ACEA WELCOMES POSTPONEMENT OF END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES DIRECTIVE.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) applauded the Decision taken at the June 24 Environment Council to put off until October any decision about the draft Directive on end-of-life vehicles. The ACEA "welcomes the fact that the Environment Council sees the need for a compromise before adopting a common position on end-of-life vehicles" and says it is prepared to take part in a "constructive dialogue on this important issue with EU institutions as it did in the past" so as to reach an environmentally- and economically-balanced solution.

ACEA is not hostile to the idea of recycling vehicles but rather to specific measures, such as the backdating clause and the free take-back of the oldest cars. The manufactures see this as an aberration: as the vehicles were designed at another epoch, with other methods and materials that paid no heed to the possibility of an obligation to recycle. The obligation is a major technological challenge, as vehicles and their materials were not...