Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 1

Changed– having regard to the opinionafter ofconsulting the Committee of the Regions of [...],Regions,

Change 2

RemovedRecital 3 a (new): (3a) Articles 8 and 14 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a are the relevant overarching provisions which govern the rules on the environmentally sound management of disposal of WEEE from photovoltaic panels and waste from open scope EEE which are not included within the scope of Directive 2012/12/EU. Article 8 concerns extended producer responsibility (EPR) and Article 14 concerns the costs entailed. / 1a Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 2008 the European Parliament and of the Council on waste (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3).

AddedRecital 4 a (new): (4a) The Court also concluded that EU law must be interpreted as meaning that the fact that a Member State adopted legislation contrary to an EU directive prior to the adoption of that directive does not constitute, in itself, a breach of EU law, since the achievement of the result prescribed by the directive cannot be regarded as seriously compromised before the directive forms part of the EU legal order.

RemovedDirective 2008/98/EC is the general waste directive, which, for clarity purposes, would be pertinent to have introduced the EPR and the waste directive in a recital preceding its effect in the context of the WEEE directive revision.

AddedRecital 9 a (new): (9a) In order to maintain the principle of legal certainty in the future revisions of Directive 2012/19/EU, it is important to pay particular attention to preventing the adoption of any provisions that could potentially have unjustified retroactive effects. It is necessary to give clarity and predictability to EEE producers with regard to the operating conditions that were in effect when their products were placed on the market. That approach helps to avoid the risk of incurring unpredictable costs associated with future WEEE management. Furthermore, such revisions should respect the waste hierarchy as laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC.

RemovedRecital 4: (4) On 25 January 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in its judgment from the Grand Chamber of the Court in case C-181/207, declared Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU invalid in so far as it concerns photovoltaic panels placed on the market between 13 August 2005 and 12 August 2012, by reason of non-justified retroactive effect. The Court held that because prior to the adoption of Directive 2012/19/EU, the EU legislature left Member States, pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 2008/98/EC ▌ the choice of requiring the costs relating to the management of waste from photovoltaic panels to be borne by current or previous waste holders or by the producer or distributor of the photovoltaic panels, and subsequently established a rule, in Article 13(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU under which those costs must in all Member States be borne by producers, including in relation to products the latter had already placed on the market at a time when the former legislation was in force, the latter rule must be regarded as applying retroactively, and is therefore liable to infringe the principle of legal certainty. The Court held that such retroactivity applies as regards photovoltaic panels placed on the market prior to the entry into force of Directive 2012/19/EU, on 13 August 2012. / (deleted)

AddedRecital 10 a (new): (10a) Unsound treatment of waste photovoltaic panels and open scope WEEE leads to significant adverse impacts on health and the environment. The proper treatment of photovoltaic panels and maximising the recovery of waste from photovoltaic panels at the end of their lifetime should therefore be ensured. Without prejudice to the changes to the financial obligations necessary to cover collection and treatment of waste photovoltaic panels placed on the market before 13 August 2012 and of waste from all open scope EEE placed on the market before 15 August 2018 introduced by this Directive, Member States should ensure the environmentally sound management of related WEEE. Member States may encourage producers, through their individual or collective extended producers responsibility schemes to properly collect and treat the related historical WEEE of photovoltaic panels and open scope EEE.

Change 3

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 a (new), Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2: The financing of the costs from historical WEEE (‘historical waste’), resulting from EEE as referred to in Article 2(1)(a) other than photovoltaic panels, which is being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function, shall be provided for by producers of those products when supplying them. Member States may, as an alternative, provide that users other than private households also be made, partly or totally, responsible for this financing.

