Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : Sub-file (A) to EIC 230/2/11

1 March 2003

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 70/2003

European Union (EU)* : Directives on Electrical and Electronic Equipment

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament published on 13 February 2003 two Community Directives which aim at controlling disposal of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in these products. Overseas traders will have to comply with the requirements of the Directives if their products are to be exported to the EU. Member States are required to transpose the Directives into their national laws by 13 August 2004.

DETAILS

The Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

2. This Directive (2002/96/EC) aims at preventing WEEE and reducing WEEE through reuse, recycling and/or recovery. It also seeks to improve the environmental performance of all operators, including producers#, involved in the life cycle of EEE. The EEE covered under this Directive include all EEE used by consumers and those intended for professional use. A copy of the Directive is at Attachment I (pdf format) for reference. In brief, Member States will have to adopt necessary measures to ensure that, by 13 August 2005, the following will be in place -

   1. for waste from EEE discharged from private households, Member States shall ensure that systems are set up for the separate collection of such waste from private households free of charge. The producers will however need to provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of the waste deposited at collection facilities. They can choose to manage the waste on an individual basis or participate in collective schemes. To avoid circumvention of the obligation, each producer is required to provide a financial guarantee when placing a product on the market and make their own products clearly identifiable by appropriate marking. They will also need to contribute to the cost of management of historical waste (i.e. waste from products already put on the market before 13 August 2005) according to their respective shares of the market; and
       

   2. for waste from EEE from users other than private households, it will be the producers who are responsible for the collection of such waste. They will also need to provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of the waste. For historical waste, the users may be made partly or totally responsible for the financing.

The Directive on Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in EEE

3. This Directive (2002/95/EC) aims at reducing the use of certain hazardous substances in EEE. It requires Member States to ensure that from 1 July 2006, EEE put on the market should not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). The EEE covered is similar to those under the Directive on WEEE. For details, please refer to the Directive at Attachment II.(pdf format )

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries about the contents of this Circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

 

(Miss Sandra SOU)

 

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* : The EU Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

# According to the Directive, "producer" means any person, irrespective of the selling technique used, who: (i) manufactures and sells EEE under his own brand; (ii) resells under his own brand equipment produced by other suppliers (a reseller is not regarded as the "producer" if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment as provided in point (i) above); or (iii) imports or exports EEE on a professional basis into a Member State. However, whoever exclusively provides financing under or pursuant to any finance agreement shall not be deemed a "producer" unless he also acts as a producer within the meaning of point (i) to (iii) above.