The UK government will face legal action from Brussels over its failure to implement the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

In July 2005, the European Commission (EC) formally asked eight Member States – including the UK – to transpose into its national laws three EU directives, including the WEEE directive. This should have been done by 13 August 2004. However, just before Christmas the government announced a fourth delay to the UK’s implementation of WEEE.

A representative from the EC’s UK office told CRN: “The UK cannot unilaterally decide to continue to postpone the transposition of the directive. That is clearly not acceptable. Therefore, in December, the Commission decided to take the UK to Court for non-communication of the national transposition measures.”

Carolyn Worth, external relations manager at Evesham, said: “We have been ready for WEEE for ages and it’s annoying that it has been delayed again. We are as prepared as we can be for WEEE at this stage. Financially though it is a nightmare because we don’t know what costs to factor in this year for the directive.”

Nigel Peck, managing director of Steljes Technical Services, added: “In one sense I’m pleased about the delay because it ensures that everyone is moving forward at the same rate and gives us all time to get it right. We’ve reached the point where we’re as prepared as we can be, but are just waiting for the final revision of the paper.”

laura_hailstone@vnu.co.uk