The Proposed EU Directive on the Management of Waste from the Extractive Industries

摘要

The EU Commission published the draft directive on the management of waste from the extractive industries on 2 June 2003 following two years of consultation. The need for a directive was, in the Commission's view, highlighted by two major mine tailings dam accidents in Spain (1998) and Romania (2000). The adoption of a directive to cover mine waste is supported by the minerals extraction industry because it will remove the existing uncertainty over whether mineral extraction waste comes within the scope of the Landfill Directive (which, if it did, would have onerous implications) by providing a separate and more appropriate control regime independent of the Landfill Directive.