Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Nov 2003

Vol. 573 No. 5

Written Answers. - End-of-Life Vehicles.

Pat Breen

Ceist:

181 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if he intends introducing a traceability system of all vehicles to ensure that cars that have reached the end of their lives are put out of use. [25902/03]

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Cullen)

My Department has been actively engaged with the Society for the Irish Motor Industry, the Irish Motor Vehicle Recyclers Association, the Metal Recyclers Association of Ireland and other stakeholders with a view to developing a producer responsibility initiative to implement the European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles.

Necessary enabling provisions to facilitate the implementation of the directive have been incorporated in the Protection of the Environment Act 2003. Part VA 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.

Part VA of the Waste Management Act 1996, as recently amended, further provides: details relating to the issue of certificates of destruction by authorised treatment facilities shall be notified to, and recorded on, the national vehicle file; and vehicles deposited at authorised treatment facilities for appropriate treatment and recovery, and in respect of which certificates of destruction have issued, shall not be subsequently registered, licensed, used in a public place or exported.

These provisions are intended to ensure that a full traceability system is in place so that ELVs cannot subsequently be reused once deposited for scrapping.

On foot of the enactment of the necessary enabling provisions, my Department continues to engage with the relevant stakeholder groups on the detailed mechanisms for the operation of the free ELV take-back arrangements required by the directive, including how such arrangements will be funded. Such detailed mechanisms will be provided for in regulations. I intend to implement the proposed ELV take-back scheme by means of a PRI. This would involve the establishment of a collective industry based company similar to the Repak model that operates for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. In accordance with the usual arrangements for PRIs responsibility for funding the free take-back scheme would fall to the motor industry. The timing of the commencement of free ELV take-back is dependent on the conclusion of the discussions with the relevant stakeholder groups. These discussions will be concluded as soon as possible to facilitate early implementation of the proposed ELV take-back system and the other ancillary elements associated with it.