Directive Specific Implementation Plan for the Directive 2012/19/EU of 4 th of July 2012 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

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1 The European Union s IPA 2010 programme for Albania Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of (EuropeAid/130987/C/SER/AL) Directive Specific Implementation Plan for the Directive 2012/19/EU of th of July 2012 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment This project is funded by The European Union 1

2 Project title: Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Project number: Europe Aid/130987/C/SER/AL; Contract no. 2011/ Country: Republic of Albania Beneficiary Contractor Name: Ministry of Environment Grontmij A/S Address: Durresi str. Nr 27, Tirana, Granskoven 8 DK-2600 Glostrup Albania Contact Person: Ardiana Sokoli Paolo Bacca Phone: Ardiana.Sokoli@moe.gov.al Paolo.Bacca@selea.al Date of Report: December 2013 Component A: Enhancing Ministry s ability to implement and enforce legislation Title: Directive Specific Implementation Plan for the Directive 2012/19/EU of th of July 2012 on the waste Authors: QA Checked: Bendis Bocari, Jesper Ansbaek Paolo BACCA Acknowledgement The project team wishes to express its gratitude to all resource persons and experts from all institutions and stakeholders involved in the collection of data and information and to all persons and bodies that have supported the development of this document. Special thanks are extended to the Ministry of Environment. This report has been prepared by a project team working for Grontmij. The findings conclusions and interpretations expressed in this document are those of Grontmij alone and should not in any way be taken to reflect the opinions and policies of the European Commission. 2

3 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 1. REQUIREMENTS OF EU LEGISLATION Background EU Legislation Covered Direct Requirements of Legislation 1 1. Links with other Legislation in this Sector PRESENT SITUATION Government Policy Roles & Responsibilities Other issues related to implementation and enforcement Current Legal Framework Current Implementation Status Current Investment Status APPROXIMATION PLAN Overall Plan and Milestones Transposition Plan Implementation Plan 3 3. Resources and Costs Financing Strategy Benefits 3.7 Key Issues and Uncertainties ANNEXES 6 ANNEX I: RELEVANT NATIONAL LEGISLATION 6 ANNEX II: TABLE OF CONCORDANCE 7 3

4 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of List of abbreviations BAT BOT CA CARDS CDF CDW CF CoM CP DCM DfID DG DSIP EAN EBRD EC ECJ EEA EEC EEE EFA EI EIA EIB ELPA EMAS EPR ERDF EU EWC ftpe GTZ HE HW IFC IFI INPAEL IPA IPC Best Available Techniques Build Operate - Transfer Competent Authority Community Assistance for Reconstruction Development and Stabilization Confined Disposal Facility Construction and Demolition Waste Cohesion Fund Council of Ministers Collection Point Decision of Council of Ministers Department for International Development (UK) Directorate General Directive Specific Implementation Plan Environmental Agencies Network European Bank for Reconstruction and Development European Commission European Court of Justice European Environmental Agency European Economic Community Electrical and Electronic Equipment Environment and Forests Agency Environmental Inspectorate Environmental Impact Assessment European Investment Bank Environmental Legislation and Planning (project) Environmental Management Audit Schemes Environmental Performance Review European Regional Development Fund European Union European Waste Catalogue full-time person equivalent Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit Health Establishment Hazardous Waste International Finance Corporation International financial institution Implementation of National Plan for the Approximation of Environmental Legislation Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance Industrial Pollution Control

5 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of IPH IPPC ISPA KfW LGU LIFE MAFF MAP MoEI MoEDTE MoE MoF MoH MoUDT MoU MS MTF NAPISAA NEAP NES NfPO NGO P&PW PEPSE PHARE PPP PVC REA REACH REC RoA RoHS S SAA SAPARD SIDA SME SoER TA TAT ToC ToR UNDP UNECE Institute of Public Health Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Local Government Unit Legal Instrument for Environment Multi-annual Financial Framework Mediterranean Action Plan Ministry of Energy and Industry Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship Ministry of Environment Ministry of Finance Ministry of Health Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism Memorandum of Understanding Member State Medium Term Financing National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement National Environmental Action Plan National Environmental Strategy n for Profit Organization n-governmental Organisation Package and Packaging Waste Private Enterprise Partnership for Southeast Europe Poland and Hungary Assistance for the Restructuring of the Economy Public Private Partnership Poly Vinyl Chloride Regional Environmental Agency Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals Regional Environmental Centre Republic of Albania Restriction of Hazardous Substances Senior Stabilization and Association Agreement Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development Swedish International Development Assistance Small and Medium Enterprise State of Environment Report Technical Assistance Technical Assistance Team Table of Concordance Terms of Reference United Nation Development Programme United Nations Commission for Europe 5

6 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of UNEP WB WEEE WMP United Nations Environment Program World Bank Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Waste Management Plan 6

7 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Executive Summary The EU legislation covered in this implementation plan, "Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment", directive 2012/19/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of th of July 2012 (WEEE Directive) aims to harmonize national measures concerning the management of waste electric and in order: to contribute to sustainable production and consumption; to prevent the formation of WEEE; by the re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE: o to reduce the disposal of waste; o to contribute to the efficient use of resources and the retrieval of valuable secondary raw materials; to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of EEE, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers and, in particular, those operators directly involved in the collection and treatment of WEEE. The measures envisaged in this Directive aim at: reducing hazardous substances contained in new EEE; developing minimum standards for the treatment of WEEE; facilitating and optimizing the re-use, dismantling and recovery of WEEE through product design; encouraging design and production of EEE which take into full account and facilitate its repair, possible upgrading, re-use, disassembly and recycling; determining the conditions under which take-back may be refused by distributors, in order to guarantee safety and health of distributors personnel involved in the take-back and handling of WEEE; ensuring specific treatment and recycling of WEEE by separate collection in order to achieve the chosen level of protection of human health and the environment in the Union; minimizing the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE; setting ambitious collection targets based on the amount of WEEE generated where due account is taken of the differing life cycles of products in the Member States, of nonsaturated markets and of EEE with a long life cycle; preventing negative environmental impacts associated with the treatment of WEEE, by using the best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques; controlling possible risks to human health and the environment from the treatment of WEEE that contains nano-materials, through the assessment whether specific treatment are necessary; recycling valuable resources contained in EEE with a view to ensuring a better supply of commodities within the Union; preparing for re-use of WEEE and its components, sub-assemblies and consumables by encouraging producers to integrate recycled material in new equipment; setting of financing schemes to contribute to high collection rates, as well as to the implementation of the principle of producer responsibility; facilitating the management, and in particular the treatment and recovery or recycling, of WEEE by information on component and material identification provided by producers. 7

8 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The competent authority designated for performing the duties arising from the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Directive is the Ministry of Environment through the Sector of Waste Management and Industrial Accidents within the Department of Environment. As far as transposition of the Directive is concerned, the existing Albanian Laws adequately address the issues and problems related to: waste reuse; recycling; separate collection; biodegradable waste; extended producer responsibility; product; by - product; waste; end of waste. The main competent authorities and institutions are also identified in the law. The provisions in the existing Albanian Laws cover extensively all aspects of waste management fulfilling and complying with the EU acquis and include also sections on sanctions and penalties. However this legal framework requires further comprehensive and detailed measures and provisions to ensure an effective implementation. Limited progress has been achieved towards transposition of WEEE Directive. The adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste electronic equipment, which transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, was foreseen to be approved in 2011, is not adopted yet. Currently only three Directive s provisions have been assessed as fully transposed being: Article 3 (one definition); and Article 22 (penalty system). These provisions were transposed through Law no.1063 On integrated waste management, which was adopted on 22 September The MoE expects to transpose most of the directive s provisions with adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste. As the draft DCM on waste transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, full transposition requires further amendments in the draft DCM, which can be done through one of the following options: revisions in the existing draft before adopting it; or new DCM after the adoption of the existing draft on waste electronic equipment amending it. The full transposition is expected to be completed after the adoption of one of the above options. 8

9 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The draft DCM on waste is organized in seventeen sections, which exhaust the whole legal procedures and administrative arrangements for the management of this type of waste. The proposed draft is in full accordance and harmony with the provisions of the Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment and aims to prevent the formation WEEE and to reduce the disposal of EEE-waste by reuse, recycle and apply other forms of recovery. Further it aims at contributing to the efficient use of resources and the retrieval of valuable secondary raw materials from the WEEE. The draft DCM would apply to all EEE following the classification included in Annex IA, attached draft DCM. The draft DCM provides that manufacturers before putting on the market the EEE for the first time must obtain an environmental permit under the law "On environmental permits", and being registered in the registry of EEE producers, that NEA creates for this purpose, and provided with a registration number. Marking is a procedure that obliges producers to place on the market labelled EEE in order to minimize the disposal of WEEE together with mixed household waste and to facilitate the separate collection WEEE. Marking is done with the symbol shown in Annex IX of the WEEE Directive ( ). Section VIII of the draft DCM provides that producers or third parties acting on their behalf establish special systems for the treatment, recycling and recovery WEEE using the best techniques available for treatment, recycling and recovery. Manufacturers can create either individual or collective systems. Section IX of the draft DCM defines in details mandatory minimum targets for WEEE collected separately and handled by each manufacturer until 31 st of December 201 (deadline in the draft DCM has to be reconsidered). An important element of the draft DCM is "WEEE management costs", which is anticipated to be recovered from the WEEE producers. The draft DCM in section X/1 Household WEEE management cost" provides that producers, until 13 th of August 2013 (deadline in the draft DCM has to be reconsidered) at least finance the separate collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal of the collected household WEEE to the collection places. The Draft DCM in Section X/2 "WEEE management costs from non-domestic users," determines that for the products placed in the market from 13 th of August 2013 (deadline in the draft DCM has to be reconsidered), producers minimally finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal. As for WEEE from products placed on the market before 13 th of August 2013 (historical waste) (deadline in the draft DCM has to be reconsidered), the producers finance costs of historical waste individually, along with users of non-household, or requiring them to pay the full cost of management. The draft DCM provides for user s information on places of treatment as it is an important element that compels producers to undertake information campaigns on the potential risks of WEEE. 9

