The UK's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced it would further delay publication of the regulations covering the implementation of the Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.
"In common with many other EU member states, the government has encountered major practical difficulties in meeting the Directive's legal deadline of Aug. 13, 2005, for implementation of its obligations on producers and retailers. The government has received many representations from business and others saying more time should be taken on the practical implementation in order to get it right," said Chris Tollady, a spokesperson, in a statement posted on the DTI Web site.
Originally required to publish and make the new rules law by Aug. 13, 2004, the UK government was unable to meet the self-imposed deadline but set a new deadline for the end of 2004. That deadline was also missed, but in the March 25 statement Tollady promised the "government plans to make regulations to transpose the WEEE Directive into law in summer 2005." According to the DTI Web site, several other EU Member nations are planning their practical implementations on a similar, deferred timetable.
The Directive, which requires the government to establish and maintain a register of manufacturers putting electrical and electronic equipment onto the UK market, "intends to implement the producer responsibility obligations for household and non-household WEEE and its take-back obligations on retailers/distributors from January 2006."
The government also proposes "to implement on Aug. 13, 2005, the WEEE Directive's obligations in relation to the marking of equipment, including the marking to show whether it is put on the market after this date." According to Tollady, "To do otherwise would leave the UK permanently in breach of the Directive."
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