In November 2002, the European governments and European Parliament concluded two years of negotiation over legislation that revolutionizes product stewardship and producer responsibility.

The two Directives are designed to tackle the increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment and complements European Union measures on landfill and incineration of waste. In February 2003, the publication of the EU's official journal put into force the EU laws dealing with the management of electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) and hazardous substances (RoHS).

Deadlines for implementation of these two laws extend over the next 6 years. Member nations must have the legislation passed in their own states by August 2005, at which time electronics firms will be required to implement a takeback system to responsibly deal with obsolete electronics.

Directive Of The European Parliament And Of The Council on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
The WEEE Directive makes individual producers responsible for the financing and takeback of electronic wastes from their own products. Businesses will not be allowed to charge the customers for the cost of recycling the materials at the time they are recycled. This could give producers more incentive to design environmentally friendly products, which are easier to recycle, reuse and manage at end-of-life. View the WEEE Directive (PDF file, 288KB).

Directive of the European Parliament and Council on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment
In 2003, European Parliament and Council adopted Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS), which mandates a phase-out of heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, lead, and hexavalent chromium as well as brominated flame retardants in future electronic products by 2006. The ban on brominated flame retardant Deca-BDE in electrical and electronic equipment was lifted by the Commission of the European Communities in October 2005. However, in 2008, the European Court of Justice annulled this decision and the ban on Deca-BDE in electrical and electronic equipment will be effective July 1, 2008. The RoHS Directive phase out certain hazardous chemicals from electronic equipment, including batteries. View the RoHS Directive (PDF file, 114KB).

Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) Legislation
In December 2006, the European government and the European Parliament also achieved victory in moving producer responsibility-based legislation forward with the passage of the world’s most stringent law aimed at protecting people and the environment from thousands of toxic chemicals.

Introduced in 2003, the legislation for the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (REACH) requires manufacturers and importers of products into the European Union (EU) to register all chemicals used in the manufacturing process. The legislation also requires industries to submit health and safety data on chemicals into a central data base and to replace the most hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. Under the new EU regulatory framework for chemicals, 40 existing rules will be replaced with a comprehensive program. A new European Chemicals Agency, based in Helsinki, Finland, will become a central regulatory authority.

The law will take effect in June 2007 and be implemented over an 11-year period. For more information see the European Commission.