10 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Reporting procedures provided in Section XIV of the draft DCM, provide detailed procedures on the coordination, reporting and monitoring at national and community level. The implementation of WEEE Directive has not started yet and most of the proposed deadlines have been postponed for more than 2-3 years. The competent authority/ies with responsibilities under this directive have been also defined in the draft Decision "On waste (WEEE)". According to the draft DCM, the MoE will be the designated competent authority responsible for implementation of this directive while National Environmental Agency will be responsible for maintaining the register of producers and collecting information. The Environmental Inspectorate will be responsible for supervision and enforcement. Other important implementing bodies include Local Government Units, producers and distributors, especially regarding the collection of WEEE also from producers or third parties, the regulation of collection facilities and the authorisation of treatment facilities. The overall plan to obtain full approximation consists of a legal transposition plan and an implementation plan (including enforcement). The milestones of the approximation process are given in the table below: Legal transposition Overall Approximation Plan Including the additional provisions of Directive 2012/19/EU and the respective annexes Implementation and enforcement Start (month/year) End (month/year) 01/ / Identifying the competent authority/ies 01/ / Deciding whether to transpose any specified requirements of the directive by means of agreements between the competent t decided yet authorities and the economic agents (Art. 2.1 & 2 & 3) 3. Establishing a system for the separate collection of WEEE (Art. 5) 01/ /000. Establishing a permitting system for the treatment of WEEE (Art. 8) 12/ / Meeting targets for collection (Art. 7.1 & 7.2) 01/000 12/ Requiring producers to provide for financing of management of 01/0003 WEEE from private households (Art. 12 and partly Art. 1) 12/ Meeting targets for recovery (Art & annex V) 12/ / Ensuring that a system for financing management of WEEE from users other than private households is established (Art. 13) 12/ / Ensuring users of EEE are given the information listed in art. 1? 01/ / Establishing a system to ensure that, producers provide reuse and treatment information for each type of new EEE put on the 12/ /0005 market (Art. 15) 11. Maintaining a register of producers and collect information in accordance with Art. 16.1; 16.3; / / Establishing an effective inspection and enforcement system (Arts. 22 and 23) 12/ / Full implementation 12/0005 All costs are estimated in constant 2013 prices. 10

11 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of It is estimated that there will be costs of transposing the Directive into national legislation and costs of implementation for the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment and both costs are one-off costs of 2 mills and on-going recurrent costs of 25,000. The one-off costs comprise a technical assistance project. The major other costs items for implementation will be the salaries of new staff required and information campaigns to create awareness and inform users of their obligations regarding WEEE. As far as the new personnel are concerned an estimated yearly input of a full time employee in the CA will be required for implementing the Directive. In line with the producer responsibility principle, EEE producers have to finance the cost of the collection, treatment and recovery of WEEE. 11

12 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 1. Requirements of EU Legislation 1.1 Background In Europe, in the last decades, the economic development triggered new human consumption patterns resulting in a dramatic increase of waste production. As a consequence the waste was accumulated in (illegal) dump sites, becoming an environmental and public health problem. As the market continues to expand and innovation cycles become even shorter, the replacement of equipment accelerates, making EEE a fast-growing source of waste. The objectives of the Union s environment policy are to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment, to protect human health and to utilize natural resources prudently and rationally. That policy is based on the precautionary principle and the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should, as a priority, be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay. The Community Programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (Fifth Environmental Action Programme) stated that the achievement of sustainable development calls for significant changes in current patterns of development, production, consumption and behavior and advocates, inter alia, the reduction of wasteful consumption of natural resources and the prevention of pollution The WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) supplements the general waste management legislation of the Union, such as Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 vember 2008 on waste (Waste Framework Directive). It refers to the definitions in that Directive, including the definitions of waste and general waste management operations. The definition of collection in the Waste Framework Directive includes the preliminary sorting and preliminary storage of waste for the purposes of transport to a waste treatment facility. The Ecodesign Directive, Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for energy-related products and enables the adoption of specific ecodesign requirements for energy-related products which may also be covered by this Directive. Directive 2009/125/EC and the implementing measures adopted pursuant thereto are without prejudice to the waste management legislation of the Union. The RoHS Directive, Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in requires the substitution of banned substances in respect of all (EEE) within its scope. While RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC has contributed effectively to reducing hazardous substances contained in new EEE, hazardous substances such as mercury, cadmium, lead, hexavalent chromium and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and ozone-depleting substances will still be present in WEEE for many years. The content of hazardous components in EEE is a major concern during the waste management phase, and recycling of WEEE is not undertaken to a sufficient extent. A lack of recycling results in the loss of valuable resources. 12

13 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of For this purpose the EU recast the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Directive in th of July 2012 (2012/19/EU). The provisions of this Directive apply to products and producers irrespective of selling technique, including distance and electronic selling. In this connection, the obligations of producers and distributors using distance and electronic selling channels should take the same form, and should be enforced in the same way, as for other distribution channels, in order to avoid those other distribution channels having to bear the costs resulting from this Directive arising from WEEE for which the equipment was sold by distance or electronic selling. The Directive covers all EEE used by consumers and EEE intended for professional use. This Directive applies to Union legislation on safety and health requirements protecting all actors in contact with WEEE, as well as specific Union waste management legislation, in particular Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and Union product design legislation, in particular Directive 2009/125/EC. The objectives of this Directive can be achieved without including large-scale fixed installations such as oil platforms, airport luggage transport systems or elevators within its scope. However, any equipment which is not specifically designed and installed as part of those installations, and which can fulfil its function even if it is not part of those installations, should be included in the scope of this Directive. This refers for instance to equipment such as lighting equipment or photovoltaic panels. 1.2 EU Legislation Covered The EU legislation covered in this implementation plan is the "Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment", the Council Directive. 2012/19/EU of July 2012, which recast: Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste (WEEE) as amended by: Directive 2003/108/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 December 2003; Directive 2008/3/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008; and secondary legislation on WEEE: Commission Decision 200/29/EC of 11 March 200 concerning a questionnaire for Member States reports on the implementation of Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste (WEEE) Commission Decision 2005/369/EC of 3 May 2005 laying down rules for monitoring compliance of Member States and establishing data formats for the purposes of Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste (notified under document number C(2005) 1355). Council Decision 200/312/EC and Council Decision 200/86/EC, as well as acts related to the accession of new Member States, provide for some derogations, limited in time, as concerns the targets set by Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE). 13

14 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 1.3 Direct Requirements of Legislation The WEEE Directive encourages the design and production of to facilitate its repair, possible upgrading, re-use, disassembly and recycling at end-of-life. Further Member States are to minimise the disposal of waste (WEEE) as unsorted municipal waste and are to set up separate collection systems for WEEE. The Recast of the WEEE Directive was published in the Official Journal on 2th July The recast aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the original WEEE Directive (Directive 2002/96/EC) by further reducing the negative externalities (with respect to the environment as well as human health) caused by the disposal of (EEE) when it becomes waste. Product Scope Under Article 2 of the WEEE Recast Directive, for a transitional period until 15 August 2018, the current scope (i.e. as in the current WEEE Directive) will remain in place, but photovoltaic (PV) panels will be included (under Category Consumer Equipment) and the exemption of equipment [that is] part of another type of equipment [which itself is out of the scope] has been tightened by requiring that such equipment can only fulfil its function if it is part of the other equipment (Art. 2.3 b). From 15 August 2018, an open scope will apply, that is divided into six new categories (Annex III of the WEEE Recast) - for the purpose of differentiated recovery and recycling targets. provides for additional exemptions (Art. 2.) that are backed up by clear definitions: in particular, definitions are introduced for 'large-scale fixed installation', 'large-scale stationary industrial tools', 'medical device' and 'in vitro diagnostic medical device' (Art. 3 b, c, d, m, n, o). Member States that currently include such equipment in their national WEEE scope will have to exclude it by The six new categories which will apply from 15 August 2018 are: 1. Temperature exchange equipment 2. Screens, monitors, and equipment containing screens having a surface greater than 100 cm2 3. Lamps. Large equipment (any external dimension greater than 50cm) including, but not limited to: Household appliances; IT and telecommunication equipment; consumer equipment; luminaires; equipment reproducing sound or images, musical equipment; electronic tools; toys, leisure and sports equipment; medical devices; monitoring and control instruments; automatic dispensers; equipment for the generation of electric currents. This category does not include equipment included in categories 1 to Small equipment (no external dimension more than 50cm) including, but not limited to: Household appliances; consumer equipment; luminaires; equipment reproducing sound or images, musical equipment; electronic tool; toys, leisure and sports equipment; medical devices; monitoring and control instruments; automatic dispensers; equipment for the generation of electric currents. This category does not include equipment included in categories 1 to Small IT and telecommunication equipment (no external dimension more than 50 cm) Producer definition Article 3 of the 2012/19/EU WEEE Directive newly defines producer, with reference to the legal base of a company, as an entity: 1

