Proposal for a Council Directive on end of life vehicles (97/C 337/02) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(97) 358 final - 97/0194 (SYN)

(submitted by the Commission on 9 July 1997)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 130s(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty in cooperation with the European Parliament,

Whereas the different national measures concerning end of life vehicles should be harmonized in order, firstly, to prevent any impact of end of life vehicles on the environment, thus contributing to the protection, preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment and energy conservation, and, secondly, to ensure the functioning of the internal market and avoid restrictions of competition in the Community;

Whereas in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, a Community-wide framework is necessary in order to ensure coherence between national approaches in attaining the objectives stated above, particularly with a view to the design of vehicles for recycling and recovery, to the harmonized requirements for collection and treatment facilities, and to the attainment of the targets for re-use, recycling and recovery;

Whereas in order to implement the precautionary and preventive principles and in line with the Community strategy for waste management, the generation of waste must be avoided as much as possible;

Whereas it is a further fundamental principle that waste should be re-used and recovered, and that preference be given to recycling;

Whereas, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle and in order to implement the principle of producer responsibility, collection and recovery of end of life vehicles should no longer be a responsibility of public authorities and should be shifted to economic operators;

Whereas this Directive should cover vehicles and end of life vehicles, including their components and materials, without prejudice to safety standards, air emissions and noise control;

Whereas this Directive should be understood as having borrowed, where appropriate, the terminology used by several existing directives, namely Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (1), as last amended by European Parliament and Council Directive 96/56/EC (2), Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (3), as last amended by European Parliament and Council Directive 97/27/EC (4) and Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (5), as last amended by Commission Decision 96/350/EC (6);

Whereas it is important that preventive measures be applied from the conception phase of the vehicle onwards and take the form, in particular, of reduction and control of hazardous substances in vehicles, in order to prevent their release into the environment, to facilitate recycling and to avoid the disposal of hazardous waste;

Whereas the requirements for dismantling, re-use and recycling of end of life vehicles should be integrated in the design and production of new vehicles;

Whereas the development of markets of recycled materials should be encouraged;

Whereas certain heavy metals should not enter shredding residue nor be incinerated nor landfilled;

Whereas PVC is a material commonly present in end of life vehicles; whereas the Commission will consider the evidence regarding the environmental aspects relating to the presence of PVC in waste streams; whereas, on the basis of this evidence, the Commission will review its policy regarding the presence of PVC in waste streams and will come forward with proposals to address problems which may arise in this regard; whereas this is justified on environmental or health grounds;

Whereas, in order to ensure that end of life vehicles are discarded without endangering the environment, appropriate collection systems should be set up;

Whereas a certificate of destruction, to be used as a prerequisite for the de-registration of vehicles, should be set up;

Whereas collection and treatment operators should be allowed to operate only when they have received a permit;

Whereas last owners and/or holders should not bear the costs arising from end of life vehicles having negative market values; whereas producers should be given incentives to increase the recyclability and recoverability of vehicles so that end of life vehicles do not have negative market values; whereas the normal functioning of market forces should not be hindered;

Whereas it is important to set out requirements for treatment operations, in order to prevent any negative impact on the environment and to avoid the emergence of distortions in trade and competition;

Whereas, in order to achieve results in the short term and to give operators, consumers and public authorities the necessary perspective for the longer term, quantified targets for re-use, recycling and recovery to be achieved by economic operators should be set out;

Whereas producers should ensure that vehicles are designed and manufactured in such a way as to allow the quantified targets for re-use, recycling and recovery to be achieved; whereas to this end the Commission will come forward with appropriate proposals in the context of the whole set of European vehicle type-approval Directives and will promote the preparation of European standards;

Whereas Member States should ensure that in implementing the provisions of this Directive competition is preserved, in particular as regards the access of small and medium-sized enterprises to the collection, dismantling, treatment and recycling market;

Whereas in order to facilitate the dismantling and recycling of end of life vehicles, vehicle manufacturers should provide treatment facilities with dismantling manuals; vehicle manufacturers and material producers should use common component and material coding standards; whereas, to this end, the preparation of European standards, where appropriate, should be promoted;

Whereas Community-wide data on end of life vehicles is needed in order to monitor the implementation of the objectives of this Directive;

Whereas consumers have to be adequately informed in order to adjust their behaviour and attitudes;

Whereas the provisions of this Directive should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner, in conformity with international trade rules;

Whereas the adaptation to scientific and technical progress of the requirements set out for treatment facilities, as well as the adoption of harmonized standards for the certificate of destruction and of the formats for the database should be effected by the Commission under a Committee procedure,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1 Objectives

This Directive lays down measures which aim, as a first priority, at the prevention of waste from vehicles and, in addition, at the re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of vehicles and their components so as to reduce the disposal of waste, as well as at the improvement in the environmental performance of the treatment operators.