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1 (new), Article 2 a (new): (-1) The following Article 2a is added: / Article 2a / 1. No later than [31 December 2026], the Commission shall assess the need for a revision of this Directive and, where appropriate, present a legislative proposal in that respect, accompanied by a thorough socio-economic and environmental impact assessment. / 2. In the impact assessment, the Commission shall in particular assess the following: / (a) provisions which specifically ensure that the principle of legal certainty is adhered to and that there is no provision that could entail unjustified retroactive effect in any Member State; / (b) provisions to ensure the implementation of the waste hierarchy as laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC; / (c) provisions to ensure that citizens and consumers are not burdened with disproportionate costs, in line with the polluter pays principle; / (d) provisions ensuring full implementation and enforcement of this Directive, in particular with regard to adequate collection targets, as well as preventing illegal trade of WEEE; / (e) creating a new ‘photovoltaic panels’ category under this Directive with the aim to disassociate photovoltaic panels from the existing WEEE category 4, ‘large equipment’, as referred to in Annexes III and IV, and calculating the collection targets on the basis of waste photovoltaic panels available for collection based on their projected lifetime, rather than on the quantity of products placed on the market; / (f) establishing a mechanism to ensure…

AddedDirective 2012/19/EU

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 a (new), Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2: (2a) in Article 13(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: / "The financing of the costs from historical WEEE (‘historical waste’), resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, which is being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function, shall be provided for by producers of those products when supplying them. Member States may, as an alternative, provide that users other than private households also be made, partly or totally, responsible for this financing."

Change 4

RemovedThis amendment provides some minor restructuring of the text of the first paragraph, second sub-paragraph in Article 13 of the WEEE directive for clarity. Moreover, it specifies that the provisions of costs for historical WEEE specifically is for WEEE as in Article 2 paragraph (1) point (a) other than photovoltaic panels. Clarifying this intends to provide more certainty that the Court ruling has been fully implemented in this revision of the WEEE directive.Article 2 paragraph (1) point (a) covers EEE from 13 August 2012 to 14 August 2018 (transitional period), to EEE falling within the categories set out in Annex I (where Annex II contains an indicative list of EEE which falls within the categories set out in Annex I). The first paragraph, second and third sub-paragraphs of Article 13 had not been addressed in the Commission’s proposal of the targeted revision of the WEEE directive, however, to ensure consistency and coherence, this clarification would be helpful.

Change 5

ChangedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 b (new), Article 13 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3: For(2 b) in Article 13(1), the third subparagraph is replaced by the following: / "For other historical waste resulting from EEE as referred to in Article 2(1)(a)2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by the users other than private households.households."

Change 6

RemovedThis amendment seeks to follow up to ensure coherence with the changes made to the second sub-paragraph.

AddedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by [18 months after the entry into force] at the latest. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions.

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by [[two] years after the entry into force] at the latest. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions.

RemovedThe period of transposition for Member States to bring about the implementation of the targeted directive revision in national law and all the administrative processes needs to be realistic. One year, as in the Commission proposal, is too early. Two years, as a tentative timeline, is likely to be more practical for Member States to ensure the complete and full transposition of the targeted amendment to the WEEE directive, addressing any potential retroactivity.

RemovedArticle 2 a (new): Article 2a / No later than [31 December 2025], the Commission shall assess the need, and where appropriate, present a legislative proposal on the revision of Directive 2012/19/EU accompanied by a thorough impact assessment. The legislative proposal shall specifically ensure that the principle of legal certainty is adhered to and that there is no provision that could entail unjustified retroactive effect in any Member State. The proposal shall also ensure that citizens or consumers are not burdened with additional costs.

RemovedThe WEEE directive has been functioning for two decades, and it is generally functioning well, with the exception of the retroactivity matter at hand. Nevertheless, as a general update is anticipated in the coming years, besides this targeted revision of implementing the Court ruling, a provision with more precise timing would be beneficial. In this, the timeline would be in relation to this targeted WEEE directive revision, whilst ensuring Member States have sufficient time for transposition as in Article 2 paragraph 1, is compatible. In the update, needs to be emphasised that ensuring predictability and clarity is vital so that future scenarios of unjustified retroactivity are avoided, as well as the key notion of avoiding the transfer of burdens and costs onto citizens and consumers.