15 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of established in the same Member State in which the product is placed on the market established in another Member State if selling directly to end-users. Article 17 of the 2012/19/EU WEEE Directive requires that Member States must allow EU-based foreign producers to comply through an authorized representative. Therefore, any company established in a Member State may be able to appoint an authorized representative to register in another Member State where the company is not established. The exact requirements and options for producers to appoint an authorized representative will depend on how the WEEE Directive is to be implemented in each EU Member State. Marking of EEE The responsibility for compliance with the WEEE Directive rests with the organization that owns the brand name which is displayed on the product. The brand name referred to here is the brand name under which the product is sold, and does not imply any responsibility for organisations which own brand names of components that may be contained within the product. For example, a Sony PlayStation contains a power supply unit supplied by Philips and displaying the Philips brand name. There is no producer obligation on Philips under the WEEE Directive, the producer obligation rests 100% with Sony. The symbol indicating separate collection for EEE consists of the crossed-out wheeled bin, as shown below. Producers are also required to provide information on request to treatment facilities to identify specific components and materials in the equipment which must be removed, as listed in Annex VII of the WEEE Directive, including: Batteries; Printed circuit boards in mobile phones and those greater than 10cm²; Plastic containing brominated flame retardants; Electrolyte capacitors containing substances of concern (height > 25mm, diameter > 25mm or proportionately similar volume); Capacitors containing polychlorinated biphenyls; Cathode ray tubes (fluorescent coating must be removed); Gas discharge lamps (mercury must be removed); Liquid crystal displays > 100 cm² and all those back-lighted with discharge lamps; External electric cables; Components containing mercury (e.g. switches, backlighting lamps). Shipments of WEEE Article 10 of the 2012/19/EU WEEE Directive combines the provisions of Article 6 (Treatment) of Directive 2002/96/EC [for example that WEEE export must take place in compliance with the Waste Shipment Regulations] with the new requirement for the Commission to establish detailed rules for WEEE exporters to prove that treatment of WEEE outside the EU takes place in conditions equivalent to those required by the 2012/19/EU WEEE Directive. Recovery targets The achievement of the recovery/recycling and prepared for reuse targets are calculated as the weight of the WEEE entering respective treatment facilities divided by the weight of all separately collected WEEE. Until 2015, the targets of 2002/96/EC WEEE Directive remain applicable. 15

16 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of From 2016 to end 2018, equipment prepared for re-use will count towards the recycling target (except for gas discharge lamps) and all targets (except those for gas discharge lamps) will be increased by 5%. From 2019, the targets are based on the new WEEE categories: While this will leave targets unchanged for many products, they will be higher for small cooling equipment (no dimension exceeding 50 cm) and EEE with monitors larger than 100 cm3 (laptops, tablets and larger smartphones), and lower for small IT equipment and consumer electronics without monitors. Financial costs Different rules apply under the WEEE Directive depending on whether the producer sells his products to private households or to users other than private households' under the WEEE Directive. Financial obligations for first group are outlined in Article 12 of the WEEE Directive whereas financial obligations for second group are outlined in Article 13 of the WEEE Directive. Users of EEE from private households should have the possibility of returning WEEE at least free of charge. Producers should finance at least the collection from collection facilities, and the treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE. Member States should encourage producers to take full responsibility for the WEEE collection, in particular by financing the collection of WEEE throughout the entire waste chain, including from private households, in order to avoid separately collected WEEE becoming the object of suboptimal treatment and illegal exports, to create a level playing field by harmonising producer financing across the Union and to shift payment for the collection of this waste from general tax payers to the consumers of EEE, in line with the polluter pays principle. In order to give maximum effect to the concept of producer responsibility, each producer should be responsible for financing the management of the waste from his own products. The producer should be able to choose to fulfil this obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme. Each producer should, when placing a product on the market, provide a financial guarantee to prevent costs for the management of WEEE from orphan products from falling on society or the remaining producers. Historical waste The responsibility for the financing of the management of historical waste should be shared by all existing producers through collective financing schemes to which all producers that exist on the market when the costs occur contribute proportionately. 1. Links with other Legislation in this Sector Links with other legislation within this sector: Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) of 19 vember 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives. This Directive repealed Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (the codified version of Directive 75/2/EEC as amended), hazardous waste Directive 91/689/EEC, and the Waste Oils Directive 75/39/EEC. It provides for a general framework of waste management requirements and sets the basic waste management definitions for the EU. 16

17 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC) introduces substance restrictions, labelling requirements for new batteries and requirements for new electrical equipment to be designed so that batteries can be easily removed. Battery manufacturers and importers of batteries (including batteries which are incorporated into electrical equipment) are also required to register as a 'batteries producer' and manage battery collection, recycling and reporting in every EU Member State where they sell batteries or equipment containing batteries. PCB/PCT Directive (96/59/EC) sets the requirements for an environmentally sound disposal of PCBs and outlines for collection and disposal of equipment. The PCB Directive further mandates that Member States had to dispose of big equipment (equipment with PCB volumes of more than 5 litres) by the end of 2010 at the latest. ELVs Directive (2000/53/EC) introduces specific requirements for the management of end-of-life vehicles, aiming the prevention of waste from vehicles and, in addition, the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of end-of-life vehicles and their components so as to reduce the disposal of waste. The Directive also aims to improve the environmental performance of all economic operators involved in the life-cycle of vehicles and especially the operators directly involved in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles. The RoHS Directive: Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in (2011/65/EU) is complementary to the WEEE directive and applies to the same categories of products defined by the WEEE directive, with the exception of Category (8) of medical devices and Category (9) of monitoring and control equipment. Shipments of Waste Regulation (EC/1013/2006) is designed to strengthen, simplify and spell out the current control procedures for waste shipments, thus reducing the risk of shipments of uncontrolled waste. It also incorporates into Community legislation the amendments to the waste lists annexed to the Basel Convention and the revision adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Horizontal legislation Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (85/337/EEC), amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC and Directive 2003/35/EC.: Prescribes an EIA for new projects which are judged to have a significant impact on the environment. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive 2001/2/EC: The SEA Directive applies to a wide range of public plans and programmes (e.g. on land use, transport, energy, waste, agriculture, etc.). An SEA is mandatory for plans/programmes which are prepared for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste & water management, telecommunications, tourism, town & country planning or land use. Directive 2003/35/EC providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment: Prescribes a procedure to follow to ensure sufficient public participation in certain land development projects affecting the environment. Access to Environmental Information Directive (2003//EC) requires environmental information held by public bodies to be made available to the general public on request. 17

18 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Reporting Directive (91/692/EEC): Contains provisions on the transmission of information and reports concerning certain EC directives from Member States to the European Commission. Packaging and Packaging Waste directive contains various reporting requirements Directive 200/35/EC on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage The directive establishes a framework for environmental liability based on the polluter pays principle, with a view to preventing and remedying environmental damage. 18

19 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 2. Present Situation Transposition progress has been achieved towards transposition of WEEE Directive. Furthermore, the adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste, which transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, was foreseen to be approved in 2011, is not adopted yet. Currently only three Directive s provisions have been assessed as fully transposed being: Article 3 (one definition); and Article 22 (penalty system). These provisions were transposed through Law no.1063 On integrated waste management, which was adopted on 22 September The MoE expects to transpose most of the directive s provisions with adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste. As the draft DCM on waste transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, full transposition requires further amendments in the draft DCM, which can be done through one of the following options: revisions in the existing draft before adopting it; or new DCM after the adoption of the existing draft on waste electronic equipment amending it, followed by MO if necessary. The full transposition is expected to be completed after the adoption of one of the above options. Implementation The implementation of WEEE Directive has not started yet and most of the proposed deadlines have been postponed for 3- years. The competent authority/ies with responsibilities under this directive have been defined in the draft Decision "On waste (WEEE)", which was expected to be adopted by end of 2012, but as a matter of fact it has not been adopted yet. According to the draft DCM, the MoE will be designated competent authority responsible for implementation of this directive while National Environmental Agency will be responsible for maintaining the register of producers and collecting information (in accordance with Art. 16). The Environmental Inspectorate will be responsible for supervision and enforcement. Other important implementing bodies include Local Government Units, producers and distributors, especially regarding the collection of WEEE also from producers or third parties, the regulation of collection facilities and the authorisation of treatment facilities. There is no date planned for the full implementation. 19

