EGARA POSITION ON PROPOSED POLISH BAN ON RE-USE OF PARTS

by | Jul 28, 2005 | Egara Position Paper

EGARA POSITION PAPER

2005.07.28

 

on

 

The proposed Polish Order of setting out a list of vehicle equipment and parts whose reuse would either pose a threat to road safety or harm the environment

 

Preamble

EGARA, the European Group of Automotive Recycling Associations, comprising vehicle dismantlers in: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, has noted that the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure have proposed an order which would ban re-use of certain equipment and parts since they, as stated, could either pose a threat to road safety or harm the environment. We have further noted, that this order has been proposed within the context of transposing the EU End-of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive  (2000/53/EC) into Polish Legislation.

  1. EGARA position

EGARA finds that the proposed Polish Order is out of context with the ELV-Directive (2000/53/EC) as well as with the Type Approval Directive (70/156/EEC).

Further we find that it would to a large extend endanger the environment conscious, serious and professionally working vehicle dismantling industry emerging in Poland, as well as it would have a negative impact on the entire Polish national economy and create environmental problems.

  1. Relations to the ELV-Directive (2000/53/EC)

The ELV-Directive says in preamble 5:

  • .. waste should be reused and recovered, and preference should be given to reuse and recycling

 

In Article 7,1 it further says:

  • Member States should take the necessary measures to encourage the reuse of components which are suitable for reuse….

 

The draft Polish Order will, if implemented, in fact lead to the opposite and will in EGARA’s opinion be a bad implementation of the ELV- Directive.

 

One could argue, that in relation to the mentioned Article 7.1, where it is stated that preference should be given to reuse, it is further stated that this should be done: “Without prejudice to requirements regarding to the safety of vehicles and environmental requirements such as air emission and noise control” that the draft Polish Order has been done with respect to that, but in EGARA’s opinion and providing that a quality and functionality control of used equipment and parts are done, a process which any professional dismantler would undertake, then there will be no hazards what so ever.

  1. Relations to the Type Approval Directive (70/156/EEC)

The Type Approval Directive does in its recent amendment of Annex V contain a list of equipment and parts that cannot be re-used, a list that is different and much shorter than the Polish list, but it is specifically said, that there is a ban on reuse into new vehicles, and reuse for repair of used vehicles, a process which would prolong the life-time of a vehicle, thus avoiding waste problems, is not at all mentioned.

This provision is inter alia a consequence of a work-shop organised by DG Enterprise in June 2002 where a ban on reuse of certain components was discussed and where a proposal for a directive on reuse of equipment and parts had been proposed by certain economic operators, in particular CLEPA, the European umbrella membership organisation for the global Automotive Supply industry.

The outcome of this work-shop was that neither did DG Enterprise, the represented economic operators (except CLEPA)nor the national delegates to the work-shop (except the representative from Poland) see any need for a ban or a Directive concerning reuse of equipment and components for repair of used vehicles, since, as it was expressed during the work-shop: Serious vehicle dismantlers do perform the necessary quality and functionality control before putting used equipment and parts on the market.

The Draft Polish Order is therefore completely out of line with the conclusion of the work-shop as well as with the Type Approval Directive, and bearing in mind, that:

  • since 2002 several national associations of dismantlers have developed and implemented quality certification systems according to or similar to ISO-9000
  • EGARA has developed minimum requirements for such certification system
  • The Polish national association of dismantlers, FORS, is in the process of developing and implementing quality control systems following the EGARA minimum requirements

the draft Polish order seems to be inappropriate and unnecessary.

  1. Impact on the Polish dismantling industry, the Polish national economy and environment

It is beyond any reasonable doubt that, if implemented, the draft Polish Order would establish a regime for Polish vehicle dismantlers which is far more restrictive, cumbersome and costly that for any dismantler in any other EU-country. This may very well lead to that:

  • existing vehicle dismantlers may close down
  • no new dismantlers will be established.

As a result of this, they will not be an adequate infrastructure in Poland to handle the increasing number of ELVs in Poland according to the regulations set out in the ELV-directive, which would undoubtedly lead to severe environment problems in the country.

Further, by banning use of a large number of used equipment and parts, it will be difficult for serious Polish dismantlers to operate a profitable business, basically because the primary source of income for a dismantler stems from revenues from sales of used equipment and parts, which in addition to the restrictive regime will lead to even more closure of dismantlers and less new enterprises.

The consequence is that, there will be limited access to good quality used equipment and parts in Poland.

These will then either have to be imported directly by car-owners – which seems to be legal according to the draft Order – or substituted by new, imported equipment and parts, which will have a negative impact on the Polish Trade Balance and thus the national economy. Further since used cars not any more can be repaired with used equipment and parts supplied domestically, even more ELVs will emerge, adding to the environmental problems mentioned above.

  1. Conclusion

Since the draft Polish order:

  • is out of context with the ELV-Directive (2000/53/EC)
  • is out of context with the Type Approval Directive (70/156/EEC)
  • will lead to closure of and fewer establishments of new dismantling enterprises, all Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, it is further out of context with the general EU Industrial policy
  • will lead to environmental problems in Poland
  • will have a severe impact on the Polish national economy

EGARA will strongly recommend the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and the Polish government to withdraw the draft order and instead follow the same regimes as in other EU-countries.

In case this does not happen, EGARA would, together with FORS, consider the possibilities of making a formal complaint to the European Commission concerning bad transposition of Directive 2000/53/EC in Poland.

EGARA

2005.07.28

This position paper is sent to:

  • DG Environment
  • DG Enterprise
  • Polish Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Krzysztof Opawski