‘This legislation is designed to prevent electrical and electronic waste by requiring EU countries to ensure the equipment is recovered, reused or recycled’ [Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu].

The abovementioned Directive establishes a legal framework for treating waste in the EU. This is designed to protect the environment and human health by emphasising the importance of proper waste management, recovery and recycling techniques to reduce pressure on resources and improve their use’ [Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu].

The regulation ‘lays down rules for controlling waste shipments in order to improve environmental protection. It also incorporates the provisions of the Basel Convention and the revision of the OECD’s 2001 decision on the control of transboundary movements of wastes destined for recovery operations (i.e. where a waste is processed to recover a usable product or converted into a fuel) in EU law’ [Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu].

The scope of the Directive 2006/12/EC is ‘the protection of human health and the environment against harmful effects caused by the collection, transport, treatment, storage and tipping of waste’, in order to achieve and ensure, among others, ‘a high level of environmental protection’[Recitals n. 1, 6, 11].