EGARA POSITION PAPER
2003.11.14
on
Compliance with the ELV Directive (2000/53/EC)
Preamble
EGARA, the European Group of Automotive Recycling Associations, comprising vehicle
dismantlers in: Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden,
Switzerland and the UK notes that, according to Article 7.1 of the Directive, it is specifically
mentioned that:
“Member States shall take the necessary measures to encourage the
reuse of components which are suitable for reuse …”
In this context, we wish to draw attention to the fact that currently, in a number of Member States,
we have noted that the car producers do not comply at all with this.
We see it as a violation of the directive with respect to the following practices:
1. The mechanisms used in order to fulfil the producer responsibility for ELVs
2. The service agreements offered to car-owners by certain producers
3. The extended application of coded electronic components in car.
1. Producer responsibility
In a number of Member States, as well as in EEA-States, car producers are currently negotiating
with economic operators in order to find solutions for the reception of ELVs. In a number of
countries, there seems to be a clear tendency towards car-producers seeking to ensure that all ELVs
go directly to shredding and apparently some National Governments seem to prefer this solution.
The underlying assumption brought forward by producers is that this is a much cheaper solution
than letting ELVs pass via automotive recyclers/dismantlers, since shredders, which are primarily
large-scale, “centralised” operations with application of the coming post-shredder technologies can
operate both more cost-effectively and reach the required reuse and recycling targets.
EGARA has serious doubts about the validity of such statements.
Firstly, research into post-shredder technologies clearly shows that:
1
EGARA-Secretariat:
DAG, Borgmester Jensens Allé 25 C, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE
Tel.: (+45) 35 25 05 60 Fax: (+45) 35 25 05 66 E-mail: [email protected]
www.egaranet.org
 it will still take some years before these technologies are fully operational
 they are not likely to work in a cost-effective way unless careful pre-sorting takes place
 it has never been proven that the combination of current shredder-technologies combined
with post-shredder technologies can achieve the required recycling rates.
Our feeling is therefore that since Europe has a much higher shredding capacity than there is
demand for, there is strong competition for “raw material”, e.g. ELV carcasses, leading to the fees
for handling ELVs offered by shredders being unrealistic and the willingness of car producers to
prefer paying shredders rather than automotive recyclers for ELV-treatment, since this will lead to a
dramatic reduction in the supply of good quality used car-parts and –components, which will lead to
an increased demand for new parts. This is definitely not in compliance with Article 7.1 of the
directive, where it is clearly stated that preference should be given to re-use and recycling.
Furthermore, since shredders are large-scale operations, the approach is in conflict with the
directive, where it is stated in the preamble:
(23) Member States should ensure that in implementing the provisions of this Directive competition
is preserved, in particular as regards the access of small and medium-sized enterprises to the
collection, dismantling, treatment and recycling market.
EGARA therefore repeats its previous statements:
Hence, EGARA stresses that, the “natural” delivery point for ELVs is dismantlers – since:

dismantlers are locally based and therefore easily accessible for car-owners;

only dismantlers have the unique competence required in order to decide whether a
received ELV, after de-pollution, is suitable for disassembly into re-useable spare
parts;

dismantlers undertake the necessary pre-sorting of materials which, with current
shredder-technologies, ensure that an optimum degree of recycling is possible;.

If ELVs go directly to shredders, optimum re-use cannot be ensured, and recycling will
get priority over re-use which is not the intention of the directive.
2
EGARA-Secretariat:
DAG, Borgmester Jensens Allé 25 C, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE
Tel.: (+45) 35 25 05 60 Fax: (+45) 35 25 05 66 E-mail: [email protected]
www.egaranet.org
2. Service agreements
A further “barrier to re-use” is taking place in the service and repair agreement offered to carowners by “authorised” car-dealers. In these agreements, where car-owners get a sort of “repair
insurance” for 3-5 years, it is clearly specified that all repairs are done with new, original parts.
This is not only a violation of the ELV Directive, but also against the Commission regulation
1400/2002 (block exemption) and can only be seen as yet another attempt to “phase out”
dismantlers, who primarily make their living from sales of good quality second-hand parts and
aftermarket parts.
3. Extended use of coded electronic components
With the growing use of coded electronic components in modern vehicles, automotive
recylers/dismantlers are having increasing difficulties with being able to find parts for re-use. More
and more we see that where electronics are used in components, e.g. injection boxes, ignition boxes
etc., wings and mirrors, such components are coded in a way that it is only possible to use them in
the particular car from which they come. This means that a fully functional used part cannot be used
in another car of exactly the same make, model and year without being decoded and coded for the
other car. The tools for doing this decoding and coding are available on the market, but since
neither we, nor the dealers, receive the information about codes and what to do, we are not able to
do it ourselves. It has to be done at the producers/importers.
Therefore, according to Article 8.4 of the Directive, saying:
Without prejudice to commercial and industrial confidentiality, Member States shall take the
necessary measures to ensure that manufacturers of components used in vehicles make
available to authorised treatment facilities, as far as it is requested by these facilities,
appropriate information concerning dismantling, storage and testing of components which
can be reused
we urge the Commission to undertake measures ensuring that information about coding of
electronic parts is supplied for use, together with the OEM-numbers and the supplier part numbers.
EGARA
2003.11.14
3
EGARA-Secretariat:
DAG, Borgmester Jensens Allé 25 C, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE
Tel.: (+45) 35 25 05 60 Fax: (+45) 35 25 05 66 E-mail: [email protected]
www.egaranet.org