Environment

← Environment

End-of-life vehicles

Summary
Evaluation
Commission Proposal
Legal Act
Implementation

Overall state of play:

Evaluation – Finalised: SWD(2021)60, 15.03.2021
Commission Proposal – Adopted by the Commission, COM(2023)451 on 13 July 2023

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The end-of-life vehicles (ELV) Directive (Directive 2000/53/EC) was adopted in 2000. The Directive sets out restrictions on the use of hazardous substances in new cars, obligations relating to the collection and treatment of ELV, as well as targets by 2015 for re-use/recovery and re-use/recycling. Each year, around 11 million of vehicles leave the stock of registered vehicles in the EU, representing a potential of about 11 million tonnes of waste. The majority of waste from ELVs consists of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, with a growing share of plastic waste and electronic waste, reflecting the increasing use of lightweight materials and electronics in new cars.

There are new challenges to be considered today, such as new materials (plastics, carbon fibre, electronics, etc.) and technologies used in cars and their end-of-life treatment, which potentially have an impact on optimal reuse and recycling. Furthermore, the large number of end-of-life vehicles that are not accounted for (“missing ELVs”) in the EU is a persistent problem with the implementation of the Directive. The growing number of electric vehicles on the EU market will also bring new challenges for the sector.

Building on the findings of the evaluation finalised in 2021, in July 2023 the Commission has tabled a proposal for a regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and on management of end-of-life vehicles, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/858 and 2019/1020 and repealing Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC.

Fit for Future Platform

In 2022, the Fit for Future Platform adopted an opinion regarding ELVs making the following suggestions:

• Suggestion 1: Consider a digital vehicle passport including details on used materials

• Suggestion 2: Refine the definitions for end-of-life vehicles and used vehicles/ parts of vehicles

• Suggestion 3: Consider full digitalisation of the registration system and (2) installation of a central registration system and/or interoperable systems or ensuring the compatibility and coordination of the registration systems across and within

• Member States

• Suggestion 4: Enforce the certificate of destruction (COD) necessary for deregistration and implement a systemic differentiation between temporary and permanent deregistration

• Suggestion 5: Improve implementability of the ELV-Directive's requirements through a reward system for deregistration and/or dismantling

• Suggestion 6: Ensure coherence with other legislation, e.g., the Batteries Directive

• 2006/66/EC and the REACH Regulation

• Suggestion 7: Improve compliance and enforcement possibilities through more realistic targets, common methodologies, and increased producer responsibility

The Platform’s opinion on the end-of-life vehicles focusses on digitalisation and interoperability. Many of its suggestions fed directly into Commission’s preparatory works on the impact assessment accompanying the revision of the End-of-life Directive. This included the extended use of digital means, alignment of recycling definitions with the Waste Framework Directive and setting mandatory criteria that would help distinguishing end-of-life vehicles from used vehicles. It also tackled the improved interoperability between national vehicle registers to address the problem of “missing vehicles”, increased functionality of the certificate of destruction by clarifying its linkage with vehicle de-registration and adding additional information to vehicle registers. The call for better coherence with sectoral legislation, e.g. the Batteries Regulation, has been assessed in measures considering future regulatory approaches on substances of concern in vehicles. The impact assessment also considered the suggested ways to improve extended producer responsibility, monitoring and the overall enforcement of the advanced end-of-life vehicles treatment requirements.

State of Play

Finalised: SWD(2021)60, 15.03.2021

Scope:

The evaluation looked at the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of Directive 2000/53/EC.

The evaluation of the ELV Directive also took into account the ongoing transformation of the automotive sector, as well as (i) the orientations set out by the European Green Deal, notably reflected in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, and (ii) the recently adopted EU legislation on the waste framework directive and other waste streams.

Evaluation findings:

The evaluation finds that the total benefits of the Directive outweigh its costs. The environmental benefits are linked to the safe treatment of ELVs, which avoids leakage of pollutants in the environment. The most important economic benefits of the ELV Directive have been to help consolidating the vehicle dismantling and recycling sector in the EU Member States and providing the consumers with the possibility to dispose of their ELV free of charge. There is no evidence nor claims that the ELV Directive had a negative impact on the competitiveness of the automotive industry within the EU. The distribution of costs associated with the implementation of the ELV Directive is an issue with diverging views across the various stakeholders. There is notably no definitive data on the profitability of companies (mostly SMEs) from the dismantling sector, even though available information seems to show that their economic situation is generally fragile (as shown during the COVID-19 crisis).

The EU-added value of the Directive, in addition to harmonising environmental requirements, lies notably in the establishment of an EU framework, which ensured the smooth operation of the internal market for the automotive sector at large and avoided distortions of competition in the EU.

The evaluation also found that today the scope of the ELV Directive leaves out a stock of about 45 million of vehicles, e.g. motorcycles and trucks, which are not subject to any specific provisions with regard to how they should be treated at the end of their life.

There is no evidence of unnecessary regulatory burden or costs stemming from the ELV Directive.

There is Scope for improved coherence, in particular with the EU legislations on vehicle registration, as well as on car type-approval.

State of Play

On-going: to be adopted by the Commission in 2023¹ .

Taking into account the changes in the automotive sector since the adoption in 2000 of the first set of EU minimum requirements on the treatment of end-of-life vehicles, the Commission seeks to modernize these rules with a view to establishing a comprehensive EU legal framework that would cover all aspects of a vehicle from its design and placement into the market until the final treatment at the end-of-life.

Therefore, the review process also includes the Directive 2005/64/EC on the type-approval of motor vehicles with regard to their reusability, recyclability and recoverability (“3R type-approval” Directive), which links the requirements on the placing of the market of new vehicles with the provisions of the ELV Directive.

The following key objectives will be explored during the impact assessment process:

i) improve circularity in the design, production and end-of-life treatment of vehicles;

ii) increase traceability with regard to the vehicles which are not reported when reaching the end of their life (“missing vehicles”) and regulate the export of used cars which are not roadworthy or highly polluting vehicles;

iii) assess the possibility to extend the scope of the ELV Directive to new vehicles, especially motorbikes, trucks and buses.

¹ https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12633-Revision-of-EU-legislation-on-end-of-life-vehicles