20 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 2.1 Government Policy The Environment Sector and Cross-Cutting Strategy (ESCCS), which is an integral part of the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI), is considered to be the main government document that outlines the state policy in the field of environment protection. The final purpose of the ESCCS is to fulfil a constitutional obligation towards the citizens, who are entitled to a healthy and ecological environment. Albania s current environmental policy is striving towards the goals set in the Commission Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and Clean Air For Europe (CAFE), the first of seven Thematic Strategies in the EU's Sixth Environment Action Programme (EAP), "Environment 2010: Our future, Our choice". The main objective of the government is to fulfil the obligations agreed to in the SAA (Article 108) stating that The Parties shall develop and strengthen their co-operation in the vital task of combating environmental degradation, with the view of promoting environmental sustainability. Cooperation will mainly focus on priority areas related to the Community Acquis in the field of environment. The statement covers all issues under the Environmental Acquis, including waste sector. The policy framework regarding waste has made some progress. Main strategic documents covering this sector are the National Strategy for Development and Integration and the National Crosscutting Strategy on Environment that define the medium and long term policy priorities of the Government with respect to environment in general, also including waste. An Inter-ministerial Working Group on Environment (IWG) was established in This group is responsible for the preparation of the Environment Strategy and the follow up of its implementation. The implementation of the strategy hasn't been monitored and no coordination or meeting of IWG has occurred. The National Strategy and National Plan on Waste Management were approved in The Strategy covers the period and is based in four main pillars of the national policy on waste: planning, education, resources and legislation. It is managed on a national, regional and local level. The strategy foresees the establishment of the Inter Ministries Committee on Waste and National Waste Advisory Group, but no progress has been marked so far on this issue. The National Strategy and Plan also establishes these main targets: (I) to increase the amount of waste collected by local authorities that is recycled or composted to 25% by 2015; (II) to 55% by 2020; (III) to provide widespread segregated waste collections for paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastics across Albania; (IV) to stop growth in the amount of municipal waste produced by The strategy envisages that policy indicators will be defined in the near future, but so far no set of indicators has been prepared and published. 2.2 Roles & Responsibilities The national strategy of waste management involves several central, regional and local institutions acting alone, having separated responsibilities and coordinated poorly. Three are the main institutions at central level in the field: The Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health. The ministries dealing with waste management are the following: 20

21 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The Ministry of Environment (MoE): it is the main institution responsible for defining the government policy with respect to environment, including waste management, and drafting legislation on waste. It leads the policy making process with respect to waste, and it has regulatory functions consisting in issuing environmental permissions with respect to activities impacting environment. It cooperates with central and local bodies to elaborate strategies and policies, and to monitor the processing and disposal of waste. It includes the Sector of "Waste and Accidents", with 3 staff, as part of the General Directorate of Environmental Protection. This sector is responsible for drafting the government policy and legislation with respect to waste, but with insufficient capacities to develop the role and responsibilities of the institution and cooperation with other central and local institutions. The Environmental Inspectorate at the MoE is responsible for issuing environmental permits and monitoring economic activities with environmental impact. This structure has low human capacities and logistics. Also, the chance for conflict of interest is reduced because it is the same institution that issues the environmental permit and organizes the monitoring. The National Environmental Agency creates and administers the Registry of Manufacturers/Producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The format and method of administration of the registry are approved by the Minister. The agency calculates the percentages of collection and registers them in the records created for this purpose. It includes the results of waste collection rates of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the environment reports. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MoTI): is responsible for infrastructure investments in the waste sector. It is responsible for the project cycle with respect to the construction of regional landfills (project planning, designing, implementation). It also coordinates and monitors the activity of waste dumpsites, use of regional landfills, and incineration plants, as well as defines the technical criteria to study and implement the closing of urban dump sites. It includes the Directorate for Waste within its structure, composed by 5 employees, but with no implementing agency to monitor and follow up capital investments. Though the Ministry of Environment is responsible for drafting environmental policies, the planning of investments in the field of waste, is done by the Ministry of Public Works. However, the coordination is weak, creating noncompliance between policies and implementation. Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship (MoEDTE) is responsible for development and implements strategies and policies for sustainable economic development, strategic programming and monitoring of public investment for all central institutions in the country, design and implementation of economic policies to protect local businesses from unfair practices of international trade, creating a climate and environment support for entrepreneurship through business promotion and market liberalization, reducing administrative burdens and costs of doing business for the elimination of informality and corruption, provision of registration and licensing of economic operators operating in the territory of the Republic of Albania, coordination of work for intersectoral policies and preparation of proposals for the development of national policy on consumer protection and market surveillance, processing and proposal to the Commission for Consumer Protection measures for violations of the collective economic interests of consumers, effective market surveillance to ensure compliance of the products to consumers with legal requirements in relation to them, in order not to risk: health, safety or other aspects of public interest protection, coordination of work for the harmonization of legislation in the area of service delivery and full implementation of the principle of national treatment and non-discrimination. The Ministry of Health (MoH) is responsible for drafting regulations on health waste and dangerous waste management. Hospitals and health waste generators are responsible for drafting waste management plans according to the national management plan. The waste policy is followed by the "Directorate of Public Health" that does not include experts on waste. Hospitals, as well, have no 21

22 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of experts for waste in their structure, except for some technicians maintaining equipment of incinerators. In the MoH, the Public Health Director is also chief- inspector of control and has in its job description tasks related to monitoring activities. The Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, drafts the legislation on environmental taxes (partially drafted) and collects incomes from these taxes through customs and fiscal bodies. At regional and local level there are several institutions that are involved in the waste management: -The 12 regional councils (12 regions in Albania) are responsible9 for approving regional management plans, regional landfills and the management of dump sites of urban waste in regional level. However, the regional councils have no structure or experts on environmental and waste problems. -The local government units (municipalities and communes) are responsible for managing urban waste in their territories, according to the Law On local governance. With regard to waste management, they are required to: designate sites for the collection and processing of production waste in accordance with environmental criteria and a developmental plan, organize the dumping of waste and hazardous substances, and the protection of green areas in urban zones and their surroundings, administer management of urban waste, including water treatment plants and solid waste. Local government is in charge of organizing waste removal and contracting the companies doing the cleaning of the cities; draft and approve territory specific regulations on each of the waste management methods following the prototypes approved by the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Health. Municipalities and communes set the tariffs for waste removal in the territory of their jurisdiction and authorize the persons collecting them and organises waste management activities (collection, transport, treatment, and disposal) at local level. Local government authorities are responsible for defining waste collection and processing sites, in accordance with the environmental criteria and development plans; for organizing the disposal sites for both waste and hazardous waste; for urban waste and waste water treatment plants. Municipalities have sectors on city cleaning and waste management. In municipalities, waste is dealt by the Directorate of Service which often lack capacities. There are not staffed with environmental qualified specialists or waste experts. 2.3 Other issues related to implementation and enforcement The draft DCM on waste is organized in seventeen sections, which exhaust the whole legal procedures and administrative arrangements for the management of this type of waste. The proposed draft is in full accordance and harmony with the provisions of the Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment and aims to prevent the WEEE and after reuse, recycle and apply other forms of recovery of such waste, with the aim to reduce their quantity. 22

23 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The draft DCM would apply to all EEE following the classification included in Annex IA, attached draft DCM. The draft DCM provides that manufacturers before putting on the market the EEE for the first time must obtain an environmental permit under the law "On environmental permits", and being registered in the registry of EEE producers, that NEA creates for this purpose, and provided with a registration number. Marking is a procedure that obliges producers to place on the market labeled EEE in order to minimize the WEEE lying in the same place with mixed household waste and to facilitate their separate collection. Marking is done with the symbol shown in Annex IV. Section VIII of the draft DCM provides that producers or third parties acting on their behalf establish special systems for the treatment, recycling and recovery WEEE using the best techniques available for treatment, recycling and recovery. Manufacturers create individual or collective systems. Section IX of the draft DCM defines in details mandatory minimum targets for WEEE collected separately and handled by each manufacturer until 31 st of December 201. An important element of the draft DCM is "WEEE management costs", which is anticipated to be recovered from the WEEE producers. The draft DCM in section X/1 Household WEEE management cost" provides that producers, until 13 th of August 2013 at least finance the separate collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal of the collected household WEEE to the collection places. Draft DCM in Section X/2 "WEEE management costs from non-domestic users," determines that for the products placed in the market from 13 th of August 2013, producers minimally finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal. As for WEEE from products placed on the market before 13 th of August 2013 (historical waste), the producers finance costs of historical waste individually, along with users of non-household, or requiring them to pay the full cost of management. The draft DCM provides for user s information on places of treatment as it is an important element that compels producers to undertake information campaigns on the potential risks of WEEE. Reporting procedures provided in Section XIV of the draft DCM, provide detailed procedures on the coordination, reporting and monitoring at national and community level. Section VI of the draft DCM provides the sanctions applicable in case of infringement of the articles of this draft DCM. The sanctions applied are referred to sanctions of the Law no.1063 On integrated waste management, which is adopted on 22 September Article 137 (3), of the Code of Administrative Procedures requires the complainant to exhaust all the administrative procedures before going to Court. This means that the person should first seek an administrative review from the relevant public authority and then appeal that decision at a higher body, before going to court. Article 8 of the Law no.1031, date On Environmental Protection contains provisions on access to justice and guarantees individuals and organisations the right to bring cases at the court. More specifically: In case of damage, pollution and threat to the environment, the public has the right to: (a) ask the relevant public authorities taking appropriate measures within the deadlines and in accordance with the authority given by the law, (b) lawsuit in court, in accordance with the conditions laid down by the Code of Civil Procedure, against the public 23