Article 2 Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

(1) 'Vehicle` shall mean any vehicle designated as category M1 or N1 defined in Annex II (A) to Directive 70/156/EEC and two or three wheel motor vehicles;

(2) 'End of life vehicle` is a vehicle which is a waste within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442/EEC;

(3) 'Producer` shall mean the vehicle manufacturer or the professional importer of a vehicle into a Member State;

(4) 'Prevention` shall mean measures aiming at the reduction of the quantity and the harmfulness for the environment of end of life vehicles, their materials and substances;

(5) 'Treatment` shall mean any activity after the end of life vehicle has been handed over to a facility for depollution, dismantling, shearing, shredding, recovery or disposal of the shredding wastes, and any other operation carried out for the recovery and/or the disposal of the end of life vehicle and its components;

(6) 'Re-use` shall mean any operation by which components of end of life vehicles are used for the same purpose for which they were conceived;

(7) 'Recycling` shall mean the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes excluding the processing for use as fuel or as other means of generating energy;

(8) 'Recovery` shall mean any of the applicable operations provided for in Annex II B to Directive 75/442/EEC;

(9) 'Disposal` shall mean any of the applicable operations provided for in Annex II A to Directive 75/442/EEC;

(10) 'Economic operators` shall mean producers of materials and of vehicles, distributors, dismantlers, shredders, recoverers and recyclers;

(11) 'Hazardous substance` shall mean any substance which is considered to be dangerous under Directive 67/548/EEC;

(12) 'Shredder` shall mean any device used for tearing into pieces or fragmenting end of life vehicles.

Article 3 Scope

1. This Directive shall cover vehicles and end of life vehicles, including their components and materials.

2. This Directive shall apply without prejudice to existing Community legislation and relevant national legislation, in particular as regards safety standards, air emissions and noise controls.

3. Two- and three-wheeled motor vehicles as well as special-purpose vehicles as defined in the second indent of Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 70/156/EEC shall be excluded from the provisions of Articles 4 and 7 of this Directive.

Article 4 Prevention

1. Member States shall ensure that measures aiming at prevention are implemented. They shall, in particular:

(a) encourage vehicle manufacturers, in liaison with material and equipment manufacturers, to control the use of hazardous substances in vehicles and to reduce them as far as possible from the conception of the vehicle onwards, so as in particular to prevent their release into the environment, make recycling easier, and avoid the disposal of hazardous waste.

(b) promote the design and production of new vehicles which take into full account and facilitate the dismantling, re-use and recovery, in particular the recycling, of end of life vehicles, their components and materials.

(c) encourage vehicle manufacturers, in liaison with material and equipment manufacturers, to integrate an increasing quantity of recycled material in vehicles and other products, in order to develop the markets for recycled materials.

2. Member States shall ensure that lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium contained in vehicles put on the market after 1 January 2003 is prevented from being shredded in vehicle shredders and from being disposed of as landfill or in any installation incinerating or co-incinerating waste, with or without energy recovery.

Lead used as solder in electronic circuit boards shall be exempted from the first subparagraph.

Article 5 Collection

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that economic operators set up systems for the collection of all end of life vehicles. Member States shall ensure the availability and balanced allocation of collection facilities within their territory.

2. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that as from 1 January 2000 all end of life vehicles are transferred to authorized treatment facilities.

3. Member States shall set up a system according to which a certificate of destruction is a condition for deregistration of the vehicle. This certificate shall be issued to the holder and/or owner when the end of life vehicle is transferred to a treatment facility. Only treatment facilities which have obtained a permit in accordance with Article 6 shall be permitted to issue a certificate of destruction.

Temporary deregistration without delivery of this certificate shall be permitted.

4. Member States shall ensure that any costs incurred by the last holder and/or owner at delivery of the vehicle to an authorized treatment facility in accordance with paragraph 3, as a result of the vehicle's having a negative market value, shall be reimbursable by the vehicle dealer acting on behalf of the producer, unless the dealer decides to take back the end of life vehicle at no cost to the last holder and/or owner.

The Commission shall regularly monitor the implementation of the first subparagraph to ensure that it does not result in market distortions, and if necessary shall propose to the Council an amendment hereto.

5. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that competent authorities mutually recognize and accept the certificates of destruction issued in other Member States according to paragraph 3. To this end, the Commission shall draw up, not later than 30 June 1999 the minimum requirements for the certificate of destruction.

Article 6 Treatment

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that all end of life vehicles are stored (even temporarily) and treated according to the general requirements laid down in Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC, and in compliance with the technical requirements set out in the Annex to this Directive, without prejudice to national regulations on health and environment.

2. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that any establishment or undertaking carrying out treatment operations shall obtain a permit from the competent authorities, in compliance with Articles 9 and 10 of Directive 75/442/EEC. The derogation from the permit requirement referred to in Article 11(1) of that Directive shall not apply to operations concerning end of life vehicles covered by this Directive.

3. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that any establishment or undertaking carrying out treatment operations fulfils at least the following obligations:

(a) End of life vehicles shall be stripped (by the removal of all fluids, tyres, batteries, air-conditioning systems, air bags, catalysts and other hazardous components and materials) before further treatment or other equivalent arrangements shall be made in order to reduce any adverse impact on the environment. Components containing lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium in vehicles put on the market after 1 January 2003 shall also be stripped before further treatment.

(b) Materials and components shall be removed and/or treated in a selective way so that shredder waste is not classified as hazardous waste.

