EC Food Safety Strategy

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EC Food Safety Strategy EC Directive on Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) by
Philippe Bergeron Director Regional Institute
of Environmental Technology

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Part 1 EC Food Safety Strategy
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EC major priority to re-establish consumer
confidence in the European food supplyafter
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and MF
diseases
EC Food Safety Strategy

• Safe food
• From farm to table
• Correctly regulated
• Effectively controlled

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Regulation Progress

• White Paper on Food Safety published on 12 .01.
  2000 to address weaknesses and consumer fears
• Commissions proposal adopted on 8.11. 2000
• Regulation adopted on 28.01.2002
• Published in JO L31 of 01.02.2002

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Strategy Key Elements (a)

• Rights of consumers to safe food and to accurate
  and honest information
• Integrated approach from the farm to the final
  consumer
• Principle of independent, objective and
  transparent risk analysis (assessment, management
  communication) based on best available science

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Strategy Key Elements (b)

• Precautionary principle option when scientific
  information is inconclusive or incomplete
• Traceability of all food and feeds along the
  supply chain including foreign exporters in third
  countries
• Provision of legal basis and operational
  principles for the European Food Safety Authority
  (EFSA)

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Basic Principles

• Food law to provide high level of health
  protection
• Only safe food to be placed on the market
• Primary responsibility for safety with food
  businesses
• Effective controls enforcement
• Traceability of food at least one step up and one
  step down the entire food and feed supply chain

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Precautionary Principle

• Where preliminary assessment indicates an
  unacceptable risk but scientific data is
  incomplete
• Risk management measures should be proportionate,
  should not discriminate, benefits v/v costs,
  should be reviewed
• Communication from the Commission on the PP Feb
  2000.

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Precautionary Principle - EEA Late Lessons from
Early Warnings

• Precautionary principle present in growing number
  of international agreements
• Integrative part of any risk based strategy
• Especially important in public health
  environmental and food safety policy issues
• Increasing source of disputes unnecessary
  restraint (false positive) against excessive
  laxity (false negative)

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Precautionary Principle - Fourteen Early Warnings

• Fisheries stock depletion, X-rays radiation,
  Benzene poisoning, Asbestos cancers, PCBs adverse
  health effects, Ozone depleting Halocarbons, DES
  Oestrogen to prevent miscarriage, Antimicrobials
  as animal growth promoter, SO2 smog, MTBE lead
  substitute, US great lakes chemical
  contamination, Tributyltin (TBT) ship
  antifoulants, Hormones as growth promoters, BSE
  disease

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Precautionary Principle - Clarification of terms

• Risk - known impacts known probabilities -
  example of action prevention to reduce known
  risk
• Uncertainty - known impact but unknown
  probabilities - example of action precautionary
  prevention to reduce potential hazards
• Ignorance - unknown impact and unknown
  probabilities- example of action precaution to
  anticipate and reduce impact of surprise

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Precautionary Principle - EEA Twelve Lessons for
policy makers

• 1 - Acknowledge and respond to ignorance as well
  as uncertainty
• 2 - Research and monitoring for early warnings
• 3 - Search out and address blind spots and gaps
  in scientific knowledge
• 4 - Identify and reduce interdisciplinary
  obstacles to learnings

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Precautionary Principle - EEA Twelve Lessons for
policy makers

• 5 - Ensure that real world conditions are fully
  accounted for
• 6 - Systematically scrutinise and justify the
  claimed pros and cons
• 7 - Evaluate alternatives and promote robust,
  diverse, adaptable solutions
• 8 - Use lay and local knowledge as well as
  relevant specialist expertise

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Precautionary Principle - EEA Twelve Lessons for
policy makers

• 9 - Take account of wider social interests and
  values
• 10 - Maintain regulatory independence from
  economic and political special interests
• 11 - Identify and reduce institutional obstacles
  to learning and action
• 12 - Avoid paralysis by analysis

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Transparency

• Open and transparent development of food law
  scientific opinions AND procedures
• To promote open-minded and balanced dialogue
  between all stakeholders
• Full transparency in the risk/benefit assessments
• Consumers right for clear and honest information

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International Obligation and Trade in Foods

• Commitment to free trade in safe and wholesome
  foods
• Commitment to WTO Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary
  (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
  agreements
• Commitment to international technical standards
  that do not compromise Community treaty for high
  level of health protection

