Protection of the Environment Act 2003

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“PART VA

Recovery of End-of-Life Vehicles

Interpretation and supplemental (Part VA).

53B.—(1) In this Part—

‘Act of 1952’ means the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act 1952 ;

‘Act of 1992’ means the Finance Act 1992 ;

‘appropriate treatment and recovery’, in relation to a vehicle, means the treatment and recovery of the vehicle in accordance with the requirements of section 39;

‘authorised recovery facility’ means a facility at which the appropriate treatment and recovery of vehicles may take place;

‘Directive’ means the European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC of 18 September, 2000 on end-of-life vehicles;

‘end-of-life vehicle’ means a specified vehicle which is discarded or is to be discarded by its registered owner as waste;

‘mechanically propelled vehicle’ has the same meaning as it has in Chapter IV of Part II of the Act of 1992;

‘producer’, in relation to a vehicle, means the person who imports into, or manufactures in, the State the vehicle;

‘registered’, in relation to a vehicle, shall be construed in accordance with section 131 of the Act of 1992;

‘registered owner’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 ( S.I. No. 385 of 1992 ) as amended for the time being, but, if those regulations should be revoked, it shall have the meaning assigned to it by such regulations corresponding to those regulations as may be for the time being in force;

‘specified vehicle’ means—

(a) a category A vehicle or a category B vehicle within the meaning of Chapter IV of Part II of the Act of 1992, other than such a vehicle that falls within a class of vehicle specified in regulations under subsection (2) as being a class of vehicle excepted from this definition, and

(b) a vehicle that falls within a class of vehicle specified in regulations under subsection (2) as being a class of vehicle included in this definition.

(2) The Minister may make regulations specifying a class of mechanically propelled vehicle to be a class of vehicle excepted from, or included in, the definition of ‘specified vehicle’ in this section (and such specification shall be made only where the Minister considers it necessary or expedient to do so in consequence of a Community act).

Producer responsibility for free treatment and recovery of end-of-life vehicles.

53C.—(1) The Minister may make regulations imposing the obligation specified in subsection (2) with effect from—

(a) the commencement of section 43 of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 where the vehicle mentioned in that subsection is a vehicle registered on or after 1 July 2002,

(b) 1 January 2007 where the vehicle mentioned in that subsection is a vehicle registered before, on or after 1 July 2002.

(2) The obligation mentioned in subsection (1) is an obligation on the producer of the vehicle concerned to ensure that the registered owner of an end-of-life vehicle can deposit the vehicle at an authorised treatment facility for the purpose of its being the subject of appropriate treatment and recovery without (subject to section 53D(4)) any cost being incurred by the owner in respect of such deposit, treatment or recovery.

(3) Regulations under this section may provide for—

(a) the making of arrangements by producers of specified vehicles for the purpose of ensuring that the foregoing obligations of each of them under the regulations are fulfilled,

(b) the provision by producers of the financial resources (the ‘resources’) necessary to ensure that those foregoing obligations are fulfilled,

(c) the following matters in relation to the provision of the resources—

(i)   the conferral of powers on a specified person or persons (who or each of whom is referred to in this section as a ‘collection authority’) with respect to securing and recovering the resources,

(ii)   requiring the making of a declaration to a collection authority by a producer and specifying the particulars to be included in such a declaration,

(iii) the time at which an amount of resources shall be made available by a producer and the form and manner in which they shall be made available,

(iv) requiring specified records to be kept by specified persons in respect of matters connected with the making available of the resources and specifying the form of such records,

(v)   enabling the making available of resources by specified producers to be deferred in specified circumstances,

(vi) requiring specified records and accounts to be kept by a collection authority in respect of resources made available or to be made available to it,

(vii) enabling the refund of resources made available by specified producers to be made to them,

(viii) enabling a collection authority to enter into arrangements with one or more specified persons whereby that person or those persons remit to the collection authority amounts by way of financial resources within a specified period of time after liability in respect of the making available of those amounts arises,

(ix) providing for the payment into the Environment Fund by a collection authority of amounts received by it by way of resources (subject to the deduction from such amounts of any amounts specified as being capable of being deducted therefrom for the purpose of defraying expenses incurred by it in securing or recovering the resources),

(d) the exemption of a person from all or any of the requirements of regulations under this section who is certified by an association or body corporate that is formed or established for the purpose of the carrying on of relevant activities, that is to say, ensuring that end-of-life vehicles can be deposited by their registered owners for the purpose of their being the subject of appropriate treatment and recovery in accordance with subsection (2), and is approved by the Minister in accordance with regulations under paragraph (a), to be either—

(i)   a member or shareholder of that association or body corporate, as the case may be, or

(ii)   participating, in a satisfactory manner, in a scheme for the carrying on of the relevant activities referred to in this paragraph or complying with any requirements specified by that association or body corporate, as the case may be, in relation to the carrying on of those activities,

(e)   (i)   the granting by the Minister of approvals for the purpose of regulations under paragraph (d) and the conditions which he or she may attach to such approvals, including conditions relating to—

(I)   the financial and administrative arrangements to be made by the association or body corporate concerned,

(II) the relevant activities referred to in paragraph (d) to be carried on by the association or body corporate concerned and the manner in which they are to be carried on,

