Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
Date: 2023-02-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: electronic waste, environmental risk prevention, photovoltaic cell, pollution control measures, producer's liability, storage of waste, waste disposal, waste recycling

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.2.2023  COM(2023) 63 final 2023/0025 (COD)  Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

• 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

On 25 January 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union in its judgement in case C-
181/201 declared as partially invalid Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical 
and  electronic  equipment  (“WEEE  Directive”)  by  reason  of  non-justified  retroactive  effect, 
insofar as it provides for producers to have to assume the financing of the costs of collection, 
treatment,  recovery  and  environmentally  sound  disposal  of  waste  from  photovoltaic  panels 
placed  on  the  market  between  13  August  2005  and  13  August  2012.  The  latter  date  is  the 
entry  into  force  of  the  then  new  WEEE  Directive,  which  replaced  Directive  2002/96/EC. 
From its entry into force, photovoltaic panels were added to the scope of the WEEE Directive. 
Furthermore, the 2012 Directive more broadly implemented an ‘open scope’ as of 15 August 
2018, changing in this respect from the scope of the earlier Directive 2002/96/EC. 

The  Court  argues  that  prior  to  the  adoption  of  Directive  2012/19/EU,  Member  States  had, 
pursuant  to  Article  14  of  Directive  2008/98/EC  on  waste2,  the  choice  of  requiring  the  costs 
relating  to  the  management  of  waste  from  photovoltaic  panels  to  be  borne  by  current  or 
previous  waste  holders,  or  by  the  producer  or  the  distributor  of  the  photovoltaic  panels. 
According  to  the  Court,  the  subsequently  established  rule,  in  Article  13(1)  of  Directive 
2012/19/EU,  under  which  the  financing  of  costs  related  to  the  end-of-  life  treatment  of 
photovoltaic panels other than for private households must in all Member States be borne by 
producers, including  where products  had  already been placed on the market  at  a time when 
the former legislation was in force, must be regarded as applying retroactively. It is therefore 
liable to infringe the principle of legal certainty. 

The judgement requires follow-up through a targeted amendment of the WEEE Directive and 
its Article 13(1) on financing the WEEE collection and treatment in  respect of WEEE from 
users other than private households.  

In addition, it was assessed that Article 12(1) of the WEEE Directive should also be amended 
as it contained a parallel provision for electrical  and electronic equipment (EEE) for private 
households.  While  this  Article  was  not  explicitly  targeted  by  the  Court’s  judgement  as  not 
concerned by the underlying case, it can likewise be regarded as retroactive in the light of the 
Court’s reasoning and therefore, a similar amendment is to be made. 

The targeted Commission proposal also addresses the impact of the Court’s judgment on other 
products falling under the ‘open scope’ set out in Article 2(1)(b) of the WEEE Directive as of 
15 August 2018 with regard to which the situation is similar to the one of photovoltaic panels, 
explicitly targeted by the Court’s judgement. In particular, the ‘open scope’ can include both 
EEE for private households and EEE for users other than private households3. For both cases, 

OJ C 222, 6.7.2020 
OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3–30 

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3 Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  review  of  the  scope  of 
Directive  2012/19/EU  on  WEEE  Directive  and  on  the  re-examination  of  the  deadlines  for  reaching  the 
collection  targets  referred  to  in  Article  7(1)  of  the  new  WEEE  Directive  and  on  the  possibility  of  setting 
individual collection targets for one or more categories of electrical and electronic equipment in Annex III to 
the Directive (COM/2017/0171 final). 

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following the Court’s judgement, clarification is needed that producers are obliged only from 
15 August 2018 to finance the management of waste from ‘open scope’ EEE. 

Consequently, the Commission proposal also covers an amendment of Article 12, paragraph 
1.  Amendment  of  Article  12,  paragraphs  3  and  4  is  proposed  to  clarify  the  time  when  the 
financing obligation for producers apply. 

Likewise,  to  correct  an  otherwise  retroactive  effect  based  on  the  Court’s  reasoning,  the 
Commission  proposal  furthermore  aims  to  amend  Article  15(2)  referring  to  the  marking  of 
EEE. 

In  addition,  this  proposal  updates  in  Articles  14(4)  and  15(2)  of  the  WEEE  Directive  the 
references  to  the  European  standard  EN  50419  on  marking  of  EEE  in  respect  to  separate 
collection of WEEE by replacing the reference to the 2006 version of this standard with the 
2022 version. 