24 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of authority or natural or legal person that has caused damage to the environment or which threatens to undermine it. The above mentioned legislation ensures that any individual or organisation may start legal proceedings in a court for environment-related cases. Criminal penalties for breaches of environmental law are defined in Chapter IV, of Law. 7895, dated , The Penal Code of the Republic of Albania as amended, Official Journal: Year 1995,. 2, page 23; Publication date: , details Crimes against the environment. 2. Current Legal Framework The Constitution of the Republic of Albania (1998), approved by the Law.817, dated , Constitution of the Republic of Albania, Official Journal, Year 1998,. 28, Page 1073; publishing date: , as amended, pays special attention to including the environment and its protection. Constitutional provisions emphasize that: The environment and its protection are considered to be fundamental goals of the state; The core requirement of environmental protection is continuous conservation of a healthy and ecologically suitable environment; Environmental protection is a permanent duty at any time and under all circumstance, and related to the life and health of the population; Sustainable development is a fundamental requirement and thus the Constitution guarantees the protection and preservation of the environment for current and future generations; The public has the right to be informed about the state of the environment and state institutions are obliged to inform the public concerning the environment and measures taken for its protection. The waste sector is mainly regulated by the following laws: Law no. 1031, date , On Environment protection ; Law no. 1063, date , On Integrated Waste Management ; the law on integrated waste management transposes the Directive 2008/98/CE of the European Parliament and European Council On the Waste Law Nr.8652, date , On the Organization and functioning of the Local Government. The approximation of the Albanian legislation with that of EU will be completed through the approval of several decisions of Council of Ministers (DCM). The approved DCMs relevant to waste are: DCM no.177, dated On packaging and their waste, which is subject to this specific implementation plan; DCM no.866, dated On batteries, accumulators and their waste that transposes the Batteries Directive (66/2006/EC) DCM no.705, dated On the administration of End of Life Vehicles that transposes the End-of-life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC); DCM no.178, dated On incineration of waste DCM no. 52, dated On landfill of waste that transposes the Landfill Directive (99/31/EC) 2

25 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The draft DCMs which are in the pipeline of approval are: (WEEE) that transposes the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (2002/96/EC) segregation (SoW) that will help to ensure further transposition and implementation of the provisions of the Waste Directive. DCM Biodegradable waste (BioW) that will help to ensure further transposition and implementation of the provisions of the Waste Directive. Table 1 provides comments on the most important articles of the WEEE Directive. Table 1: Specific comments on the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Directive selected articles Directive2012/19/EU (WEEE) Albanian Legislation Provided in Section XV of the Draft electrical and (WEEE). The Draft (WEEE) defines the LGUs, producers and distributors are 1. Identifying the competent authority/ies responsible for the collection of WEEE (Section VII) NEA is responsible for registering of producers and collection of information (Section IX) NEI is responsible for inspection and enforcement (Section XV). 2. Deciding whether to transpose any specified requirements of the directive by means of t provided in the Draft agreements between the competent authorities (WEEE) and the economic agents (Art. 2.1 & 2 & 3) Section VII of the Draft (WEEE) provides for the establishment of such separate collection system. Producers or third parties acting on their behalf set up systems to provide for the treatment of WEEE using best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques. The systems may be set up by producers individually and/or collectively. The treatment of WEEE does happen in or out the territory of 3. Establishing a system for the separate Albania. collection of WEEE (Art. 5) Producers or third parties that set up systems for the treatment of WEEE shall, as a minimum, include the removal of all fluids & selective treatment in accordance with Annex II to the Draft electronic equipment (WEEE). Producers or third parties that set up systems for the treatment of WEEE, shall ensure treatment operations stores and treats WEEE in compliance with the technical requirements set out in Annex III.. Establishing a permitting system for the treatment of WEEE (Art. 8) 5. Meeting targets for collection (Art. 7.1 & 7.2) It is determined on chapter VIII on Draft (WEEE) On waste collection targets provided in the Draft (WEEE) Section X/1 of the Draft (WEEE) provides that: For products put on the market later than 13 August 2013, each producer shall be responsible for financing the operations referred to in chapter X point(1.a) relating to the waste from 6. Requiring producers to provide for financing his own products. The producer can choose to fulfil this of management of WEEE from private obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme. households (Art. 12 and partly Art. 1) By 13 August 2013, the financing of the costs for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from users other than private households from products put on the market after 13 August 2013 is to be provided for by producers. 25

26 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of For WEEE from products put on the market before 13 August 2013 (historical waste), the financing of the costs of management shall be provided for by producers. Users other than private households also are made, partly or totally, responsible for this financing. 7. Meeting targets for recovery (Art & annex V) Section IX of the Draft electronic equipment (WEEE) sets rules for meeting the target recovery as follows: Producers or third parties acting on their behalf set up systems either on an individual or on a collective basis. Priority shall give to the reuse of whole appliances. Regarding WEEE sent for treatment, by 31 December 201, producers meet the following targets: (a) for WEEE falling under categories 1 and 10 of Annex IA, the rate of recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 80 % by an average weight per appliance, and component, material and substance reuse and recycling shall be increased to a minimum of 75 % by an average weight per appliance; (b) for WEEE falling under categories 3 and of Annex IA, the rate of recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 75 % by an average weight per appliance, and component, material and substance reuse and recycling shall be increased to a minimum of 65 % by an average weight per appliance; (c)for WEEE falling under categories 2, 5, 6, 7 and 9 of Annex IA, the rate of recovery shall be increased to a minimum of 70 % by an average weight per appliance, and component, material and substance reuse and recycling shall be increased to a minimum of 50 % by an average weight per appliance; (d) for gas discharge lamps, the rate of component, material and substance reuse and recycling shall reach a minimum of 80 % by weight of the lamps. 8. Ensuring that a system for financing Draft management of WEEE from users other than (WEEE), section X.2 private households is established (Art. 13) 9. Ensuring users of EEE are given the information listed in art. 1? Draft (WEEE), section XI provides that: -Producers shall ensure that users of electronic equipment in private households have the necessary information about: (a) the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such WEEE separately; (b) the return and collection systems available to them; (c) their role in contributing to reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE; (d) the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in electrical and ; (e) the meaning of the symbol shown in Annex IV. - In order to facilitate the reuse producers provide reuse and treatment information for each type of new EEE put on the market within one year after the equipment is put on the market. -It is determined on chapter IX on DCM On waste electrical and. 26

27 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of -Producers put on the market EEE with the symbol for the marking of as shown in Annex IV 10. Establishing a system to ensure that, Draft producers provide reuse and treatment (WEEE), section XII provides for the establishment of the information for each type of new EEE put on the required system. market (Art. 15) 11. Maintaining a register of producers and (WEEE), collect information in accordance with Art. 16.1; Sections 9.5; 9.6; 9.7; 9.8; 9.9 and ; Establishing an effective inspection and enforcement system (Arts. 22 and 23) It is determined on chapter IX on draft DCM On waste. The Draft (WEEE) provides sanctions on its infringements. Penalties are referred to the sanctions provided in the Law no.1063, of On the integrated waste management. 2.5 Current Implementation Status The implementation of all EU acquis in the waste sector is still at an early stage. Modest progress in the implementation of the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment 2012/19/EU Directive has been reported. A new sector in the MoE has been established responsible for waste policy and legislation. The competent authorities have been designated, the notion of waste has been properly defined, a permitting system has been established for establishments/undertakings carrying out disposal or recovery operations and an inspection and enforcement system exists. Also planning has been made in defining the implementation timetable. The directive is estimated to be fully implemented by According to the draft DCM, the MoE will be designated competent authority responsible for implementation of this directive while National Environmental Agency will be responsible for maintaining the register of producers and collecting information (in accordance with Art. 16). The Environmental Inspectorate will be responsible for supervision and enforcement. Other important implementing bodies include Local Government Units, producers and distributors, especially regarding the collection of WEEE also from producers or third parties, the regulation of collection facilities and the authorisation of treatment facilities. The proposed draft is in full accordance with the provisions of the Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment and aims to prevent the WEEE and after reuse, recycle and apply other forms of recovery of such waste, with the aim to reduce their quantity. The draft DCM would apply to all EEE following the classification included in Annex IA, attached draft DCM. The draft DCM provides that manufacturers before putting on the market the EEE for the first time must obtain an environmental permit under the law "On environmental permits", and being registered in the registry of EEE producers, that NEA creates for this purpose, and provided with a registration number. Marking is a procedure that obliges producers to place on the market labelled EEE in order to minimize the WEEE lying in the same place with mixed household waste and to facilitate their separate collection. Marking is done with the symbol shown in Annex IV. 27

28 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Section VIII of the draft DCM provides that producers or third parties acting on their behalf establish special systems for the treatment, recycling and recovery WEEE using the best techniques available for treatment, recycling and recovery. Manufacturers create individual or collective systems. Section IX of the draft DCM defines in details mandatory minimum targets for WEEE collected separately and handled by each manufacturer until 31 st of December 201. An important element of the draft DCM is "WEEE management costs", which is anticipated to be recovered from the WEEE producers. The draft DCM in section X/1 Household WEEE management cost" provides that producers, until 13 th of August 2013 at least finance the separate collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal of the collected household WEEE to the collection places. The Draft DCM in Section X/2 "WEEE management costs from non-domestic users," determines that for the products placed in the market from 13 th of August 2013, producers minimally finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and safe disposal. As for WEEE from products placed on the market before 13 th of August 2013 (historical waste), the producers finance costs of historical waste individually, along with users of non-household, or requiring them to pay the full cost of management. The draft DCM provides for user s information on places of treatment as it is an important element that compels producers to undertake information campaigns on the potential risks of WEEE. Reporting procedures provided in Section XIV of the draft DCM, provide detailed procedures on the coordination, reporting and monitoring at national and community level. The implementation of WEEE Directive has not started yet and most of the proposed deadlines have been postponed for more than 2-3 years. 2.6 Current Investment Status In this section a distinction is made between investment in human resources in government, recent investment in technical assistance and institutional strengthening and investment in nature protection areas. Investment in human resources in MoE At present there are at present 3 people within the MoE who work on waste issues: The administrative hierarchy is as below: General Directorate for Environmental Policies and Priorities; Directorate for Environment (one person); Sector of Waste and Industrial Accidents (two persons). Recent investment in technical assistance There have been a number of TA projects in recent years which have sought directly or indirectly to facilitate and improve the waste management in Albania. The main such projects are indicated in Table 2 below. 28