(III) targets to be achieved by the association or body corporate concerned with respect to the carrying on of those activities by it,

 (ii) enabling the Minister to vary as he or she thinks fit any condition attached to an approval aforesaid or to revoke such an approval in specified circumstances,

 (iii) the means by which an association or body corporate shall determine, for the purpose of regulations under paragraph (d), whether a person is participating, in a satisfactory manner, in a scheme referred to in that paragraph or, as the case may be, is complying with requirements referred to in that paragraph,

 (iv) the grant and revocation by an association or body corporate of a certificate for the purpose of regulations under paragraph (d) and the notifications to be given by it in respect of such a grant or revocation to the person concerned and other specified persons,

(f) the exemption of a producer from all or any of the requirements of regulations under this section (being a producer who is not otherwise so exempted by virtue of regulations under paragraph (d)) where he or she shows to the satisfaction of the Minister or another person specified for this purpose that he or she has put arrangements in place to ensure that each end-of-life vehicle produced by him or her can be deposited by the registered owner thereof for the purpose of its being the subject of appropriate treatment and recovery in accordance with subsection (2),

(g) any matters consequential on, or incidental to, the foregoing.

(4) A person who fails to comply with a provision of regulations under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

Requirement to deposit mechanically propelled vehicle for recovery, etc.

53D.—(1) In this section—

‘essential components of a vehicle’ means the engine and coachwork of a vehicle;

‘national vehicle records’ means the records established and maintained under section 60 of the Finance Act 1993 .

(2) Where the registered owner of a mechanically propelled vehicle decides to discard the vehicle as waste he or she shall deposit the vehicle at an authorised treatment facility for the purpose of its being the subject of appropriate treatment and recovery.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), that deposit, treatment and recovery shall, if the vehicle is a specified vehicle, occur without any cost being incurred by the registered owner.

(4) The Minister may make regulations providing that—

(a) subsection (3) shall not apply where the specified vehicle to be deposited—

(i)   does not contain the essential components or other specified components of a vehicle,

(ii)   contains waste which has been added to the vehicle, or

(iii) was not the subject of a licence taken out under section 1 of the Act of 1952 or, as the case may be, section 21 (3) of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1992 for such period or periods as may be specified preceding the deposit,

(b) subsection (3), in so far as it provides that the deposit of the specified vehicle shall occur without any cost being incurred by the registered owner, shall not apply unless specified conditions are complied with.

(5) Subject to any regulations under this section, the operator of an authorised treatment facility shall—

(a) issue, in relation to the vehicle, a certificate (in this section referred to as a ‘certificate of destruction’) to the registered owner on the deposit by him or her of a mechanically propelled vehicle at the facility for appropriate treatment and recovery,

(b) notify, in such form as the Minister may determine, the Minister of the fact of that certificate having been issued and of such particulars contained in it as the Minister may determine (and the form that is so determined may be a form that is not legible if it is capable of being converted into a legible form).

(6) The Minister shall note on the national vehicle records such of the particulars contained in certificates of destruction as he or she considers appropriate and which have been notified to him or her under subsection (5)(b).

(7) The operator of an authorised treatment facility shall not transfer a mechanically propelled vehicle which has been deposited with him or her in accordance with subsection (2) to any other person save for the purpose of its being the subject of appropriate treatment and recovery at another authorised treatment facility.

(8) A mechanically propelled vehicle in respect of which a certificate of destruction has been issued shall not be subsequently—

(a) registered,

(b) licensed under section 1 of the Act of 1952 or section 21 (3) of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1992 ,

(c) used in a public place, or

(d) exported.

Regulations for purposes of section 53D, etc.

53E.—(1) The Minister may make—

(a) regulations for the purposes of section 53D, and

(b) regulations providing for such supplementary, consequential or incidental provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving full effect to the provisions of the Directive to which that section relates.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under this section may make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(a) requiring specified documentation, information and particulars to be submitted by the registered owner of a mechanically propelled vehicle on the occasion of the vehicle being deposited at an authorised treatment facility pursuant to section 53D(2),

(b) requiring specified documentation, information and particulars to be submitted by the operator of an authorised treatment facility to specified persons on the occasion of a mechanically propelled vehicle being deposited at that facility pursuant to section 53D(2),

(c) requiring specified documentation, information and particulars to be submitted by the operator of an authorised treatment facility to specified persons on the occasion of a mechanically propelled vehicle's appropriate treatment and recovery at that facility being completed,

(d) specifying the period within which a mechanically propelled vehicle deposited at an authorised treatment facility pursuant to section 53D(2) must undergo appropriate treatment and recovery,

(e) the form of a certificate of destruction,

(f) the keeping and preservation of records and information relating to certificates of destruction issued by operators of authorised treatment facilities,

(g) the recognition in the State of certificates of destruction (being certificates issued under the laws of another Member State of the European Union implementing the Directive) in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles registered in the State,

(h) specifying the persons to whom specified information and particulars derived from national vehicle records may be provided,

(i) any matters consequential on, or incidental to, the foregoing.

Offences for failure to comply with section 53D, etc.

53F.—A person who fails to comply with—

(a) subsection (2), (3), (5), (7) or (8) of section 53D, or

(b) a provision of regulations under section 53E,

shall be guilty of an offence.”.