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| Within the European Union (EU) the problem of electrical and electronic waste has been a major issue for many years. WEEE is Europe's fastest growing waste stream, growing at three times the rate of other wastes. To address the problem of growing waste streams, the European Commission passed two directives in January 2003, covering virtually all electrical and electronic equipment, incl. household appliances, audio-visual equipment, IT equipment, office equipment, mobile phones, electrically-run toys, watches and most types of lightings. The EU has put forward legislation for dealing with Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the new directice on establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products (EuP).
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| | | Legal Standards |
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| | RoHS | The European Union's directive regarding Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) prohibits, in principle, the inclusion of six hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products. Furthermore NEC has installed comprehensive in-house analysis systems to confirm the compliance of products to the RoHS directive. This directive will be valid for all products sold after July 2006.
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| | | Packaging and Packaging Waste | The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (Directive 94/62/EC) from 1994 is the first one on environmental issues. An amendment, making the directive even more environmentally friendly was introduced last year (Directive 2004/12/EC).
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| | | WEEE (Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment) | The WEEE directive has to be implemented into national laws of the EU members by August 2005. There will be no common European-wide solution but individual national laws.
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