COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2011/37/EU
of 30 March 2011
amending Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of-life vehicles (1), and in particular Article 4(2)(b) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Directive 2000/53/EC prohibits the use of lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium in materials and components of vehicles put on the market after 1 July 2003, other than in cases listed in Annex II to that Directive and under the conditions specified therein. Pursuant to Article 4(2)(b) of Directive 2000/53/EC, Annex II to that Directive should be adapted to scientific and technical progress by the Commission on a regular basis.
(2)
Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC lists vehicle materials and components exempted from the prohibition set out in Article 4(2)(a) thereof. Vehicles put on the market before the expiry date of a given exemption may contain lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium in materials and components listed in Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC.
(3)
Certain materials and components containing lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium should continue to be exempted from the prohibition set out in Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2000/53/EC, since the use of such substances in those specific materials and components is still technically or scientifically unavoidable. It is therefore appropriate to prolong the expiry date of those exemptions until the use of the prohibited substances becomes avoidable.
(4)
The use of lead in automotive thermoelectric materials in applications reducing CO2 emissions by recuperation of exhaust heat is currently technically and scientifically unavoidable. Those materials should therefore be temporarily exempted from the prohibition set out in Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2000/53/EC.
(5)
Certain materials and components containing lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium should continue to be exempted from the prohibition set out in Article 4(2)(a) of Directive 2000/53/EC without an expiry date, since the use of such substances in the specific materials and components listed in Annex II to that Directive is still technically or scientifically unavoidable.
(6)
Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC provides that spare parts put on the market after 1 July 2003 which are used for vehicles put on the market before 1 July 2003 are exempted from the provisions of Article 4(2)(a) of that Directive. The exemption allows for the repair of vehicles put on the market before the entry into force of the prohibition set out in that Article with spare parts meeting the same quality and safety requirements as the parts with which they were originally equipped.
(7)
Spare parts for vehicles put on the market after 1 July 2003 but before the expiry date of a given exemption of Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC are not covered by that exemption. Hence, spare parts for those vehicles should be heavy metal free, even if they are used to replace parts which originally contained heavy metals.
(8)
In certain cases it is technically impossible to repair vehicles with spare parts other than original ones as this would require changes in dimensional and functional properties of entire vehicle systems. Such spare parts cannot fit into the vehicle systems originally manufactured with parts containing heavy metals and these vehicles cannot be repaired and may need to be prematurely disposed of. Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC should therefore be amended to enable the repair of such vehicles.
(9)
Directive 2000/53/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
(10)
The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established under Article 18(1) of Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (2),
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Annex II to Directive 2000/53/EC is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Directive.
Article 2
Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 31 December 2011 at the latest.
Article 3
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 4
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 30 March 2011.