EU completes revised version of WEEE directive
Taiwan – 06/03/12 The European Union completed the revised version of the WEEE Directive No. 02/2012. On December 20, 2011, the European Parliament and the European Council reached an agreement on waste treatment of electronic and electrical equipment (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive revised version of the agreement. This agreement was approved by the European Parliament on January 19, 2012. The main amendment is the calculation of the recycling ratio of waste electronic and electrical equipment. Before the proposed revision, the calculation method for recycling waste electronic and electrical equipment was 4kg per resident per year. This method will continue to be implemented within 4 years from the entry into force of the revised directive. But starting from the 5th year, in the next three years, the recycling ratio of waste electronic and electrical equipment will be calculated based on the weight of 45% of the electronic and electrical products put on the market. These seven years will be a transition period. After the transition period, EU member states will have the right to choose the method for calculating the recycling proportion of waste electronic and electrical equipment. The two options are: 65% for the weight of equipment put on the market or 85% for the weight of discarded equipment. In addition, according to Article 2 1(b) and Annex III, only Class 6 equipment will be included after the transition period instead of the original Class 10 equipment. The classification of these 10 categories of equipment will only apply for a transition period, with a so-called "open scope" introduced after 6 years