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BNA Daily Environment Report

BRUSSELS, 12 August 2002 --European Union member states rejected Aug. 2 amendments by the European Parliament that would require individual companies to be responsible for taking back electronic waste.

As a result of the rejection, member states and the European Parliament will engage in a Conciliation Committee starting Sept. 16 as a way to iron out differences between the two institutions on the proposed Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The legislation is designed to reduce the mounting piles of discarded electronic waste, including everything from computers to stereo equipment to refrigerators.

At the core of the differences between the member states and the Parliament is whether companies should be responsible for taking back their own waste or whether collective regimes managed by local governments should be responsible.

The Council of Ministers approved legislation, as proposed by the European Commission, in favor of the collective approach. However, the European Parliament accepted the view of environment groups and some companies that an individual take-back scheme was better. "The member states and the European Parliament made a preliminary attempt to overcome their differences, but that effort failed," said Council of Ministers spokesman Laurent Benhamou. "As a result, the Conciliation Committee will begin as of Sept. 16."

The push for individual responsibility received the backing of a unique group of industry, consumer, and environmental groups, whose lobby efforts played an important role in persuading the European Parliament to reject pressure from the Council of Ministers, said a company official in the coalition.

The coalition, which includes companies such as Electrolux and Nokia as well as the trade group American Electronics Association, said an individual responsibility system would be needed because: If companies are to share costs in a collective system, there is no incentive for an individual company to develop new, more environment-friendly designs.

Discount importers could sell products below the costs of standard producers and avoid paying recycling costs, disappear rom the market, and leave the costs of the recycling to the collective scheme financed by established companies.

It would be more difficult for authorities to control producers and monitor their compliance with regulations.

EU member states and the Commission claim a collective regime will be a more efficient way to implement a collection and recycling system as is the case with other waste.