(c) Stripping operations and storage shall be carried out in such a way as to ensure the suitability of vehicle components for re-use and recovery, and in particular for recycling.

4. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the permit referred to in paragraph 2 includes all conditions necessary for compliance with the requirements of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.

Article 7 Re-use and recovery

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that components suitable for re-use are re-used, that components which cannot be re-used are recovered and that preference is given to recycling when environmentally viable, without prejudice to safety requirements.

2. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the following targets are attained by economic operators:

(a) No later than 1 January 2005, for all end of life vehicles, the re-use and recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 85 % by weight per vehicle. Within the same time limit the re-use and recycling shall be increased to a minimum of 80 % by weight per vehicle.

(b) No later than 1 January 2015, for all end of life vehicles, the re-use and recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 95 % by weight per vehicle. Within the same time limit the re-use and recycling shall be increased to a minimum of 85 % by weight per vehicle.

3. On the basis of a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall establish targets for re-use and recovery and for re-use and recycling for the years beyond 2015.

4. In view of the responsibility of producers to ensure that vehicles are designed and manufactured in such a way as to allow the rates of re-use, recycling and recovery as set out in this Directive to be achieved by the economic operators concerned, the Council, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, shall amend Directive 70/156/EEC so that vehicles type-approved in accordance with that Directive and put on the market after 1 January 2005 are re-usable and/or recyclable to a minimum of 85 % by weight per vehicle and are re-usable and/or recoverable to a minimum of 95 % by weight per vehicle. To that end, the Commission shall promote, as appropriate, the preparation of European standards relating to the dismantlability, recoverability, and recyclability of vehicles.

Article 8 Coding standards/dismantling manuals

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that producers, in concert with material and equipment manufacturers, use common component and material coding standards by 31 December 1999, in particular to facilitate the identification of those components and materials which are suitable for re-use and recovery.

2. The Commission shall promote, as appropriate, the preparation of European standards relating to the identification and codification of the components and materials referred to in paragraph 1.

3. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that producers provide dismantling manuals by 31 December 1999 which identify, as far as it is needed by treatment facilities in order to comply with the provisions of this Directive, the different vehicle components and materials, and the location of all hazardous substances in the vehicles.

Article 9 Information

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that databases on end of life vehicles and their treatment are established in order to enable Member States and the Commission to monitor the implementation of the objectives set out in this Directive. Data shall be provided on the basis of formats to be adopted by 30 June 1999. The data shall be made available with the national reports referred to in Article 10 and shall be updated in subsequent reports.

2. Member States shall require producers to publish information on the rates of re-use, recycling and recovery which have been achieved in the previous year for their vehicles and components. Such information shall be verified by Member States and made available to potential purchasers of vehicles.

Article 10 Reporting obligation

Member States shall report to the Commission on the application of this Directive in accordance with Article 5 of Council Directive 91/692/EEC (7).

The first report shall cover the period [1999 to 2001].

Article 11 Implementation

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 31 March 1999. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt these provisions, these shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication. The procedure for such reference shall be adopted by Member States.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission all existing laws, regulations and administrative provisions adopted within the scope of this Directive.

Article 12 Committee procedure

The Commission, assisted by the committee established by Article 18 of Directive 75/442/EEC, and according to the procedure laid down therein, shall:

(a) adopt the amendment necessary for adapting the Annex to this Directive to scientific and technical progress;

(b) adopt the minimum requirements, as referred to in Article 5(5), for the certificate of destruction;

(c) adopt the formats relating to the database system referred to in Article 9.

Article 13 Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 5(4) shall apply from 1 January 2003.

Article 14 Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ 196, 16. 8. 1967, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 236, 18. 9. 1996, p. 35.

(3) OJ L 42, 23. 2. 1970, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 233, 25. 8. 1997, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 39.

(6) OJ L 135, 6. 6. 1996, p. 32.

(7) OJ L 377, 31. 12. 1991, p. 48.

ANNEX

Technical requirements in accordance with Article 6 (1)

1. Sites for storage (including temporary storage) of end of life vehicles prior to their treatment:

- Impermeable surfaces for appropriate areas with the provision of spillage-collection facilities, decanters and cleanser-degreases

- Equipment for the treatment of water, including rainwater, in compliance with health and environmental regulations.

2. Sites for treatment:

- Impermeable surfaces for appropriate areas with the provision of spillage-collection facilities, decanters and cleanser-degreases

- Appropriate storage for dismantled spare parts, including impermeable storage for oil-contaminated spare parts

- Appropriate containers for storage of batteries (with electrolyte neutralization on site or elsewhere), oil filters and PCB/PCT containing condensers

- Appropriate storage tanks for end of life vehicle fluids: fuel, motor oil, gearbox oil, transmission oil, hydraulic oil, cooling liquids, antifreeze, brake fluids, battery acids, air-conditioning system fluids and any other fluid contained in the end of life vehicle

- Appropriate storage for used tyres, including the prevention of fire hazards and excessive stockpiling

- Equipment for the treatment of water, including rainwater, in compliance with health and environmental regulations.