Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 May, the European Commission decided to take another step in the infringement procedure against Romania for the country's failure to respect EU environmental legislation.
This member state will appear at the European Court of Justice (third stage of the procedure) for failing to transpose revised EU legislation on end-of-life vehicles into domestic law. The new legislation seeks to make the dismantling of vehicles no longer being used more environmentally friendly and should have been transposed by 22 August 2013 at the latest. Several reminders (a letter of formal notice sent in September 2013 and a reasoned opinion in July 2014) were sent in vain.
Directive 2000/53/EC seeks to reduce the level of waste produced by scrapped cars, restrict the use of certain hazardous substances and increase the quantity of recycled materials. It sets out quantifiable targets for reuse, recycling and recovery of vehicles and their parts. It prohibits the use of certain hazardous substances in vehicles marketed after 1 July 2003. A revision extended an exception to this ban involving the use of lead in certain vehicle parts. (Aminata Niang)