The Ministry of Environment of Romania for several years has coordinated the program “Jalopy” through which owners of end-of-life vehicles (ELV) can hand these over to the producer or importer and can obtain a reduction when purchasing a new vehicle. Such programs exist also in the other EU member states. The Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova worked out regulations concerning the management of end-of-life vehicles. “They are being examined by the responsible institutions and ministries (Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and other government agencies, e.n.), Virginia Galatonov, senior consultant of the Waste and Chemicals Management Division of the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova, stated for IPN.
The regulations are to be adopted by a Government decision. The document transposes provisions of Directive 2000/53/CE of the European Parliament and of Council of September 18, 2000 on end-of-life vehicles.
“The purpose is to prevent waste from vehicles as a first priority. Furthermore, the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of end-of life vehicles and their components are presented as measures to reduce the disposal of waste. They also aim to improve the environmental performance for all the economic actors involved in the life cycle of vehicles, especially the actors directly involved in the treatment of end-of life vehicles,” the draft regulations say.
In particular, the draft regulations provide that the producers of vehicles and spare parts are obliged to accept the vehicle they imported when this becomes end-of life vehicle from the last holder and/or legal owner and to hand this over to business entities authorized to perform treatment activities.
According to Virginia Galatonov, the mechanism by which the importers of motor vehicles will be obliged to ensure the recycling of end-of life vehicles is being designed and could become functional since 2023.
The draft regulations specify that the authorized business entities that carry out only collection activities will have to hand over the collected end-of life vehicles to authorized business entities for treatment within a month of the receipt, in the form in which they received them from the last owner and/or holder. This way, the given mechanism can benefit owners of ELVs that were bought secondhand and brought into Moldova by private individuals, without the services of an authorized business entity.
