I propose to take Questions Nos. 331 and 345 together.
My Department has been actively engaged with the Society for the Irish Motor Industry, SIMI, the Irish Motor Vehicle Recyclers Association, IMVRA, the Metal Recyclers Association of Ireland, MRAI, and other stakeholders with a view to developing a producer responsibility initiative, PRI, to implement the European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, ELVs. I have also had meetings with the three main stakeholder groups.
Necessary enabling provisions to facilitate implementation of the directive have been incorporated in the Protection of the Environment Act 2003. Part V of the Waste Management Act 1996 – as inserted by section 44 of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 – explicitly provides for producer responsibility for the free deposit of ELVs at authorised treatment facilities for appropriate treatment and recovery in line with the directive requirements; the mandatory deposit of ELVs by their registered owners at authorised treatment facilities for appropriate treatment and recovery; and the issue of certificates of destruction in respect of ELVs deposited at authorised treatment facilities for scrapping.
Agreement in principle was reached in December 2001 that the relevant stakeholder groups would establish a not for profit company to operate an ELV recovery scheme to be subsidised by a fund generated by a levy on imported new and used vehicles. However, it has not been possible to reach agreement on the detailed mechanisms to apply the levy and introduce the scheme as originally envisaged.