Hangzhou, 29. October 2004
Comments and suggestions to the Chinese Draft “Ordinance on the Management of
Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Reclamation and Disposal”
(National Development and Reform Commission, September 19th 2004)
Elaborated by
Mr. Martin Eugster / Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA)
Mr. Rolf Dietmar and Mr. Jochen Vida / Sino-German Technical Cooperation Programme – Environment-Oriented Enterprise
Consultancy Zhejiang (EECZ)
The involvement of the public in the elaboration process of the “Ordinance on the Management of
Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Reclamation and Disposal” is a unique opportunity to
formulate comments and suggestions. We highly appreciate having this opportunity.
The ordinance is well crafted and structured; the main elements for an ordinance on waste
electrical and electronic equipments are included. However, please allow us to list a few
comments, suggestions and questions regarding a few other points in the document:

The references to “relevant national standards and technical regulations” should include the
name and relevant article of the standard or regulation concerned.

Generally the term “should be” is inappropriate in a legislative document. It should be
replaced with “shall be” or “must be”.

Article 2: A definition and classification of electrical and electronic equipment should be
envisaged according to the EU Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE)
directive (Appendix 1A and 1B) or other existing legislation (e.g. Swiss Ordinance on
WEEE management, etc.). The classification in “Waste electric and electronic equipments”,
“Discarded electric and electronic equipments” and “Second hand electric and electronic
equipment” is confusing and unclear. What is old household equipment? The term needs to
be defined if it is to be used in the ordinance. Maybe a general definition for electrical and
electronic appliances without naming the types of appliance (TV, refrigerators, etc.) would
be more appropriate. A detailed list should be attached in an appendix to the ordinance.
Safety and performance standards of second-hand electrical and electronic products are
important for consumer protection. At the same time, implementing standards for secondhand products shortens products’ service life. This could be in conflict with general waste
management principles, where the waste quantity should be reduced by extending product
service life.

Article 3: The term “recycling” is missing; disposal is not synonymous with recycling and
should not be confused with it (thoughout the entire document).

Article 4: The responsibility of NDRC is not clearly defined. What is NDRC supposed to
inspect?

Article 6: What does it mean to “manage centrally” waste electrical and electronic
equipment?

Article 7: It is envisaged that a fund be established to finance reclamation and disposal
(presumably including recycling). Why it is there no mention of how money is supposed to
be provided for the fund?

Article 9:
1/3
Hangzhou, 29. October 2004
1) The “non-poisonous and non-harmful substances” need to be defined further. The EU
directive on Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) could provide information
regarding hazardous substances.
2) It has to be ensured that recycling/disposal implemented by manufacturing enterprises
fulfill the standards for electrical and electronic waste disposal enterprises.

Article 11: What are “after-sales service organizations”?

Article 12: Is it feasible to strictly forbid the destruction and reassembly of waste electronic
and electrical equipment by salvaging enterprises?

Article 13: Do disposal enterprises have to carry out inspections within their own
companies? – Perhaps the “recycled product sticker” should be a reuse-product sticker. –
“Waste electrical and electronic product equipment should be disassembled …”;
disassembling is not the major problem in electrical and electronic equipment processing;
instead it is usually in the metal recovery processes that significant impacts on the
environment and human beings are generated.

Article 15: Government departments and state run enterprises are also consumers of
electronic and electrical products; hence they not have to be mentioned in a separate
article.

Article 16: “grading methods … will be developed by relevant departments of the State
Council”; innovation in developing new methods in general can only beattained if it is not
regulated, if private enterprises have the opportunity to develop economically feasible and
ecologically appropriate proceedings”.

Article 20: What is a “joint bill system”?

Article 22: The “strict registration system” for second-hand equipment requiring registration
by name, quantity, origin, etc., could end up causing an immense administrative effort.

Article 23 – 30: Provisions appear to provide for too many governmental institutions to be
allowed to impose fines for various types of punishment. - Why should manufacturing
companies (usually with an immense turnover) have to pay fines some of which are ten
times lower than those for informal, small scale recycling businesses?

Article 29: How might a right be violated? Article 21 provides for a right to report on
businesses not fulfilling legislative norms.

The ordinance makes no mention of how to deal with the import/export of waste electrical
and electronic equipment.

The ordinance makes no mention of technical requirements. An example is given below
with Article 6 of the Swiss WEEE Ordinance.

The division of responsibilities is a bit unfortunate. Whereas the EPB's are responsible for
the disposal of normal hazardous waste as well as for supervising the enterprises involved,
the 'Comprehensive Resource Utilization Administrative Departments' are intended to take
responsibility for the salvaging and disposal of e-waste.

In view of the Chinese desire to successfully set up a closed-loop economy, all such
responsibilities should come under one central agency.

There is no mention of licensing recycling enterprises with an investment volume above a
certain limit by a national body.
(Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) - ORDINANCE ON THE
RETURN, THE TAKING BACK AND THE DISPOSAL OF ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC
APPLIANCES (ORDEA) of 14 January 1998)
2/3
Hangzhou, 29. October 2004
“Art. 6 Requirements of disposal
A person who disposes of appliances shall guarantee that the disposal be carried out in an
environmentally tolerable way, according to state-of-the-art technology; in particular:
a. components which contain harmful substances such as nickel-cadmium batteries, switches
containing mercury, capacitors containing PCB, and heat insulation containing CFC should be
disposed of separately;
b. cathode ray tubes and metal-containing components such as diodes, metal casings, metal
frames, cables with a high proportion of metal and plug devices which are primarily of metal,
should be recycled, insofar as this is commercially acceptable;
c. organic chemical components which are not recycled such as plastic casings, cable insulation or
epoxy plates, shall be incinerated in the appropriate installations.”
3/3