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IMPORT BAN SOUGHT ON USED ELECTRICAL ITEMS

Bangkok Post

THAILAND, 19 September 2002 -- The Federation of Thai Industries wants the government to ban the importation of second-hand electrical and electronic products from developed countries. The federation said it wanted to prevent Thailand from becoming a dumping ground for products that had only a short lifespan before being discarded as toxic waste.

Phaphad Phodhivorakhun, the FTI's chairman, said the call for a ban had been lodged with the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry and the Industry Ministry. Mr Phaphad said the ban would cover imported used products which were intended to be broken down into parts for sale locally or to be repaired for re- export. The proposal would not cover products which had been sent out of Thailand for repair. Mr Phaphad said the European Union planned to impose a directive on waste from electrical and electronic equipment that would place the burden of cleaning up electronic waste on manufacturers and exporters, starting in 2004. Thailand needed to prepare itself for the impact of these regulations, which could see more products dumped on developing countries in order to avoid the clean-up costs, he said.

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