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European Food Safety Authority Main tasks

• 1. Scientific assessment of risks
• 2. Information gathering analysis
• 3. Emerging risks surveillance
• 4. Support to Commission in a major food
  safety crisis
• 5. Communication

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Since the EC Food Safety Strategy

• Labelling of food
• GM food and feed
• Food hygiene
• Food controls
• Zoonoses
• Food and feed additives

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Part 2 Proposed EC Directives Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Restriction Of the use of certain Hazardous
Substances (ROHS)

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(No Transcript)
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Existing EC Legislation on Specific Waste Streams

• Directive on waste oils
• Directive on PCB/PCT
• Directive on packaging and packaging waste
• Directive on sewage sludge
• Directive on end of life vehicles

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Draft Legislation on Specific Waste Streams

• WEEE Proposal
• Batteries Preparation of Proposal
• Compost Preliminary discussion

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Main Problems with Current WEEE Management

• Growing amount of WEEE
• Important WEEE share of pollutants in municipal
  waste (some of it hazardous)
• Underdeveloped Recycling
• Diverging Member State legislation

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Main Thrust of Proposed WEEE Legislation

• ? Separate stream for collection, treatment and
  recovery of WEEE
• ? Full application of the principle of producer
  responsibility
• ? Elimination of problematic substances in new
  products

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Importance of Producer Responsibility
Better design - more cost effective
recycling Example Phone X produced in SEA
contains 12 screws Phone Y produced in
the UK contains 6 screws ? time to
dismantle first phone 3 minutes ? time to
dismantle second phone 1.5 minutes ? dismantling
viability X phone economically not viable Y
phone economically viable
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Consultation Process

• Since 1994
• More than 150 bilateral and multilateral meetings
  with industry (90 of all meetings),
  environmental NGOs, local authorities, consumer
  groups and national experts and Commission
  services

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Content of WEEE Proposal

• ? Scope (households, commercial and industrial
  WEEE)
• ? Separate collection, 4 kg/person/year in 2006
  (Article 4)
• ? Treatment (Article 5 Annex II)
• ? Recovery, recycling and recovery targets in
  2006 (Article 6)
• ? Financing of WEEE from private households
  (Article7)
• ? Financing for other WEEE (Article 8)
• ? Information for users (symbol Annex IV)

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Recovery Targets
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Financing Schemes Private Household WEEE

• ? Private holders return free of charge
• ? Producers responsible for costs of collection
  (from collection facilities), treatment, recovery
  and disposal
• ? Collective or individual systems
• ? Historical waste contribution by all existing
  producers

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Financing Schemes Other WEEE

• ? Financing of costs for collection, treatment,
  recovery and disposal covered by agreements
  between producers and users

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Restriction of Use of Certain Hazardous
Substances (ROHS)

• ? Based on WEEE Article 95
• ? Lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium,
  PBB (polybrominated biphenyls) and PBDE
  (polybrominated diphenyl ethers)
• ? Substitution by 1. 1. 2008 (Article 4)
• ? Lists of exemptions (Annex)
• ? Review clause by 1. 1. 2004 to take into
  account, as necessary, new scientific evidence

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European Parliament 1st Reading (April 2001)

• Ban of disposal of unsorted WEEE
• Minimum mandatory collection target of 6kg
  /person /year
• More individual responsibility
• Higher recycling and recovery targets
• Possibility of visible fee for historical waste
  during a defined period
• No merge of WEEE ROHS Directives
• 2006 for ban of hazardous substances
• ROHS more dynamic

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Council Political Agreement (June 2001) in view
of Common Position

• Timetable of the provisions
• Non binding collection target of 4kg/cap/yr
• Individual or collective responsibility
• Orphan products
• Collection costs can be shared with producers and
  distributors
• Higher recovery targets
• No mention of visible fee
• No merge of 2 Directives
• 2007 at the latest for ban of hazardous
  substances
• ROHS more dynamic

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Further Regulatory Process - WEEE

• Proposals of the Commission (13 June 2000) COM
  2000(347)
• Co-decision procedure between European Parliament
  and Council (adoption foreseen mid 2002)
• Implementation of the directive in the Member
  States (18 months after adoption)

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THANK YOU
Homepage http//www.riet.org E-mail bergeron_at_riet.
org.sg