Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, THE European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of Regions on the implementation of Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles for the period 2005-2008
Date: 2009-11-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: application of EU law, disclosure of information, environmental protection, metal waste, report, vehicle, waste management, waste recycling

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.11.2009 
COM(2009) 635 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, AND 
THE COMMITTEE OF REGIONS 

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE 2000/53/EC ON END-OF-LIFE 
VEHICLES 

FOR THE PERIOD 2005-2008 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, AND 
THE COMMITTEE OF REGIONS 

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE 2000/53/EC ON END-OF-LIFE 
VEHICLES 

FOR THE PERIOD 2005-2008 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The main objectives of Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of life vehicles (ELV Directive)1 are the 
prevention  of  waste  from  vehicles  and  the  reuse,  recycling  and  other  forms  of  recovery  of 
end-of-life  vehicles  and  their  components  so  as  to  reduce  the  final  disposal  of  waste. 
Moreover, the environmental performance of all the economic operators involved in the life 
cycle of vehicles, and especially the operators directly involved in the treatment of end-of-life 
vehicles, shall be improved by the measures laid down in the Directive. 

Article 9 of Directive 2000/53/EC obliges Member States to send a report to the Commission 
on the implementation of this Directive at three-year intervals on the basis of a questionnaire 
which  was  established  by  Commission  Decision  2001/753/EC2,  in  accordance  with  the 
procedure laid down in Article 6 of Directive 91/692/EEC3. The questionnaire consists of two 
parts: the first part concerns details on the incorporation of the Directive into national law, the 
second part information on the actual implementation of the Directive. 

the  first 

implementation  report  (COM/2007/0618  final)  which  covered 

After 
the 
implementation  period  from  21  April  2002  to  21  April  2005  (for  the  Member  States  which 
joined  the  European  Community  on  1  May  2004  the  period  from  1  May  2004  to  21  April 
2005),  this  report  covers  the  period  from  21  April  2005  to  21  April  2008  (for  the  Member 
States  which  joined  the  European  Community  on  1  January  2007  from  this  day  to  21  April 
2008). 

The reporting discipline was not fully satisfactory. Five Member States4 did not provide the 
Commission with information concerning the incorporation of the Directive into their national 
law.  Many  responses  were  missing,  incomplete  or  unclear.  The  annual  data  on  the 
achievement  of  the  targets  for  reuse/recycling  and  reuse/recovery  needed  to  be  obligatorily 
reported  in  2008,  referring  to  2006,  according  to  the  Commission  Decision  2005/293/EC5. 
The timeliness of reporting was poor, and the quality of the reporting methodologies made the 
received  figures  questionable  in  some  cases.  The  Commission  took  steps  to  help  Member 

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OJ L 269, 21.10.2000, p. 34. 
OJ L 282, 26.10.2001, p. 77. 
OJ L 377, 31.12.1991, p. 48. 
Infringement proceedings have been launched against the non-reporting Member States. 
OJ L 94, 13.4.2005, p. 30. 

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States improve data quality and comparability by establishing an expert group to address this 
issue6.  

Conformity  studies  run  by  the  Commission  on  the  national  implementing  measures  have 
demonstrated that the Directive is generally well transposed, although there are some cases of 
non-conformity which are currently or can be subject to infringement procedures. 

Concerning  the  actual,  practical  implementation  and  enforcement  of  the  legal  provisions, 
Member States were able to provide more information than for the previous reporting period, 
but an exhaustive assessment of  the overall situation  cannot  be  made  based  on  the  received 
responses.  

2. 

DIRECTIVE 2000/53/EC ON END-OF LIFE VEHICLES 

Twenty  two  Member  States  provided  the  Commission  via  this  report  with  data  concerning 
their  national  laws,  regulations  and  administrative  provisions  which  implement  Directive 
2000/53/EC into national law. 

Some  provisions  of  the  Directive  (concerning  for  instance  prevention,  collection,  reuse  and 
recovery) may be transposed by means of agreement, but only five Member States made use 
of this possibility. 

Only two Member States (Lithuania and the United Kingdom) exempted vehicles produced in 
small  series  and  their  producers  from  the  requirements  concerning  reusability,  recyclability 
and  recoverability,  coding  standards  and  dismantling  information  as  well  as  reporting 
obligations. 

All  respondents  reported  to  have  adopted  measures  encouraging  vehicle  manufacturers,  in 
liaison with material and equipment manufacturers, to limit the use of hazardous substances in 
vehicles, to facilitate dismantling, reuse and recovery and to integrate an increasing quantity 
of  recycled  materials  in  vehicles.  Twenty  two  Member  States  indicated  that  their  national 
legislation restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium for materials 
and components of vehicles put on the market after 1 July 2003, apart from the exemptions 
listed in Annex II to the Directive. 

