Packaging and packaging waste: recovery and recycling of waste

The European Parliament adopted a few of the amendments in the report drafted by Dorette CORBEY (PES, NL). These include the following: - as regards exemptions to the directive, CD and video cases for short-term use will be regarded as packaging but flower pots will not if they stay with the plant for a significant part of its life Wrapping and gift paper sold as a separate product should also be exempt. The Commission should, as soon as practicable, examine and where necessary review the illustrative examples on the definition of packaging set out in the Annex; - discrimination against materials on the basis of their weight should be avoided; - the Commission must present proposals by 30 June 2005 to strengthen enforcement and ensure new packaging is only put on the market if the producer has sought to minimise its environmental impact as far as possible without compromising the essential functions of the packaging. Member States must also ensure that other preventive measures are put into effect, such as national programmes; - the directive should be implemented by the future Member States. The deadline for achieving the recovery and recycling targets for these States is 18 months after the entry into force of the Directive; - the Commission will determine necessary measures to deal with any difficulties encountered in applying the provisions of this Directive, in particular to quantities of which do not exceed 0.1% of all packaging put on the EU market, such as pharmaceutical products and small packaging; - there are provisions on transposing parts of the Directive by means of agreements between competent authorities and the economic sectors concerned, provided the agreements meet certain requirements.