The Conciliation Committee reached agreement on a joint text for the directive on end-of-life vehicles. The negotiations focused on two main issues: producer liability for the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles and the treatment of heavy metals contained in vehicles. It was agreed that, for new vehicles, i.e. those put on the market after 1 July 2002, producers should be liable from that date. For existing vehicles, i.e. vehicles put on the market before 1 July 2002, producer liability would begin in 2007 rather than 2006. The Directive would also allow Member States to introduce these provisions before the dates specified. A compromise was also found on the issue of heavy metals. There was agreement between Council and Parliament that vehicles put on the market after 1 July 2003 should no longer contain heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury or hexavalent chromium. Both delegations also agreed that there would be a list of technically necessary exemptions to this general ban in Annex 2 of the directive. Finally, at the request of the Parliament delegation, vintage cars will be excluded from the scope of the directive.
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