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

The  current  Union  rules  on  the  management  of  WEEE  are  laid  down  in  Directive 
2012/19/EU.  

The proposal aims to amend Article 12, paragraphs 1, 3 and 4, Article 13(1) and Article 15(2) 
of  the  WEEE  Directive  as  a  follow-up  to  the  judgement  of  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the 
European  Union  in  case  C-181/20.  These  provisions  concern  the  principle  of  extended 
producer  responsibility  (EPR),  a  key  principle  of  the  WEEE  Directive  already  enshrined  in 
the first  Directive 2002/96/EC and implementing the polluter pays principle as enshrined in 
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The EPR principle is set out in more 
detail in Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (Waste Framework Directive or WFD). The proposal 
maintains  the  full  effectiveness  of  the  EPR  provisions.  However,  in  light  of  the  Court’s 
judgement, the principle of non-retroactivity and the related interests of economic actors have 
to  be  respected  as  regards  the  time  when  the  WEEE  Directive  did  not  yet  apply  to 
photovoltaic panels and other products placed newly in its scope. 

The  proposal  also  aims  at  amending  Article  14(4)  and  Article  15(2)  in  order  to  update  the 
reference to the European standard EN 50419 by replacing the reference  to the standard EN 
50419, adopted by Cenelec in  March 2006, with the revised version of this  standard, which 
was adopted  in  2022 and update the references in the standard to the WEEE Directive  (EN 
50419:2022).  

These proposed targeted amendments do not relate to any other policy provision in the WEEE 
area.  

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

The  proposed  targeted  amendments  maintain  coherence  of  the  Directive  and  its  EPR 
provisions with other Union policies. 

2. 

• 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

Legal basis 

The  proposal  is  based  on  Article  192(1)  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European 
Union relating to environmental protection, which is the legal basis of the Act it amends. 

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• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

As  referred  to  in  Recital  (36)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU,  since  the  objective  of  the  Directive 
cannot  be sufficiently  achieved by the Member States and can by reason  of the scale of the 
problem,  be  better  achieved  at  the  level  of  the  Union,  the  Union  may  adopt  measures,  in 
accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European 
Union.  

Given  that  the  targeted  amendment  aims  to  modify  already  existing  provisions  of  the 
Directive  in  line  with  the  Court’s  judgment,  it  can  be  concluded  that  the  principle  of 
subsidiarity  and  EU-added  value  are  respected,  as  originally  intended  by  the  adoption  of 
Directive  2012/19/EU.  Moreover,  given  that  there  might  be  different  interpretations  by  the 
Member States regarding the question of when the extended producer responsibility applies to 
photovoltaic panels and new in scope EEE, there is a necessity for the amendment. 

• 

Proportionality 

As  indicated  in  Recital  (36)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU,  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of 
proportionality, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union, the WEEE Directive 
does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve its objective.  

Given  that  the  targeted  amendment  aims  to  modify  already  existing  provisions  of  the 
Directive  in  line  with  the  Court’s  judgment,  it  can  be  concluded  that  the  principle  of 
proportionality is respected, as originally intended by the adoption of Directive 2012/19/EU.  

• 

Choice of the instrument 

Given that the targeted amendment aims to modify already existing provisions of the WEEE 
Directive  in  line  with  the  Court’s  judgment,  this  proposal  takes  the  form  of  a  Directive 
amending Directive 2012/19/EU.  

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EX-POST 

EVALUATIONS, 

OF 

STAKEHOLDER 

Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation 

Not applicable. 

• 

Stakeholder consultations 

Member States’ experts were informed of the implications of the Court’s judgement in case 
C-181/20  and  during  a  meeting  of  the  Expert  Group  on  waste  on  7  April  2022  on  the 
implementation  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  on  WEEE4,  where  the  Commission  presented  the 
main  elements  of  the  targeted  amendment  and  asked  for  feedback.  No  objections  to  the 
proposed way ahead were raised, nor were any specific comments made.  

Given  that  the  Court’s  judgement  requires  the  Commission  to  implement  the  judgment 
without  undue  delay  and  taking  into  consideration  the  limited  nature  of  the  proposal,  there 
were no further stakeholder consultations. 

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groups and other similar entities (europa.eu). See in particular agenda point 3. 

