Commission launches plans to encourage the greening of electrical goods
The European Commission has published a working paper detailing a new approach to the free movement of environmentally friendly electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) otherwise known as 'green electrical goods'. The working paper focuses on protecting the environment while ensuring that the internal market functions properly, allowing healthy competition alongside incentives for companies to innovate in the area of environmental design, explains the Commission. The key principle is its 'holistic' perspective, which considers the various environmental effects throughout the product life cycle. 'Following the call of the March 2000 Lisbon European Council to simplify the regulatory environment, this working paper represents a practical example of an alternative way of approaching regulation, ' reports the Commission's Enterprise Directorate-General. The EEE working paper aims to provide the basis for a proposal for a directive, reflecting 'EU determination to integrate sustainable development in other policy areas, including enterprise policy,' says the Commission. 'It will also complement the Waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) proposal for a directive by improving EEE waste management at the product design stage, and further the EU integrated product policy aims, by showing how an existing, and successful legislative tool, the New Approach, can be applied to a new domain the environment.'