Directive (EU) 2024/884 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (Text with EEA relevance)

1 No later than 31 December 2026, the Commission shall assess the need for a revision of this Directive and, where appropriate, present a legislative proposal in that respect, accompanied by a thorough socioeconomic and environmental impact assessment.

2 In the impact assessment referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall consider, in particular, the need for: (a) provisions which specifically ensure that the principle of legal certainty is adhered to and that there is no unjustified retroactive effect in any Member State; (b) provisions which ensure the implementation of the waste hierarchy as laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC; (c) provisions which ensure that citizens and consumers are not burdened with disproportionate costs, in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle; (d) provisions which ensure full implementation and enforcement of this Directive, in particular with regard to adequate collection targets, as well as with regard to preventing illegal trade of WEEE; (e) creating a new EEE category for ‘photovoltaic panels’ under this Directive with the aim to disassociate photovoltaic panels from the existing EEE category 4, ‘large equipment’, as referred to in Annexes III and IV, and calculating the collection targets on the basis of waste photovoltaic panels available for collection based on their expected lifetime, rather than on the quantity of products placed on the market; (f) establishing a mechanism to ensure that, in the event of failure or liquidation of the producer, the future costs of collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of waste from photovoltaic panels from both private households and users other than private households will be covered financially.’

1 Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 9 October 2025. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof. When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

2 Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main measures of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.