WRITTEN QUESTION P-0380/03

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 February 2003)

Subject: Environmental contribution for waste disposal of vehicles in contravention of EU legislation

Since 21 April 2002 Member States of the European Union have been required to comply with the provisions of the EU directive on end-of-life vehicles (2000/53/EC(1)). Under Article 5(4) of the directive, vehicle producers are required to meet all, or part of, the costs of recycling.

However, the situation in the Netherlands involves all purchasers of new vehicles having to pay a fixed environmental contribution for waste disposal of EUR 45 per vehicle, which goes into a fund used to finance the uneconomic element of the recycling of all end-of-life vehicles in the Netherlands.

It therefore very much looks as if consumers are footing 100 % of the costs of recycling. The EU principle as enshrined in the above law is clearly being violated by the Netherlands.

Does the Commission agree?

If so, is the Commission prepared to make it clear to the Netherlands government that the system under which consumers pay an environmental contribution for waste disposal must be overhauled, and that vehicle producers and importers of vehicles into the Netherlands market should meet all, or a significant part of, the costs of recycling?

If not, could the Commission state what contribution is made by vehicle producers to the Netherlands system and how this compares with the contribution of EUR 45 from Netherlands consumers?

(1) OJ L 269, 21.10.2000, p. 34.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(12 March 2003)

Article 5, paragraph 4 of Directive 2000/53/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of life vehicles(1) provides that Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that producers meet all, or a significant part of the cost related to the take-back of end-of life vehicles by an authorised treatment facility. The Dutch legislator has implemented this free take-back principle in Article 8(b) and (c) of the Decision management carwrecks of 24 May 2002(2). According to this Article, every producer or importer of vehicles into the Netherlands becomes responsible, both from an organisational point of view and financially, for the return and treatment of vehicles put on the Dutch market which have become waste.

Since 1995, there exists a voluntary scheme for the disposal of car wrecks, established by the Automobile Recycling Netherlands (ARN) in the Netherlands. Every time a car is registered in the Netherlands a disposal charge of EUR 45 has to be paid to a fund. To ensure that all car manufacturers and importers pay this charge, the Dutch government has declared the agreement generally binding on all manufacturers and importers in the market. The Dutch system does not contain any rules on passing on the disposal charge. However, each individual producer or importer is of course free to make the commercial decision whether or not to pass on those costs further down the distribution chain and ultimately to the consumer.

It should be noted that the fund is used for the financing of the total take-back and recycling costs, which amount to approximately EUR 100 per end-of live vehicle. The producer and importers are responsible for financing the revenues of this fund.

In line with the producer responsibility principle, the Dutch system thus encourages producers to take preventive measures to make vehicles more easy to reuse, dismantle and recycle (design for recycling) and specifies their responsibility for the collection, treatment, reuse and recovery (including recycling) of end-of life vehicles.

In 2001, the Commission has assessed the system of disposal charges on its conformity with the state aid rules. The Commission concluded that this system did not contain any element of state aid(3). Since in only 7 % of the cases the costs were passed on to the end consumers, the Commission also concluded, within the framework of the state aid assessment, that car producers and importers pay for at least a significant part of the costs in conformity with Article 5, paragraph 4 of Directive 2000/53/EC.

(1) OJ L 269, 21.10.2000.

(2) See: Staatsblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden 2002 259.

(3) Commission Decision 2002/204/EC of 30 October 2001 on the waste disposal system for car wrecks implemented by the Netherlands OJ L 68, 12.3.2002.