemption to the wheeled bin symbol, whereas the standard applies it to the date as well.
- Also, the Commission objected to the provision in the standard that the marking must be “accessible”.  This has been changed to “visible”, which must be defined.
- CENELEC has now drafted an amendment to the standard.  The amendment will be cleared with the Commission before being launched for voting.  It will be decided in September whether the amendment can be submitted for a fast-track (two-month) vote.  If this is agreed, the vote will be launched immediately and the amended standard can be ratified in December.
- Denise Perchard