WEEE Directive
DIRECTIVE 2002/96/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 January 2003 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), also known as the WEEE Directive, represents a new challenge for EU Member States and traders. The primary purpose of this environmental policy is to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, protect human health and utilise natural resources prudently and rationally. The directive is based on the principle that environmental damage should be rectified at source and that the polluter, i.e. producer, distributor or importer of equipment, should pay. The Directive imposes an obligation of responsibility upon all producers of electrical and electronic equipment, ranging from large and small household appliances, computers, TV sets, printers, electrical tools, medical devices and beverage dispensers.
The contents of the Directive:
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WEEE Directive - OJ L 37 - 13th February 2003 - WEEE Directive - amended, OJ L 345 - 31st December 2003
Essential provisions and requirements:
13th August 2004 was the deadline when all 25 Member States of the EC were scheduled to adopt the WEEE Directive in their national legislations and to oblige both authorities of the state and producers.The former are obliged to establish the conditions for the implementation of the Directive and to report to the European Commission.An essential objective is for a country to provide for the collection of at least 4 kg of waste EE equipment per inhabitant per year (with the annual sales of EE equipment in the EU amounting to approx. 12 kg per inhabitant) and to establish conditions for the attainment of the required levels of recovery and recycling. On the other hand, the obligation of the latter, i.e. the producers, is the operative and financial establishment of the entire waste EE equipment management system, both individually and collectively. Within the prescribed deadline, the Directive was only implemented by Greece, and the other countries were cautioned by the European Commission to the soonest possible implementation.Slovenian legislation was the second to adopt the Directive, in the second half of October 2004.
Implementation of the obligations arising from the Directive (collection, recovery, treatment, removal, financing, responsibility of the producers, labelling, etc) must begin no later than 13th August 2005, whereby the operative segment of responsibility of the producers has, in some Member States (Great Britain, Poland, Germany) been postponed to the year 2006, including Slovenia (1st January 2006).
Implementation of the WEEE Directive in Slovenia
The following documents, which are binding for liable parties, have been transferred into Slovenian legislation:
- Decree on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Management (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 107/06)
- Decree on Environmental Tax on the Generation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 32/06, 65/06)
- Decree Amending the Decree on Environmental Tax on the Generation of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 78/2008)
