Europe's electronic waste and hazardous substances legislation "is failing before it begins", according to environmental consultant eco3.

The UK firm said the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive are being impemented in widely differing ways across Europe, leading to confusion and inequality.

“The WEEE regulations allow each European country to interpret the legislation slightly differently, resulting in different rules in different countries. For example, some countries require a visible fee to be charged when a product is sold, others don’t. Some countries define products in different ways, and the definition of key terms in RoHS differ from one country to another," said Mark Shayler, director of eco3.

“Additionally, fines for non-compliance vary, for example, non-compliance under RoHS attracts a fine of €1,500 in France but €10m to €15m in Ireland.”

Coupled with the fact that the UK has yet to implement the WEEE Directive into UK law, this imbalance leaves companies unable to make firm plans for compliance.

“This whole situation has become a nightmare for the 100,000 or so companies in the UK that make or import electrical or electronic goods," said Shayler.

“They are now completely confused and are hiding their heads in the sand over the WEEE regulations in particular, because they don’t know when they're going to be implemented."

The UK Government has delayed the implementation of WEEE several times, and is now not due until much later this year.

eco3 reckons that at least four-fifths of the firms it has advised are not ready for the WEEE and RoHS Directives.

www.ecothree.com