The  agenda  and  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  are  available  under  the  Register  of  Commission  expert 

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• 

Collection and use of expertise 

Given the clearly defined, limited scope of this proposal to address a judgement by the Court 
of Justice of the European Union, no external expertise was required to be relied upon. 

• 

Impact assessment 

No impact assessment was carried out given that there was no choice for the Commission but 
to amend specific articles of the WEEE Directive according to the judgment of the Court of 
Justice of the European Union in case C-181/20. 

• 

Regulatory fitness and simplification 

The  initiative  is  limited  to  amending  Article  12,  paragraphs  1,  3  and  4,  Article  13(1)  and 
Article 15(2) of the WEEE Directive as a follow-up to the judgement of the Court of Justice 
of the European Union in case C-181/20 and to amend Article 14(4) and Article 15(2) in order 
to update the reference to the European standard EN 50419. Therefore, the proposal follows a 
strictly defined legal scope and format. 

• 

Fundamental rights 

The  proposal  has  no  consequences  for  the  protection  of  fundamental  rights.  Given  the 
judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-181/20, follow-up has to 
be  given  through  this  targeted  Commission  proposal  for  the  amendment  of  the  WEEE 
Directive.  

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

The  proposed  measure  does  not  envisage  budgetary  consequences  for  the  European 
Commission. Consequently, a legislative financial statement is not provided. 

5. 

• 

OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

Reporting arrangements are already provided for in Article 16 of the WEEE Directive, which 
is not affected by this targeted Commission proposal.  

In addition, the rules for the calculation, verification and reporting of data for the purposes of 
the WEEE Directive are provided in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2193 of 
17 December 2019.  

No additional measures or mechanisms are needed in relation to this proposal. 

• 

Explanatory documents (for directives) 

The Commission considers that documents explaining Member States' measures transposing 
the  Directives  are  necessary  in  order  to  improve  the  quality  of  information  on  the 
transposition of the Directive. 

The  main  objective  of  the  proposed  provisions  is  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  Court  of 
Justice of the European Union judgement and thus to clarify the time from when producers of 
different  electrical  and electronic equipment  both  for private households and for users other 
than private households have to provide for the financing of the management of the waste that 
occur  from  their  products.  Therefore,  the  complete  and  correct  transposition  of  the  new 

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legislation is  essential to guarantee that this objective is achieved and there is  a harmonised 
approach across Member States. 

The  requirement  to  provide  explanatory  documents  may  create  an  additional  administrative 
burden  on  some  Member  States.  However,  explanatory  documents  are  necessary  to  allow 
effective verification of complete and correct transposition, which is essential for the reasons 
mentioned above, and there are no less burdensome measures to allow efficient verification. 
Moreover, explanatory documents can contribute significantly to reducing the administrative 
burden of compliance monitoring by the Commission;  without them, considerable resources 
and  numerous  contacts  with  national  authorities  would  be  required  to  track  the  methods  of 
transposition in all Member States.  

In view of the above, it is appropriate to ask Member States to accompany the notification of 
their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between 
the provisions of the Directive amending the WEEE Directive and the corresponding parts of 
national transposition instruments. 

• 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

Article 1 provides  for the amendment of the following Articles of Directive 2012/19/EU on 
WEEE: 

Article 12, paragraph (1): 

The  proposed  amendment  aims  at  clarifying  the  time  from  when  producers  of  photovoltaic 
panels  and  of  electrical  and  electronic  equipment  for  private  households  that  falls  into  the 
scope of the WEEE Directive only from 15 August 2018 (‘open scope’ EEE) have to provide 
for  the  financing  of  the  costs  for  the  collection,  treatment,  recovery  and  environmentally 
sound disposal of WEEE from private households. In particular, it clarifies that producers of 
photovoltaic  panels  for  private  households  provide  for  the  financing  of  the  collection, 
treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE resulting from photovoltaic 
panels where such photovoltaic panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012. 

It  also  lays  down  that  producers  of  ‘open  scope’  EEE  for  private  households  provide  for 
financing  regarding  the  abovementioned  costs  for  the  resulting  WEEE  where  the  EEE  was 
placed on the market from 15 August 2018. 

Article 12, paragraph (3):  

This provision aims to delete from the text of the Directive the first part of the first sentence 
“For products placed on the market later than 13 August 2005” given that the reference to 13 
August 2005 is obsolete as a consequence to putting into effect the Court’s judgement.  

