The EEB is delighted that the final wording clearly specifies that the producers finance the management of WEEE, and that, in the future, individual producer responsibility (IPR) - whereby each individual producer is clearly responsible for the waste from his own products - will be the basis of this financing.

"This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time the EU requires INDIVIDUAL (as opposed to collective) producer responsibility in any area of environmental legislation, setting a precedent for future policy", said EEB's Secretary General John Hontelez. "Making companies consider the end of life implications of the design of their products at the time they place the products on the market in the future is a strong driver for eco-design in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. We would like to congratulate the European Parliament's team and the rapporteur Mr. Florenz in sticking to their guns on this issue. Now we call on member states to take full advantage of this opportunity to work towards the long-term goal of prevention of Waste from EEE."

The directive lays down other important principals for the management of WEEE ,such as free take back, and the set-up of collection facilities and recycling systems, also with producer financing. Other significant aspects of this directive are, that each member state must ensure that WEEE is no longer thrown in the normal rubbish bin and landfilled and that separate collection must reach levels of at least 4 kg/capita/year by 31st December 2006 (while the latter is unambitious hopefully new targets to be defined by 2008 will be better reflect the high priority of separate collection). By the same date producers will be obliged to meet binding targets on re-use and recycling of WEEE - for most large household appliances this will be 75%, although for small appliances only a modest 50%.

Measures to encourage producers and member states to address the problems of export of WEEE for 'dirty' recycling - a form of environmental dumping - have also been put in place. The potential environmental impacts of WEEE treatment in the EU have been addressed through requirements on dismantling of hazardous components and adequate treatment installations.

In the WEEE's sister directive on ROHS, the EEB welcomes the obligatory phase-out of heavy metals [lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium], and of two groups of brominated flame retardants [polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)] in future EEE, whilst allowing existing national legislation initiatives to be maintained. Again, moving towards design for the environment, the agreed proposal foresees promoting substitution through design changes (providing momentum for the complete re-designing of products to get round hazardous substances that current technology requires). However, although setting a concrete date of 1st January 2007 for the phase out for the above substances, the directive has chosen the soft option, avoiding the naming of specific substances that should be considered for extending the phase out list. The EEB also regrets that the text still indulges potential derogations for hazardous Octa and Deca brominated flame retardants.

For more information, contact:

Melissa Shinn, EEB, mobile: +32 494 41 83 76; tel: +32 2 289 1300;

fax +32 2 289 1099; email: ecoproducts@eeb.org. Also see the EEB website at www.eeb.org