§ Baroness Ludfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they are implementing European Union Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles; and what the arrangements will be for meeting the cost of dealing with end-of-life vehicles between the implementation of the directive and the date at which the manufactures become liable. [HL2610]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)The DTI's consultation paper on options for implementing the directive stimulated 116 responses. These are being assessed, along with the conclusions and recommendations of the Trade and Industry Committee, with a view to adopting the approach which best suits the UK's circumstances. Our policy is to implement with a light regulatory touch, achieving the environmental objectives of the directive without putting UK business at a competitive disadvantage. Under the directive, producers are required to pay all or a significant part of the costs of take-back and treatment of no or negative value end-of-life vehicles from 1 January 2007 onwards. A decision on who will pay before this date will be made shortly.