Legislation

摘要

@@Debates about environmental legislation for the electronics industry have been taking place throughout the period between 1993-2007. As a function of time they intensified. The year 2005 was a milestone; the first EU-wide implementation of a Directive took place; the WEEE Directive on Recycling had to be kicked off in all the Member States. It has become a drama. What was intended as a harmonized approach for Europe turned out into 25 sets of different rules, different administrative procedures, different fee and cost systems, different physical execution and different monitoring. What a mess! Understanding that The Directive was made ‘article 175’, this means that every Member State could set higher environmental standards than the minimum required. This has been interpreted as the liberty to set their own standards all over the place. Environmental zeal has been prevailing over common sense, emotion over science, political infighting over creating a real common basis. The EU, the European Parliament and the Member States have talked to many people, but have been listening to few of them.