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WEEE in the UK

a. The Current Situation:  The UK Regulations implementing the WEEE Directive were laid before Parliament on 12 December 2006 and enter into force on 2 January 2007.

b. Previous Situation:  Following a review of proposals to implement the WEEE Directive, and extensive informal stakeholder consultation, a public consultation   was launched along with an updated implementation timetable. 

c.  Previous Government Consultations: The Government has held three public consultations on proposals for implementing the WEEE Directive.

d. Which products will be affected?: The Government is keen to allow businesses as much time as possible to prepare for the requirements of the WEEE Directive. One of the key concerns expressed by businesses is to find out which products fall within the scope of WEEE.

In order to help businesses determine which products fall within the scope of the WEEE Directive, DTI will be producing a non-statutory guidance document in the new year to accompany the WEEE Regulations.

The Commission has also produced a non-legally binding Frequently Asked Questions Document:

Please note that the UK Government is not in a position to provide a definitive answer on what types of equipment fall within the scope of the Directive.  Only the European Court of Justice has the ultimate right to do this.  Any advice given will be based upon the Commission’s FAQs, and cannot be viewed as either legally binding or a definitive answer.

Further non-legally binding guidance can be obtained from the Envirowise Guides on the WEEE and RoHS Directives:

Contacts

For further information on the WEEE Directive, please contact:

weee@dti.gsi.gov.uk

Useful Documents

The text of the WEEE Directive is available here.