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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 entered into force on 2 January 2007. 

The Minister Malcolm Wicks announced new regulations transposing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directives ( 2002/96/EC) and 2003/108/EC in the UK – the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006. For further details please see the press notice 'Caring about the electrical waste needn't cost the earth'.

A summary of responses to the consultation on draft WEEE regulations and the Government response was also published on 12 December.

WEEE consultation response - summary of responses and government response to fourth consultation on implementation of Directives 2002/96/EC and 2003/108/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment

The final regulatory impact assessment implementing the WEEE Directive has also been published.

WEEE consultation - final regulatory impact assessment for the WEEE regulations 2006


In December, DEFRA laid the WEEE (Waste Management Licensing)(England and Wales) Regulations 2006 which sets out how WEEE has to be treated in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 of the Directive.  

The WEEE (Waste Management Licensing)(England and Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2007 amended the Regulations by inserting the appropriate charges for registering the repair and re-furbishment exemption.

Guidance on Best Available Treatment Recovery and Recycling Techniques (BATRRTT) and treatment of WEEE has been issued for those treating WEEE.  Use the links on the right for these documents.

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 are affected: The UK WEEE Regulations follow the definition of scope set out in the WEEE Directive and apply to all EEE put on the UK market, which falls within the scope of the WEEE Directive and the 10 categories listed in Schedule 2 of the UK Regulations and Annex A of the Government Guidance notes.

Guidance

In order to help businesses determine which products fall within the scope of the WEEE Directive, non-statutory guidance document was published on 28 February 2007 to accompany the WEEE Regulations.  The Guidance was recently revised in August 2007.

A copy of the Guidance can be downloaded from the right hand column.  

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

Commissions Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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.

Contacts

For further information on the WEEE Directive, please contact:

weee@dti.gsi.gov.uk

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