29 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Table 2: TA projects of relevance (Waste management) Title Funded by Budget and timing Remarks LIFE 1996 Organization of the urban Waste Management in 6 main Albanian Municipalities: a Model Applicable to Towns of other Developing Countries Urban Solid Waste Management for South East Albania EU KfW ECU Euro The project included the cities of Shkoder, Lezha, Pogradec, Korca, Elbasan and Fier. Site permits were issued by the respective Territory Adjustment Councils for Lezha and Elbasan landfills. progress is made further. The project aims at the improvement of environmental conditions and minimization of environmental and health risks through the implementation of a modern urban waste management system. Urban Waste Management SIDA Euro 1.6 mil The project supported the urban waste management at the central, regional and local level, undertook pilot sub- projects, increased public awareness and helped to solve the waste problems. The project also supported the physical rehabilitation of some dumpsites (Bilishti, Maliqi and Erseka). Urban Waste Management in Vlora Region Vlora hot spot Pre- Investment Study Closure of Existing Dump Site of Vlora Construction and sustainable use of urban waste dump site in Peshkopia Sharra Dumpsite Project EU LIFE, UNOPS, Regione Marche of Italy, LGU UNEP, MAP MOPWT SNV Italian Cooperation Euro USD Euro Euro Euro 6. mil The goal of the project was to identify a site for a sanitary controlled landfill, establishment of small recycling enterprises, a monitoring system for waste generation and capacity building for waste management. The project was about the identification of a landfill site in Bestrova at 1,2 km distance from Narta lagoon and the village. It is deemed that the site would serve for 10 years. The project undertook the feasibility study and detailed design for the safe closure of the existing dumpsite and the detailed design for the new urban landfill (following the feasibility study mentioned above). The project identified a site of 8,000m 2 that was approved by the National Council of Territory Adjustment of Albania. The dump site was never built due to property issues and lack of municipal funds for this purpose. The project aims at re-organization of the dumpsite, its environmentally-safe current operations and closure. Completion of this step will allow for the construction of a new waste dump site, next to the current area. Works started in September The field will continue operating, i.e. accepting waste during the interventions, too. The overall amount of waste that can be potentially collected in this field is m 3, which defines the maximum time limit for the Sharra dumpsite to be until Management Plan for Urban Solid Waste of Shkodra City and Construction of Sanitary Landfill of Bushat MOPWT Euro.5 mil After the completion of the project the facility will be processing of solid urban waste (7.000 ton waste/year) in a sanitary and controlled way, following the requirements of the EC directives. Clean up of Porto Romano hot spot WB, Dutch Government USD.5 mil The objective of this project was the 29

30 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Title Funded by Budget and timing Remarks Solid Waste Management South East Albania (1 st implementation phase) Solid Waste Management South East Albania (2 nd implementation phase) KfW KfW cleanup of soil and groundwater in the former chemical factory in Porto Romano, near Durres, which is considered one of the most contaminated countries in the Balkans. Euro 2 mil Euro 8.9 mil ngoing The project aimed to establish a solid waste management system with high collection coverage and efficiency, a certain number of transfer stations and a central sanitary landfill. 30

31 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 3. Approximation Plan 3.1 Overall Plan and Milestones With the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) 1 in June 2006 Albania has clearly expressed political commitment to the EU membership. Since then the EU accession process and the adopting of the Acquis has given the Albanian environment institutions the challenge to adjust to a changing legal framework that has significant implications for the future extent, scope and organization of their work. Approximation of the Acquis into national legislation is an iterative process involving institutional arrangements and adoption of specific binding legal measures (quality and technical standards, testing and notification requirements, etc.) and legal measures. In order to plan, set priorities, and monitor the Albanian integration process, a National Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (NPISAA)was adopted by the Council of Ministers of Albania. The document sets out the core mechanisms for the adoption of legislation; it addresses the issues of Albanian legislation alignment with the EU Acquis, as an obligation deriving from the SAA, by monitoring and improving the existing legal and international framework, as well as the time limits to transpose these initiatives as per short-term, mid-term, and long-term periods. The main strategic document as regards European Integration in Albania is the Albanian. National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) The NSDI represents the fundamental strategic document of the country that harmonizes for the first time in a single strategic document the perspective of the sustainable economic and social development, integration into the European Union and NATO structures, as well as the achievement of Millennium Development Goals. The NSDI was finalised in December 2007 and approved by Council of Ministers Decision no. 32 date on 12 March A revised NSDI covering the period 3013 to 2020 is presently (April 2013) being drafted. Albania has applied for European Union membership in April 2009.One of the main conditions for EU membership is the integration and implementation of the EU legislation, the so called approximation process, which consists of three main components: legal transposition, implementation (or practical application), and enforcement. In Albania, several approximation projects funded either by the EU or other donors have been carried out in the past or are presently on-going or under way. The overall plan to obtain full approximation, taking into account the past and on-going approximation projects, consists of a legal transposition plan and an implementation plan (including enforcement). 1 The SAA provides the legal framework for relations and progressive actions toward harmonization with the European Union. 2 The National Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement 2007 updates and revises (and changes the name of) the National Plan for Approximation of Legislation. 31

32 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The legal transposition plan is composed of series of actions to be undertaken by the CA and other relevant stakeholders, to gradually accomplish full transposition: Preparation and drafting of the new and/or revised legislation, Designate Competent authorities, Preparation of new or revised administrative procedures, guidelines and standards, Adoption of the new/revised legislation. The implementation plan is in usually composed of the following steps (A detailed description of the implementation plan is presented in Sub-Chapter 3.3.): Development and strengthening of institutional infrastructure, Development of supporting instruments, Training of human resources, Provision of financial means, Adequate physical infrastructure, Collection, processing and dissemination of information The third very important part of the approximation process is enforcement. Without efficient enforcement measures there is no full harmonisation/approximation. Enforcement measures are not to be understood as a separate process to be dealt with after the two above are accomplished. The steps are taken in parallel to the implementation one without another could not be done. Constitutes usually of the following actions that are applied and taken either separately over a certain timescale or a simultaneous combination of the actions: Reporting to the Commission, Issuing of licences and permits, Monitoring and inspection, Collection of information and periodic reviews and assessments of compliance torious enforcement measures (such as court system, the juridical procedures in place, prosecution system, police, administrative measures, fines, liability measures, etc.). In specifying the phasing over time of these actions, the approach taken has been to specify relative years (starting with year 0). In practice the pace at which the directive can be transposed and implemented will depend on the availability of scarce manpower resources and budgets that have to be shared with other sectors. It has to be emphasised that the Directive s full implementation is strongly inter-depended with the implementations of other co-related directives (and regulations) in the same and the related sectors. 32

33 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of Table 3: Milestones of overall approximation plan of Directive 2012/19/EU on Waste Electric and Electronic equipment (WEEE) Start End Overall Approximation Plan (month/year) (month/year) Legal transposition Including the additional provisions of Directive 2012/19/EU and the respective annexes Implementation and enforcement 1. Identifying the competent authority/ies 01/ / / / Deciding whether to transpose any specified requirements of the directive by means of agreements between the competent t decided yet authorities and the economic agents (Art. 2.1 & 2 & 3) 3. Establishing a system for the separate collection of WEEE (Art. 5) 01/ /000. Establishing a permitting system for the treatment of WEEE (Art. 8) 12/ / Meeting targets for collection (Art. 7.1 & 7.2) 01/000 12/ Requiring producers to provide for financing of management of WEEE from private households (Art. 12 and partly Art. 1) 01/ / Meeting targets for recovery (Art & annex V) 12/ / Ensuring that a system for financing management of WEEE from users other than private households is established (Art. 13) 12/ / Ensuring users of EEE are given the information listed in art. 1? 01/ / Establishing a system to ensure that, producers provide reuse and treatment information for each type of new EEE put on the 12/ /0005 market (Art. 15) 11. Maintaining a register of producers and collect information in accordance with Art. 16.1; 16.3; / / Establishing an effective inspection and enforcement system (Arts. 22 and 23) 12/ / Full implementation 12/ Transposition Plan Limited progress has been achieved towards transposition of WEEE Directive. The adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste electronic equipment, which transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, was foreseen to be approved in 2011, is not adopted yet. Currently only three Directive s provisions have been assessed as fully transposed being: Article 3 (one definition); and Article 22 (penalty system). These provisions were transposed through Law no.1063 On integrated waste management, which was adopted on 22 September