All  respondents  took  the  necessary  measures  to  ensure  that  economic  operators  –  in  most 
cases the producers and/or importers of vehicles – set up systems for the collection of end-of-
life vehicles and (as far as technically feasible) of waste used parts removed when passenger 
cars  are  repaired,  and  to  ensure  the  adequate  availability  of  collection  facilities  within  their 
territory. The number of authorised treatment facilities varies from 2 in Cyprus to more than 
1,600 in the United Kingdom. In all countries measures were taken to ensure that all end-of-
life vehicles are transferred to authorised treatment facilities. 

All  Member  States  except  Belgium  reported  having set up a system according to which the 
presentation of a certificate of destruction is a condition for deregistration of a vehicle. The 
Belgian  case  is  followed  by  the  Commission.  Nine  Member  States  used  an  option  to  allow 

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An expert group was set up to address this issue, including representative of the Member States, the car 
industry, and the Commission's Directorates General Environment and Statistics. The first meeting of 
the group is planned in autumn 2009. 

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producers, dealers or collectors to issue certificates of destruction on behalf of an authorised 
treatment  facility  provided  there  is  a  guarantee  that  the  ELVs  are  transferred  to  authorised 
treatment facilities. 

All respondents indicated having adopted measures to ensure that end-of-life vehicles can be 
delivered  to  authorised  treatment  facilities  without  any  cost  for  the  last  holder  or  owner.  In 
most Member States the delivery of an end-of-life vehicle is not free of charge if it does not 
contain the essential components or if it contains waste that had been added to it – an option 
in line with the Directive. 

All Member States except Belgium against which the Commission has started an infringement 
proceeding ensured that certificates of destruction issued in other Member States are mutually 
recognised  and  accepted  by  the  competent  authorities.  The  Bulgarian  response  was  unclear 
and needs further investigation. 

In all responding Member States treatment establishments or undertakings must have a permit 
from  or  be  registered  with  the  competent  authorities.  Only  Italy  and  the  United  Kingdom 
made  use  of  the  derogation  possibility  from  the  permit  requirements  as  referred  to  in  the 
Directive. 

Nineteen respondents reported means to encourage treatment establishments or undertakings 
to  introduce  certified  environmental  systems.  Support  is  provided  for  instance  by  guidance 
documents, information brochures on the advantages of introducing a certified environmental 
system,  training  courses  or  funding.  Three  respondents  replied  the  certified  environmental 
systems were voluntary and did not report any additional promotion measures. 

All  responding  Member  States  indicated  to  have  adopted  measures  in  line  with  the  waste 
hierarchy  in  order  to  promote  the  reuse  of  components  which  are  suitable  for  reuse  and  the 
recovery of components which cannot be reused, with a preference for recycling. 

All  respondents  introduced  measures  to  ensure  that  the  reuse/recovery  and  reuse/recycling 
targets  set  in  the  Directive  are  attained  by  the  economic  operators.  Most  Member  States 
transposed  the  targets  set  in  the  Directive  literally.  The  Netherlands  adjusted  their  initially 
very ambitious date by which the targets of 95% reuse/recovery and 85% reuse/recycling have 
to be met from 2007 back to 2015 required by the Directive. In Bulgaria, a recovery target of 
87% and a recycling target of 81% shall be attained by 31 December 2008; a gradual increase 
to  95%  for  recovery  and  85%  for  recycling  is  set  for  2015.  The  Czech  Republic,  Greece, 
Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom made 
use of the possibility to set lower targets for vehicles produced before 1 January 1980. 

Concerning the rates of reuse/recycling and reuse/recovery, the 2006 figures are available for 
all  Member  States  except  Ireland  and  Malta.  In  2006,  nineteen  Member  States7  met  the 
reuse/recycling  target  of  80%  (the  Czech  Republic  and  France  were  close  to  meeting  the 
target).  The  reuse/recovery  target  of  85%  was  met  by  thirteen  Member  States8  (Spain  was 
close to meeting the target). More figures can be found in the Commission's reports available 

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Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Denmark,  Germany,  Estonia,  Greece,  Cyprus,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg, 
Hungary,  the  Netherlands,  Austria,  Poland,  Portugal,  Slovakia,  Finland,  Sweden,  and  the  United 
Kingdom. 
Belgium,  Bulgaria,  the  Czech  Republic,  Germany,  Cyprus,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  the 
Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. 

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at  http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm  or  on 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/waste/introduction/.  

the  website  of  Eurostat: 

All responding  Member States reported to have taken measures to ensure that producers, in 
concert  with  material  and  equipment  manufacturers,  use  component  and  material  coding 
standards  and  obliged  manufacturers  of  components  to  make  information  on  dismantling, 
storage and testing of components available to authorised treatment facilities. In all Member 
States producers have to provide dismantling information for each type of a new vehicle put 
on  the  market.  Most  Member  States  indicated  the  use  of  the  IDIS  system  (International 
Dismantling Information System) which is regularly updated. 

