Combatting waste crime

Directive 2012/19 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), has as its goal that producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEEs) likewise put in place separate collection, treatment and recovery facilities for their end-of-life products «WEEE».

The issue of the national or European dimension of such a system has been discussed, the Member States being as always keen on maintaining their prerogatives, not without their usual dose of protectionist intent, and this has led to a definition of the notion of producer for the purposes of this Directive: this is deemed to be a person who manufactures a product, or has such a product designed or manufactured and marketed under his name or trademark, but only if such a person does perform these acts within the territory of a Member State where it is established. In addition, the notion of producer also includes whoever

Where a producer does sell EEEs in a Member State where it is not “established”, it must appoint an authorised representative who shall be “responsible for fulfilling the obligations of that producer” on the territory of the Member State of destination (Article 17).

The Directive applies to equipment designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1.000 volts for alternating current and 1.500 volts for direct current (Article 3(1)). Until 2018, such EEEs covered by the Directive are limited to large and small household appliances, IT and telecommunication equipment, consumer equipment and photovoltaic panels, lighting equipment, electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large scale stationary industrial tools), toys, leisure and sport equipment, medical devices with the exception of all implanted and infected products, monitoring and control instruments and automatic dispensers (Article 2(1)(a) and Annex I). From 15 August 2018, all EEEs will in principle fall within its scope, which shall thus be characterised as “open”, with a few exceptions only (Article 2(1)(b)).

The Member States must encourage the design and production of EEEs in such a way as to facilitate reuse, dismantling and recovery. They must take appropriate measures so that producers do not prevent WEEE from being reused by implementing specific design features or manufacturing processes (Article 4). It should be mentioned that the RoHS Directive (for reduction of hazardous substances) requires that EEEs do not contain substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), with some exceptions and derogations.