34 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The MoE expects to transpose most of the directive s provisions with adoption of the draft Decision of Council of Ministers on waste. As the draft DCM on waste transposes the directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and (WEEE), as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC, 2008/3/EC and Directive 2008/112/EC, full transposition requires further amendments in the draft DCM, which can be done through one of the following options: revisions in the existing draft before adopting it; or new DCM after the adoption of the existing draft on waste electronic equipment amending it. The full transposition is expected to be completed after the adoption of one of the above options. 3.3 Implementation Plan The Waste Framework Directive (article ) specifies a waste hierarchy of 5 steps: 1. Prevention - preventing and reducing waste generation. 2. Reuse and preparation for reuse - giving the products a second life before they become waste. 3. Recycle - any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes composting and it does not include incineration.. Recovery - some waste incineration based on a political non-scientific formula that upgrades the less inefficient incinerators. 5. Disposal - processes to dispose of waste be it landfilling, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification and other finalist solutions. Waste legislation and policy of the EU Member States shall apply as a priority order following the waste management hierarchy. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive must be seen as a tool to implement waste management in accordance with the waste hierarchy principle. The implementation of WEEE Directive has not started yet. Albania shares the EU waste management objectives. This has been demonstrated through article 108 of the SAA and also through the National Strategy for Development and Integration and the current waste legislation. There has been limited progress in implementing EU standards for waste management; in particular: there is very little systematic recycling of suitable waste streams, except that carried out by the informal sector (waste pickers 3 ); there is very little implementation of any of the other requirements for specific waste streams; there are not sufficient human resources or expertise available to carry out the tasks required by EU legislation; 3 A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There is a comprehensive activity by waste pickers in Albania. Their packaging waste collection activities include collection of used plastic bottles. It has not been possible to find figures illustrating the role of Albanian waste pickers in the recovery of packaging waste (as tons/% of the different types of packing materials recovered, the use of the recovered material, number of people getting their income from waste picking etc.). 3

35 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of there is limited waste management planning carried out at national level; waste collection is only partial in towns and almost non-existent in rural areas; waste is dumped on dumpsites which are uncontrolled, unsanitary and non-compliant, or is simply abandoned, thereby causing environmental pollution, hazard and unsightliness; hazardous waste is disposed of in an uncontrolled way with other waste streams, and is rarely separated and treated safely, thus creating additional hazard. The main findings of the gap analysis presented in Sub-Chapter 2. have formed the basis for identifying and deciding on the required future implementation and enforcement actions. Those actions will enable for full implementation and enforcement of this Directive and is the core of the Implementation Plan. The actions needed to secure full implementation of this Directive are presented in the Table below together with a short description of each of the proposed actions, responsible institution and a proposed implementation period. The key tasks involved in implementing this directive are summarised and organised in chronological order (where possible). Table : Implementation and enforcement actions Action. Covered Directive Articles Action Responsible Institution 1a - Train human resources in the MoE Government 1b & 2 & & and partly 1 Train other relevant authorities human resources than the MoE (relevant staff in, regions and local government units (Utility Services) Deciding whether to transpose any specified requirements of the directive by means of agreements between the competent authorities and the economic agents Establishing a system for the separate collection of WEEE Establishing a permitting system for the treatment of WEEE Meeting targets for collection Requiring producers to provide for financing of management of WEEE from private households MoE MoE MoE MoE MoE MoE & annex V Meeting targets for recovery MoE ; 16.3; and 23 Ensuring that a system for financing management of WEEE from users other than private households is established Ensuring users of EEE are given the information listed in art. 1 Establishing a system to ensure that, producers provide reuse and treatment information for each type of new EEE put on the market Maintaining a register of producers and collect information in accordance with Art. 16.1; 16.3; 16. Establishing an effective inspection and enforcement system MoE MoE MoE MoE MoE 13 - Full implementation MoE Implementation period (month/year) 01/ / / /0002 t decided yet 01/ /000 12/ /000 01/000-12/000 01/ /000 12/ /000 12/ / / /000 12/ / / /000 12/ / / /

36 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of 3. Resources and Costs An estimate has been made of the costs of the various actions needed to approximate and implement the Directive. The results of this costing are set out below. The approach taken in the costing and some overall assumptions made are described in the following sections. Method of cost estimation and sources of cost data The costs of transposing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive into national legislation and implementing it were estimated separately. In the case of the legal transposition the directive is fully implemented and no further transposition cost are needed. In the case of implementation the starting point was the list of transposition actions listed in Table. Based on the actions the resource requirements were estimated. These resources comprised: o human resources in the Competent Authority and other relevant institutions (the resources needed for deployment on transposition tasks only, implying that the personnel would be used for other purposes afterwards), o training requirements, o office space, equipment and support services, o materials to be procured, o production of necessary guidance documents etc., o technical assistance projects / experts. These resources were then costed on the basis of unit costs for personnel, office space, equipment, materials, etc. These unit costs were estimated by the project. The requirements for resources listed above were estimated by the SELEA team: The human resources which are listed are new resources which will be required on an ongoing basis; The resource requirements for technical assistance projects were based on estimates, drawing on experience, of the necessary Technical Assistance (TA) project inputs in terms of international and national consultants and other resources. All costs are estimated in constant 2013 prices. Assumptions made in costing In making such a costing certain assumptions have to be made. Some of the general assumptions are discussed here. More detailed action-specific assumptions are presented when the particular action is discussed. - Date of the Albania s accession to the EU The Date of the Albania s accession to the EU is important because: in principle Albania has to be in compliance with the EU by its date of accession (although in practice it will be able to negotiate a deferment for some of its more onerous obligations), and the financing status of Albania will change when it accedes to the EU. It will cease to be eligible for the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and for assistance 36

37 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of by most bilateral donors, but on the other hand it will become eligible for funds under the cohesion and social funds. - Identity of Competent Authority The competencies for implementing the Directive are allocated to the MoE. - Phasing of measures and investment For the time being it is assumed that the actions will be carried out at the earliest feasible time, subject only to the chronological interdependencies between the actions and the necessary elapsed time to complete them. The actual timing will be reconsidered when the overall strategy is being assembled, having regard to the overall resource implications and requirements, and the priorities of the government with regard to the different directives. Estimated costs of legal transposition As stated above in the case of the legal transposition the directive is considered fully implemented and no further transposition cost are needed. Technical Assistance project covering implementation To support Albania in transposing and implementing of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is proposed to launch a TA project, covering implementation, which is estimated to cost 2 mills. EUR and have an implementation period of 3 years. The technical assistance project is proposed to assist and train the staff involved in implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, assessment and planning in MoE, regional and local authorities (incl. waste utility services). It is further proposed to inform producers, distributors and establishments carrying out WEEE treatment of their obligations according the WEEE Directive and train them in how they can implement their obligations. It is proposed to include the following activities in the TA-project: 1. Establishing a baseline: Describe the present amount, collection, treatment and disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment incl. a discussion of data availability. Propose improvement in data availability and data handling as needed. Describe the role of stakeholders: ministries (central government), municipalities, waste utility services (Local government), producers and distributors. 2. Describe the situation regarding the export and import of WEEE from/to Albania. 3. Describe the situation regarding the transposition and implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in selected EU Member States and third countries.. Describe the present role of municipalities, waste utility services, producers, distributors and establishments or undertakings carrying out treatment operations for WEEE. 5. Evaluate the present technical capacities for collecting, treating and recycling arrangements. 6. Describe the present situation regarding the willingness of the general public to separately collect waste electronic and electrical equipment and bring it to collection points in their vicinity set up for this purpose. 7. Propose a collection system for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in order to meet the collecting targets set in the Directive. List advantages and disadvantages of implementing this system either as a national collective system or a competitive clearing house system. 8. Describe the future organisational, technical, and financial aspects of the proposed system, incl. the role of municipalities, waste utility services, producers, distributors and establishments or undertakings carrying out treatment operations. 9. Describe the financial aspects of the proposed system with proposals for mechanisms ensuring that producers provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and 37

38 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of environmentally sound disposal of WEEE (including historical waste ) from private households and users other than private households. 10. Establish a GIS based system for data handling and reporting (database) inclusive a quality assurance system. Purchase hardware and software for the system as needed. 11. Support authorities, producers and distributors in setting up return and collection systems. 12. Design and implement an information campaign to inform users of EEE in private households about: a) the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such WEEE separately; b) the return and collection systems available to them; c) their role in contributing to re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE; d) the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in EEE; e) the meaning of the symbol:. 13. Propose a permitting regime for establishments or undertakings carrying out treatment operations for WEEE. 1. In dialogue with the Albanian education system/ministry of Education and Sciences propose curricula for primary, secondary and higher education plus vocational training in the need for and the ways of handling WEEE. Elaborate material for each proposed curriculum. It is proposed that the above project is combined with the similar TA projects proposed for the Directive 2006/66/EC on Batteries and Accumulators and Waste Batteries and Accumulators and the Directive 9/62/EEC of on packaging and packaging waste as amended by Directive 200/12/EC to one single TA project. Estimated costs of implementation The cost estimation addresses the cost of the public sector. The estimated overall costs of implementing the Directive are shown in table 6 below. Costs are divided into: capital or one-off costs, which includes capital expenditure and non-recurrent costs such as specific projects, initial training, awareness campaigns, etc., and operating or recurrent costs, which includes salaries, rent, maintenance, light and heating, fuel, annual fees, etc. Table 6: Overall costs of implementing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive Capital / Operating / Cost type one-off recurrent costs costs Remarks ( 000) ( 000/y) Additional personnel in the CA: 1 person* 8 At MoE. The proposed TA project will cover the technical Technical assistance 2000 issues included in implementation plus training of the staff involved in the implementation Information campaigns to create awareness and inform users of their obligations regarding WEEE 15 To be tendered by the MoE/NEA Reporting to European Budget to cover additional costs of report 2 Commission** production Total *: Salary plus adm. cost (incl. management and secretarial assistance), office space, heating etc. is estimated be: New personnel in competent authority s management body and other ministries: 8,000 EUR pr. year. **: Member States shall send the Commission a report on the implementation of this Directive every three years. 38

