End-of-life vehicles; batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators; waste electrical and electronic equipment: resource efficiency. Circular economy package

The European Parliament adopted by 568 votes to 42, with 28 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators, and 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The issue had been referred back to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations at the meeting of 14.3.2017.

The Directive, proposed as part of the Circular Economy Package, aims to improve the waste management in the Union, and thereby to contribute to the protection, preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment and to the prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources.

The European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure modified the Commission proposal as follows:

Solid and reliable data: the amended text specifies that reliable data reporting on waste management is essential for effective implementation and comparability of data between Member States.

Therefore, when reporting on the attainment of the targets set out in Directives 2000/53/EC, 2006/66/EC and 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and the Council, Member States shall use the most recent rules developed by the Commission and methodologies developed by the respective national competent authorities responsible for implementing this Directive.

Measures to encourage the application of the waste hierarchy: when they achieve the objectives of the Directive, Member States shall take the necessary measures to take into account the order of priorities of the waste hierarchy laid down in Directive 2008/98/EC and ensure the practical implementation of these priorities.

In order to contribute to the objectives set out in the amended Directives, Member States shall make use of economic instruments and other measures to provide incentives for the application of the waste hierarchy.

Review: in the context of the Union's commitment to the transition to a circular economy, Directives 2000/53/EC, 2006/66/EC and 2012/19/EU shall be reviewed and, if necessary, modified taking into account their implementation and, inter alia, the feasibility of setting targets for the specific materials contained in the relevant waste streams:

• during the review of Directive 2000/53/EC, attention should also be paid to the problem of end-of-life vehicles that are not accounted for, including the shipment of used vehicles suspected to be end-of-life vehicles;
• during the review of Directive 2006/66/EC, the technical development of new types of batteries that do not use hazardous substances should also be taken into account.

The Commission shall have the power to adopt delegated acts to amend and supplement Directive 2000/53/EC and to amend Directive 2012/19/EU.