Please see following message from Brian Haken of the PCIF
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A great deal of misleading information regarding the WEEE draft directive is
being placed on various web sites. By implication the 4th draft is being
referred to as the final draft, which will go forward to the council of
ministers/Parliament for voting.

I would like to put the record straight, as misleading information does not
help the needs of our industry.

During a long telephone conversation with the European Commission, I was
made
aware of the true status of the so-called un-official 4th draft of the
directive.

This draft is an internal consultative document only. As you may or may not
be
aware, before the final document can go before the council of ministers it
must be agreed by all the directorates and be presented as a commission
document.

At present there is disagreement between the Enterprise/trade and the
Environmental directorates, which must be resolved, undoubtedly a compromise
will have to be reached for the final draft to go forward.

The consultation period ends on the last day of May. I am informed that the
results will not be known until the second half of June.

The commission requests that trade organisations should not place this
un-official draft on their web sites, as it is counter productive.


Reference has also been made to yet another un-official EEE draft directive.

Again, this is in its first consultation stage within the commission, we are
advised to wait for the official draft to be put out for general
consultation
before we publish on our web sites.

Jumping the gun does not always help, as it can spread alarm and despondency
in the industry. Trade organisations should be very sure of their facts
before
releasing information to the global industry.

Brian R Haken.
PCIF

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