39 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of The above new employment breaks down as follows: Table 7: New employment required to implement the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive Function Number Remarks New personnel in the competent At MoE. Responsible for coordination of planning, 1 authority s management body implementation and reporting, Total Financing Strategy The purpose of this section is to look at how the costs identified in the previous section can be financed. Table 10: Sources of funding for costs of transposing and implementing the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Cost met by grant aid from IPA, Cost met from state Element bilateral donor or other European budget funding instrument Legal transposition Capital and one-off ( 000) Human resources in the CA - Recurrent and operating costs ( 000 p.a.) Capital and one-off ( 000) Recurrent and operating costs ( 000 p.a.) Implementation TA and training 2000 Human resources in CA 8 Information campaigns to create awareness and inform users of their obligations regarding WEEE Additional personnel in other ministries - Additional personnel in the Local Administrative Units - Reporting to European Commission 2 Total The recurrent and operating costs relate mainly to salaries and personnel-related costs and the operating costs of new systems, and these will in principle have to be met from the state budget. The one-off costs relate to technical assistance, training, small items of equipment and the acquisition of computing hardware and software. The authorities should seek to get this expenditure funded by grant aid from the IPA or other international donors. Sources of funding the costs - General The main possible sources of funding are: state or municipal budgets, 15 39

40 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of environmental fund, grants from the European Union pre-accession instrument IPA, grants from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - Post-accession, grants from other international donors, loans from international funding institutions (IFIs), loans from bilateral financing institutions, loans from commercial banks, bonds issued by central or local government authorities, and private capital (through polluter-pays-principle arrangements or other). These various sources of funding are considered below. - State or municipal budgets In principle salaries and salary-related costs resulting from obligations accruing under EU law are a matter for the acceding country. - Environment fund There is no specific environment fund at present in Albania. The Ministry of Finance has been resistant to the idea of an environmental fund, arguing that it distorts the allocation of resources. - Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance The instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) is the European Union s principal mechanism for providing financial assistance for compliance-related investments in candidate and accession countries. - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund These are potential sources of funding post-accession. They provide in particular grant funding for a range of project types including infrastructure and the environment, of up to 50% of the value of the project. It is not known how much would be available under the ERDF for the Albania, and it is possible that changes will have been made to this Fund by the time the Albania becomes a member. However these funds are relevant in terms of implementation of the environmental acquis. - Other bilateral and multilateral donors The government should try to ensure that as much foreign aid as possible is directed towards assisting Albania to meet its accession obligations. Such funding is of course likely to dry up after the Albania accedes to the EU. - Loans from international funding institutions (IFIs) The international funding institutions are development banks such as the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) which offers loans at a relatively low rate of interest for investments (amongst others) intended to establish or improve environmental facilities or infrastructure. The World Bank has had an active program in Albania for nearly two decades. The World Bank issued a Country Assistance Strategy in June 2010 (covering the period 2011 to 201), in which it recognises the importance of the Stabilisation and Association Process to Albania, and specifically mentions improved water supply and sanitation and stresses the urgent need to improve management capacity followed by high investment needs in the water sector. Albania has now graduated fully to IBRD membership, and so no longer qualifies for concessionary funding under the IDA. In recent years the Bank has been involved in a number of major water supply and sanitation projects, and has also advised the government on various issues related to the reform and decentralisation of the water sector. The Bank is very much interested in investment in the water 0

41 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of sector. A new country assistance strategy is due later in the year. There is no specific limit on the funds which would be available from the Bank s position; it is more a matter of projects meeting the Bank s criteria and Albania s own borrowing limits. Loans would typically carry an interest rate of LIBOR to 0.5% The EBRD is the largest single investor in Central and Eastern Europe. Unlike the World Bank, the EBRD lends to both public and private clients. It would prefer to lend to a local borrower (municipality, utility company) than to central government for municipal infrastructure. On the other hand at the present time the Bank would only regard a loan for infrastructure at the level of Tirana as meeting its bankability criteria. A sovereign guarantee would not necessarily be needed. The EBRD tends to lend at rather higher interest rates than the World Bank (for example LIBOR + 2 to %). An important actor in Albania is KfW (Kreditanstalt fűr Wiederaufbau). KfW is a development bank owned by the German government and the Länder, and has been very active in the water sector in Albania, but also been involved in biodiversity projects. Finance can be made available in consultation with the German government and the Albanian Ministry of Finance on attractive terms. There is no specific limit in place on the German side on the amount of lending, so proposals would be judged on their specific merits. Institutions usually prefer not to lend amounts less than a certain threshold. These constraints tend to limit the scope for IFI participation in financing capital investments to projects of a fairly substantial size. In addition, significant resources and time are usually needed to develop and negotiate an IFI loan. Sources of funding for the Directive In the following is considered how the various components of capital and operating expenditure might be funded in future years. The costs which are the responsibility of central and local government are considered separately. - Costs for which central government is responsible A distinction needs to be made between ongoing, recurrent costs and the one-off costs associated with implementing the Directive. The recurrent and operating costs relate mainly to salaries and personnel-related costs and the operating costs of new systems, and these will in principle have to be met from the state budget. The one-off costs relate to technical assistance, training, small items of equipment and the acquisition of computing hardware and software. The authorities should seek to get this expenditure funded by grant aid from the IPA or other international donors. - Local government Many countries have publicly owned companies in charge of collection, treatment and final disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW), including Electrical and waste. - Waste producers Municipalities and communes set the tariffs for waste removal in the territory of their jurisdiction and authorize the persons collecting them. 1

42 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of - Private capital In line with the producer responsibility principle, producers shall provide for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private households that has been deposited at collection facilities. According the WEEE Directive the responsibility for the financing of the costs of the management of WEEE from products placed on the market on or before 13 August 2005 ( historical waste ) shall be borne by one or more systems to which all producers existing on the market when the respective costs occur contribute proportionately, e.g. in proportion to their respective share of the market by type of equipment. Member States may require producers to show purchasers, at the time of sale of new products, the costs of collection, treatment and disposal in an environmentally sound way. Producers plays as responsible for collection, treatment and recycling and public information campaigns on these issues a key role in the financing of the implementation of directive, but their cost are not included. WEEE systems are faced with a constant challenge to balance administrative efficiency against the desire to relate real costs of recycling a given product to the fee charged. Whilst efforts are made to reflect the actual costs of transport and recycling in the individual product fee where applicable, there is inevitably a point at which it is administratively more efficient to bound different products together into one product grouping or to set the fee according to retail price. There are two clear generic categories of national organisation, the national collective system 5 (monopoly) and the competitive clearing house system 6. The WEEE Directive defines producers the following way: producer means any natural or legal person who, irrespective of the selling technique used: (i) is established in a Member State and manufactures EEE under his own name or trademark, or has EEE designed or manufactured and markets it under his name or trademark within the territory of that Member State; (ii) is established in a Member State and resells within the territory of that Member State, under his own name or trademark, equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the producer if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in point (i); (iii) is established in a Member State and places on the market of that Member State, on a professional basis, EEE from a third country or from another Member State; or (iv) sells EEE by means of distance communication directly to private households or to users other than private households in a Member State, and is established in another Member State or in a third country. Whoever exclusively provides financing under or pursuant to any finance agreement shall not be deemed to be a producer unless he also acts as a producer within the meaning of points (i) to (iv); 5 The collective system is a dominant national system which is responsible for collection, recycling and financing of all (or the vast majority) of WEEE within national boundaries. This is the general approach in the countries with established WEEE systems. Their legal status differs from country to country, but they are generally nongovernmental, not-for-profit companies which are set up and owned by one or more trade associations. They are organised into product categories in order to focus on achieving maximum efficiency in their recycling operations and to identify markets for recycled material and product reuse. 6 The clearing house model is again a national framework in which multiple partners (producers, recyclers, and waste organisations) can provide services. The government ensures that there is a register of producers and defines the allocation mechanisms, and reporting and monitoring systems. The responsibilities of a central national coordination body are to determine the collection obligation of each producer (via the national register) and to assign this obligation to the compliance scheme action on behalf of the producer as well as to establish an allocation mechanism that enables compliance systems to indeed collect WEEE in an equitable manner from collection points over the territory. (Implementation of the Waste Electric and Electronic 2

43 Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacity of the Ministry of Environment in Albania for Law Drafting and Enforcement of European Recycling Platform (ERP) was founded in 2002 as the first pan-european organization to implement the European Union s regulations on the recycling of electronic waste (WEEE Directive). ERP now manages a consolidated network and has expanded its recycling services to include batteries as well as packaging. ERP is a pan-european organization ( that is trusted by over 2,300 members across Europe and the first in the market offering compliance for WEEE, batteries and packaging in over 0 countries. From the Home page of the European Recycling Platform: - Users of EEE Member States shall ensure that users of EEE in private households are given the necessary information about: a. the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such WEEE separately; b. the return and collection systems available to them, encouraging the coordination of information on the available collection points irrespective of the producers or other operators which have set them up; c. their role in contributing to re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE; d. the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in EEE; e. the meaning of the symbol:. Equipment Directive in the EU; Directorate-General Joint Research Centre and Technological Studies, 2006) Institute for Prospective 3