Article 12, paragraph (4): 

The  proposed  amendment  clarifies  that  this  paragraph  refers  only  to  WEEE  from  products 
referred to in Article 2(1)(a) of the WEEE Directive other than photovoltaic panels. 

Article 13, paragraph (1): 

The proposed amendment aims at clarifying from when producers of photovoltaic panels and 
of  electrical  and  electronic  equipment  for  users  other  than  private  households  that  falls  into 
the  scope  of  the  WEEE  Directive  only  from  15  August  2018  (‘open  scope’  EEE)  have  to 

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provide  for  the  financing  of  the  costs  for  the  collection,  treatment,  recovery  and 
environmentally sound disposal of WEEE.  

In  particular,  it  clarifies  that  producers  of  photovoltaic  panels  for  users  other  than  private 
households  provide  at  least  for  the  financing  of  the  collection,  treatment,  recovery  and 
environmentally  sound  disposal  of  WEEE  resulting  from  photovoltaic  panels  where  such 
photovoltaic panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012.  

It  also  clarifies  that  producers  of  ‘open  scope’  EEE  for  users  other  than  private  households 
shall provide for financing regarding the abovementioned costs for WEEE resulting from such 
EEE where it was placed on the market from 15 August 2018.  

Article 14(4):  

This  proposed  amendment  provides  for  an  update  as  regards  the  reference  in  the  WEEE 
Directive to the European standard EN 50419. Since this standard has been revised in 2022, 
the proposal is to replace the reference to the 2006 version of the standard with the  updated 
version of 2022. 

Article 15(2): 

The  proposed  amendment  comes  as  a  consequential  amendment  from  the  amendments  to 
Articles 12 and 13 to clarify that the obligation of producers to mark EEE applies only from 
13 August 2012 in relation to photovoltaic panels and only from 15 August 2018 in relation to 
‘open  scope’  EEE.  The  proposed  amendment  also  provides  for  an  update  as  regards  the 
reference  to  the  European  standard  EN  50419,  coherent  with  the  change  at  this  respect  in 
Article 14(4).  

Article  2  contains  provisions  regarding  the  transposition  of  the  Directive  by  the  Member 
States. 

Article 3 contains provisions regarding the entry into force of the measure. 

Article 4 defines the addressees of the measure, being the Member States. 

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2023/0025 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 192(1) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee5,  
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions6, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

Directive  2012/19/EU  on  waste  electrical  and  electronic  equipment  (WEEE)  entered 
into force on 13 August 2012, replacing Directive 2002/96/EC. 
Photovoltaic  panels,  which  were  not  in  the  scope  of  Directive  2002/96/EC,  were 
included in the scope of Directive 2012/19/EU from 13 August 2012, when they were 
added  to  category  4  of  Annexes  I  and  II  referenced  in  Article  2(1)(a)  of  Directive 
2012/19/EU.  
Article  13(1)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  establishes  that  producers  of  electrical  and 
electronic equipment (EEE) are to bear the costs for the collection, treatment, recovery 
and  environmentally  sound  disposal  of  waste  EEE  (WEEE)  from  users  other  than 
private households resulting from products placed on the market after 13 August 2005.  
On 25 January 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgement in 
case C-181/207, declared Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU invalid in so far as it 
concerns  photovoltaic  panels  placed  on  the  market  between  13  August  2005  and  12 
August 2012, by reason of non-justified retroactive effect. The Court held that because 
prior to the adoption of Directive 2012/19/EU, the EU legislature left Member States, 
pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 19 November 2008 on waste8, the choice of requiring the costs relating to 
the management of waste from photovoltaic panels to be borne by current or previous 
waste  holders  or  by  the  producer  or  distributor  of  the  photovoltaic  panels,  and 
subsequently established a rule, in Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU under which 

5 
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8 

OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 25 January 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the 
Nejvyšší soud – Czech Republic) – VYSOČINA WIND a.s. v Česká republika – Ministerstvo životního 
prostředí (Case C-181/20), OJ C 222, 6.7.2020 
OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3–30 

