Whereas the Commission proposed requiring separation of these metals from waste deriving from cars built from 2003, the Council now wants to ban their use in new cars, effective 18 months after the directive enters into force. According to the European Commission, this would mean a significant strengthening of the force of the law. However, some observers claim that the Commission's proposal would have constituted a de facto ban on use of the metals in cars anyway. In addition, governments look likely to agree a series of derogations for particular uses of the metals where they deem that no alternatives are available. According to a Brussels diplomat, a draft annex to the directive prepared by the presidency includes derogations for applications for all the substances except cadmium.
Governments are likely to propose no specified time limits on the derogations.
On the other hand, the presidency is proposing that a European Commission committee should review the exemptions 12 months after the directive comes into force, in other words before a ban on use would come into effect.