From next year, vehicle manufacturers and importers of passenger cars and light goods vehicles (M1 and N1 category vehicles) will be required to take more responsibility for the vehicles which they placed on the market when they reach the end of their useful life. The End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005, which came into effect on 3rd March 2005, implement the final requirements from EC Directive 2000/53/EC on End-of Life Vehicles into UK law.
Under these new regulations, from 1st January 2006, each vehicle manufacturer and importer must have a system in place to ensure that the end-of-life vehicles for which they are responsible are taken to authorised treatment facilities for "environmentally friendly" dismantling and recycling. The system must be available and easily accessible to all owners of end-of-life vehicles and, from 1st January 2007, there must be no charge made to the last vehicle owner for the service. Each end-of-life vehicle accepted into the system must be processed by the authorised treatment facility to achieve the recyclability targets laid down by 2005/53/EC (i.e. 85% Reuse and recovery, and 80% reuse and recycling).
The timetable for the implementation of the relevant requirements is as follows:
- By 30th April 2005, vehicle manufacturers and importers must register with the UK Secretary of State, and declare responsibility for the vehicles which they placed on the market.
- By 31st August 2005, each vehicle manufacturer and importer must submit details of their proposed system for the collection and treatment of end-of-life vehicles to the UK Secretary of State for approval.
- By 1st January 2006, the system must be fully operational and open to all owners of end-of-life vehicles.
- By 1st January 2007, systems must provide "free take back", i.e. there must be no charge to the final owner of the vehicle for using the system.
- By 1st April 2007, each vehicle manufacturer and importer must submit information on the rates of reuse, recovery and recycling achieved by their system during 2006 to demonstrate that the applicable target rates have been met.