Umweltbundesamt GmbH and Dr Brüning Engineering UG have issued their study on Quality Standards for the Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), the WEEE Forum and CENELEC publishedtehir position papers in response.
For many years, the WEEE Forum, usually in coalition with organisations representative of the producers and recyclers community, has expressed the view that it is of critical importance that facilities be legally required to collect, handle and treat WEEE in strict conformity with all normative requirements of EN 50625 and EN 50614, the suite of CENELEC standards covering the collection, transport, preparation for re-use and treatment of WEEE.
This approach presents a unique opportunity to create a level playing field across the EU. The WEEE Forum therefore disapproves of the status quo of option 0 as well as of option 2 laying down additional minimum requirements for the collection, logistics, handling, treatment and preparing for re-use of WEEE in EU legislation. The WEEE Forum fully endorses the excellent analysis conducted by CENELEC TC 111X WG6 in its Annexes I and II.
CENELEC in its position lays out that “the study shows some confusion between WEEELABEX (a certification body) and CENELEC (a standardisation organisation). Examples are provided in annex II. It should be noted that CENELEC has no certification or auditing function. We believe understanding this distinction is relevant for identifying the implementation of the different roadmaps proposed by the consultants. In addition to this, whilst WEEELABEX is a private accredited certification body, CENELEC is the producer of the EN 50625 series and EN 50614 standard. Moreover, the consultants seem to conclude that only certification is allowed for showing conformity against the standards, when there are other methods available like for instance self – declaration and conformity verification by a second or third party, being those accredited or non-accredited certification or inspection bodies.”
To read the full position published by CENELEC, please click here.