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those costs must in all Member States be borne by producers, including in relation to 
products  the  latter  had  already  placed  on  the  market  at  a  time  when  the  former 
legislation was in force, the latter rule must be regarded as applying retroactively, and 
is therefore liable to infringe the principle of legal certainty. The Court held that such 
retroactivity applies  as  regards photovoltaic panels  placed on the market  prior to  the 
entry into force of Directive 2012/19/EU, on 13 August 2012. 
The  Court’s  judgment  declaring  Article  13(1)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  partially 
invalid directly implies that it should be amended so that it does not apply with regard 
to waste from photovoltaic panels from users other than private households placed on 
the market between 13 August 2005 and 13 August 2012. Furthermore, in light of the 
considerations spelled out in the Court’s judgement, it is necessary to amend Directive 
2012/19/EU also  in relation  to the financing of waste from  photovoltaic panels  from 
private  households  to  which  Article  12  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  applies  and  in 
relation  to  other  EEE,  both  regarding  waste  from  private  households  and  from  users 
other  than  private  households,  which  are  in  a  position  comparable  to  that  of 
photovoltaic panels. 
Article  2(1)(b)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  from  15  August  2018  extends  the  scope  of 
application of that Directive to all EEE. Similarly to photovoltaic panels, EEE which 
did not fall within the scope of Directive 2012/19/EU pursuant to its Article 2(1)(a), 
but  which  entered  in  its  scope  from  15  August  2018  pursuant  to  its  Article  2(1)(b) 
(‘open scope EEE’), was previously not included either in the scope of application of 
Directive  2002/96/EC.  Therefore,  prior  to  the  adoption  of  Directive  2012/19/EU, 
Member States were, pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 2008/98/EC, left the choice 
of requiring the costs relating to the management of waste from that EEE to be borne 
by  current  or  previous  waste  holders  or  by  the  producer  or  distributor  of  that 
equipment. Therefore, applying Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU to open scope 
EEE  would,  for  the  reasons  set  out  in  the  Court’s  judgment  in  case  C-181/20,  be 
contrary to the principle of legal certainty. As Directive 2012/19/EU however includes 
open scope EEE only from 15 August 2018, Article 13(1) should be amended so to not 
apply  to  open  scope  EEE  placed  on  the  market  between  13  August  2005  and  15 
August 2018. 
As a mirroring provision of Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, which applies in 
respect of users other than private households, Article 12(1) read in conjunction with 
Article  12(3)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  imposes  the  financing  of  the  costs  for  the 
collection,  treatment,  recovery  and  environmentally  sound  disposal  of  WEEE  from 
private households on producers with regard to products placed on the market as from 
13 August 2005. For the reasons set out in the Court’s judgment in case C-181/20, in 
so far as these provisions apply to the financing of those waste management costs for 
photovoltaic  panels  placed  on  the  market  between  13  August  2005  and  13  August 
2012  and to  open scope  EEE placed on the market  between 13 August  2005 and 15 
August  2018,  they  would equally apply  retroactively in  a way that is  contrary to  the 
principle of legal certainty. Therefore, Article 12 of Directive 2012/19/EU should be 
amended  in  such  a  way  as  to  not  apply  to  photovoltaic  panels  placed  on  the  market 
between 13 August 2005 and 13 August 2012 neither to open scope EEE placed on the 
market between 13 August 2005 and 15 August 2018.  
Articles  14(4)  and  15(2)  of  Directive  2012/19/EU  provide  for  EEE  placed  on  the 
market to be marked, preferably in accordance with the European standard EN 50419, 
which was adopted by Cenelec in March 2006. This standard has been revised in order 
to update the references it contains to Directive 2012/19/EU. Therefore, the reference 
to the standard in Article 14(4) and in Article 15(2) should be updated to refer to the 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

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(9) 

(10) 

updated  version  of  the  standard  EN  50419,  which  was  adopted  by  Cenelec  in  July 
2022.  
Article 15(2) of Directive 2012/19/EU provides that in order to enable the date upon 
which  the  EEE  was  placed  on  the  market  to  be  determined  unequivocally,  Member 
States shall ensure that a mark on the EEE specifies that the latter was placed on the 
market after 13 August 2005. As a consequential amendment from the amendments to 
Articles  12  and  13,  Article  15(2)  should  be  amended  with  respect  to  photovoltaic 
panels and open scope EEE, so that it clarifies that the marking obligation applies only 
from 13 August 2012 in relation to photovoltaic panels and only from 15 August 2018 
in relation to open scope EEE. 
In  accordance with  the Joint Political  Declaration of 28 September 2011  of Member 
States  and  the  Commission  on  explanatory  documents9,  Member  States  have 
undertaken  to  accompany,  in  justified  cases,  the  notification  of  their  transposition 
measures  with  one  or  more  documents  explaining  the  relationship  between  the 
components  of  a  directive  and  the  corresponding  parts  of  national  transposition 
instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of 
such documents to be justified. 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 

