Directive provisions
Motor vehicles which have come to the end of their useful life and are no longer suitable for use generate millions of tonnes of waste. To minimise the impact on the environment, to ensure the better reuse of the materials and to improve energy conservation, European Union legislation stipulates how the new vehicles should be designed and how this waste should be collected and treated.
Act
The Directive sets out measures to prevent and limit waste from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) and their components and ensures that where possible this is reused, recycled or recovered.
Key Points
- Vehicle and equipment manufacturers must factor in the dismantling, reuse and recovery of the vehicles when designing and producing their products. They have to ensure that new vehicles are:
- reusable and/or recyclable to a minimum of 85 % by weight per vehicle
- reusable and/or recoverable to a minimum of 95 % by weight per vehicle.
- They may not use hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium.
- Manufacturers, importers and distributors, must provide systems to collect ELVs and, where technically feasible, used parts from repaired passenger cars.
- Owners of ELVs delivered for waste treatment receive a certificate of destruction. This is necessary to deregister the vehicle.
- Producers meet all, or a significant part, of the costs involved in the delivery to a waste treatment centre. There is no expense for the vehicle’s owner except rare cases where the engine is missing or the ELV is full of waste.
- Waste treatment centres must apply for a permit or register with the competent authorities.
- ELVs are first stripped before further treatment takes place. Hazardous materials and components are removed and separated. Attention is given to the potential reuse, recovery or recycling of the waste.
- Clear quantified targets for annual reporting to the European Commission exist for the reuse and recovery of ELVs. These have become increasingly more demanding.
- EU countries report to the European Commission every 3 years on the implementation of the directive.
- The legislation applies to passenger vehicles and small trucks but not to big trucks, vintage vehicles and special use vehicles.
Separate legislation applies to the reuse, recycling and recovery of vehicle parts and materials.
Background
For more information, see End of Life Vehicles on the European Commission’s website.
References
Act | Entry into force | Deadline for transposition in the Member States | Official Journal |
Directive 2000/53/EC | 21.10.2000 | 21.4.2002 |
Amending act(s) | Entry into force | Deadline for transposition in the Member States | Official Journal |
Directive 2008/33/EC | 21.3.2008 | - | |
Directive 2008/112/EC | 12.1.2009 | - |
The successive amendments and changes to the Annexes of Directive 2000/53/EC have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.
Related acts
- Directive 2005/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the type-approval of motor vehicles with regard to their reusability, recyclability and recoverability and amending Council Directive 70/156/EEC (Official Journal L 310, 25.11.2005, pp. 10-27)
- Commission Decision 2005/293/EC of 1 April 2005 laying down detailed rules on the monitoring of the reuse/recovery and reuse/recycling targets set out in Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles (OJ L 94, 13.4.2005, pp. 30-33)
- Commission Decision 2001/753/EC of 17 October 2001 concerning a questionnaire for Member States reports on the implementation of Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles (OJ L 282, 26.10.2001, pp. 77-80)
- Commission Decision 2003/138/EC of 27 February 2003 establishing component and material coding standards for vehicles pursuant to Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles (OJ L 53, 28.2.2003, pp. 58-59)
- Commission Decision 2002/151/EC of 19 February 2002 on minimum requirements for the certificate of destruction issued in accordance with Article 5(3) of Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on end-of-life vehicles (OJ L 50, 21.2.2002, pp. 94-95)