Transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/884 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) through the amendment of S.L. 549.89 Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations

CONSULTATION BRIEF

Start date: 23 May 2025

Closing date: 20 June 2025

Title of the public consultation: Transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/884 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) through the amendment of S.L. 549.89 Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations

Ministry: Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness (MEEC)

Entity: Environment and Resources Authority (ERA)

 

  1. Background

The WEEE Directive (Directive 2012/19/EU) aims to protect the environment and human health by reducing the negative effects of WEEE and promoting more efficient use of resources. It also requires producers of EEE to finance the collection, treatment, recovery, and safe disposal of the products they place on the market. The WEEE Directive is mainly transposed into national legislation by the Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations (S.L. 549.89).

On 25 January 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Article 13(1) of the WEEE Directive was partially invalid, by reason of non-justified retroactive effect, insofar as it required producers to finance for the collection and treatment of waste from photovoltaic panels placed on the market between 13 August 2005 and 13 August 2012. This period came before the updated WEEE Directive enters into force, which included photovoltaic panels under its scope. Furthermore, the 2012 Directive more broadly implemented an ‘open scope’ as of 15 August 2018.

Therefore, in line with this judgment, these targeted amendments intend to remove the retroactive effect, thus clarifying that regarding PV panels and ‘open scope’ EEE, producers are responsible to provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of:

      • WEEE resulting from PV panels which were placed on the market from 13 August 2012;
      • WEEE resulting from ‘open scope’ EEE which was placed on the market from 15 August 2018.

 

  1. Consultation

In line with Article 55 of the Environment Protection Act (Cap. 549), the public is invited to make submissions to ERA with their comments as to why and how these draft regulations could be amended.

 

  1. Documents

Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025

Regolamenti tal-2025 li jemendaw ir-Regolamenti dwar l-Immaniġġjar tal-Iskart (Tagħmir Elettriku u Elettroniku) 

 

  1. Submission of feedback

Comments are being invited through the feedback form at publicconsultation.gov.mt or otherwise by email through [email protected] by 20 June 2025.

 

5. Further notes

Please be informed that comments submitted, together with the identity of the contributor, may be published online at the end of the public consultation, unless the contributor objects to the publication of his/her personal data. In this case, the contribution may be published in anonymous form.

All comments submitted shall be duly considered.