Article 1 

Amendment of Directive 2012/19/EU 

Directive 2012/19/EU is amended as follows: 

(1) 

Article 12 is amended as follows:  

(a) 

 paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: 

‘1. Member States shall ensure that producers provide at least for the financing of 
the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound  disposal of WEEE 
from private households that has been deposited at collection facilities set up under 
Article 5(2) according to the following: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

for  WEEE  resulting  from  EEE  referred  to  in  Article  2(1)(a)  other  than 
photovoltaic panels  where such EEE was placed on the market  after 13 
August 2005; 

for  WEEE  resulting  from  photovoltaic  panels  where  such  photovoltaic 
panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012; and 

for  WEEE  resulting  from  EEE  referred  to  in  Article  2(1)(b)  and  which 
does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  Article  2(1)(a)  where  such  EEE  was 
placed on the market from 15 August 2018.’; 

(b) 

 in paragraph 3, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:  

‘3. Each producer shall be responsible for financing the operations referred  to 
in paragraph 1 relating to the waste from his own products. The producer may 
choose  to  fulfil  this  obligation  either  individually  or  by  joining  a  collective 
scheme.’; 

(c) 

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:  

9 

OJ C 369, 17.12.2011, p. 14. 

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‘4.  The  responsibility  for  the  financing  of  the  costs  of  the  management  of 
WEEE  from  products  referred  to  in  Article  2(1)(a)  other  than  photovoltaic 
panels placed on the market on or before 13 August 2005 (‘historical waste’) 
shall be borne by one or more systems to which all producers existing on the 
market  when  the  respective  costs  occur  contribute  proportionately,  e.g.  in 
proportion to their respective share of the market by type of equipment.’; 

(2) 

in Article 13, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:  

‘1.  Member  States  shall  ensure  that  the  financing  of  the  costs  for  the  collection, 
treatment,  recovery  and  environmentally  sound  disposal  of  WEEE  from  users  other 
than private households is to be provided for by producers according to the following: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

for  WEEE  resulting  from  EEE  referred  to  in  Article  2(1)(a)  other  than 
photovoltaic panels  where such EEE was placed on the market  after 13 
August 2005;  

for  WEEE  resulting  from  photovoltaic  panels  where  such  photovoltaic 
panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012; and 

for WEEE resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1)(b) which does 
not  fall within the scope of Article 2(1)(a) where such EEE was placed 
on the market from 15 August 2018’; 

(3) 

in Article 14, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: 

‘4. With a view to minimising the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and 
to  facilitating  its  separate  collection,  Member  States  shall  ensure  that  producers 
appropriately  mark  —  preferably  in  accordance  with  the  European  standard  EN 
50419:2022  —  EEE  placed  on  the  market  with  the  symbol  shown  in  Annex  IX.  In 
exceptional  cases,  where  this  is  necessary  because  of  the  size  or  the  function  of  the 
product, the symbol shall be printed on the packaging, on the instructions for use and 
on the warranty of the EEE.’; 

(4) 

in Article 15, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:  

‘2.  In  order  to  enable  the  date  upon  which  the  EEE  was  placed  on  the  market  to  be 
determined  unequivocally,  Member  States  shall  ensure  that  a  mark  on  the  EEE 
specifies that the latter was placed on the market after 13 August 2005. Preferably, the 
European Standard EN 50419:2022 shall be applied for this purpose. 

For photovoltaic panels, the obligation referred to in the first subparagraph shall only 
apply to photovoltaic panels placed on the market from 13 August 2012.  

For EEE referred to in Article 2(1)(b) and which do not fall within the scope of Article 
2(1)(a) the obligation referred to in the first subparagraph shall only apply to the EEE 
placed on the market from 15 August 2018.’ 

Article 2 

Transposition 

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EN 

  EN 

 
 
 
1. 

Member  States  shall  bring  into  force  the  laws,  regulations  and  administrative 
provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by [one year after the entry into 
force] at the latest. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of 
those provisions. 

When  Member  States  adopt  those  provisions,  they  shall  contain  a  reference  to  this 
Directive  or  be  accompanied  by  such  a  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their  official 
publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. 

2. 

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

Article 3 

Entry into force 

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

This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 

Article 4 

Addressees 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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