Nineteen Member States reported having obliged the economic operators – mostly producers 
– to publish information concerning vehicle design, environmentally sound treatment, waste 
prevention and the progress achieved with regard to recovery and recycling. In three member 
States this obligation is directed to vehicle producers as the relevant economic operators, not 
manufacturers of vehicle components. Sweden and Estonia are working on the modification 
of their legislation. 

The Member States were asked whether any new measures concerning waste prevention were 
taken. Ten respondents indicated such measures but it was not clear in all cases whether they 
were  new  compared  to  the  last  reporting  period.  Germany  reported  that  the  automotive 
industry developed  a  list  concerning  the declaration of certain information about  substances 
relevant  to  parts  and  materials  supplied  to  automobile  manufacturers  and  referred  further  to 
the  SEES  project9  which  aims  inter  alia  at  the  development  of  sustainable  dismantling  and 
recycling processes to increase the recovery and reuse rates. Germany also remarked that the 
general  trend  of  forcing  the  development  of  post-shredder  technologies  in  order  to  recover 
shredder residues as far as possible is still ongoing. 

Concerning  types  and  quantities  of  recycled  materials  and  the  market  situation,  France 
reported  that  the  level  of  incorporation  of  recycled  materials  increased  but  signalled  a 
dependence on the technical requirements of vehicles, on the market availability and on the 
price  and  quality  level  of  recycled  material.  France  also  remarked  that  according  to  the 
specialists  in  the  metals  industry  an  incorporation  of  more  than  40%  of  recycled  metal  in 
vehicles is difficult. The recycling of plastics remained at a lower level than the recycling of 
metals  and  manufacturers  were  seeking  a  balance  between  the  use  of recycled  conventional 
plastics  and  innovative  new  lightweight  plastics.  Germany  stated  that  changing  demand  for 
recycled scrap causes significant fluctuations in trade of this material. There is also a strong 
demand for high quality recycled plastics. 

Only  five  Member  States  reported  end-of-life  vehicles  with  no  or  a  negative  market  value 
delivered  to  authorised  treatment  facilities.  The  remaining  Member  States  indicated  no  or  a 
negligible amount of such cars due to high secondary raw material prices. 

The respondents did not in general notice any competition distortions between or within the 
Member  States,  although  several  remarks  were  made  in  this  context.  Sweden  referred  to 

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Sustainable  Electrical  &  Electronic  System  for  the  Automotive  Sector,  a  project  funded  by  the 
European  Union  within  the  SIXTH  FRAMEWORK  PROGRAMME  PRIORITY  6.2  (Sustainable 
surface transport Advanced Design and Production Techniques). The project consortium brings together 
car  manufacturers  and  suppliers,  universities,  recyclers/dismantlers,  research  centres  and  consultants. 
See: http://www.sees-project.net/index.php.  

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differences  in  the  interpretation  of  Directive  2000/53/EC  concerning  the  separation  of  glass 
from  end-of-life  vehicles  resulting  in  more  cars  being  exported  to  Member  States  in  which 
glass can be legally separated after shredding. Belgium stated an intense competition among 
shredding  facilities  and  between  shredding  and  dismantling  facilities.  Poland  remarked  that 
the burden of treating end-of-life vehicles often does not fall on the Member State where the 
vehicles are placed on the market and used longest, but on the Member States into which they 
are  imported  afterwards  and  finish  their  useful  lives.  In  this  context,  Germany  noticed  a 
decrease of end-of-life vehicles recovered in the country's dismantling and recycling facilities 
due  to  the  fact  that  a  large  amount  of  used  vehicles  is  exported  to  for  instance  Poland, 
Romania, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. Other Member States reported that a number of 
used cars were also exported to Africa or the Middle East which had an impact on the quantity 
of  end-of-vehicles  generated  and  treated  in  these  Member  States.  The  Commission  is 
intending to discuss these issues further with the national experts in the Technical Adaptation 
Committee meetings. 

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

There were no remarkable changes compared to the previous reporting period as regards the 
incorporation  of  Directive  2000/53/EC  into  the  national  legislation  of  the  Member  States. 
Some of the provisions of the Directive have not yet been transposed fully or correctly, which 
is demonstrated by the number of infringement cases: in 2009, nine non-conformity cases and 
six  cases  for  non-reporting  were  still  pending.  Several  Member  States  failed  to  meet  their 
reuse/recycling/recovery targets in 2006. The Commission addressed a letter to these Member 
States seeking explanation for the reasons of failure and will discuss possible improvement. 
Overall,  the  implementation  of  the  Directive  should  be  further  improved.  The  ongoing 
conformity  checks  and  meetings  with  Member  States  will  continue  in  order  to  address 
deficiencies in the implementation of this Community legislation. 

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