The RAL Quality Assurance Association for the Demanufacture of Refrigeration Equipment Containing CFCs has not been invited to attend a roundtable discussion meeting on the topic that is being arranged by the CECED (The European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers).
The upcoming meeting, focusing on the treatment of hydrocarbon-containing waste refrigeration equipment, was announced by the CECED at a conference in Germany in January of this year.
The Luxembourg-based RAL Quality Assurance Association says it has been actively addressing issues relating to the quality of the refrigerator recycling process since 1998 and that it has made numerous requests to CECED to be allowed to attend the meeting and “contribute towards finding a constructive solution."
But the manufacturers’ organization has apparently chosen not to invite the RAL Quality Assurance Association, citing differences of opinion, according to the RAL.
In a letter to the RAL, the CECED has indicated that the RAL’s request to participate in the consultation meeting has been declined because “the RAL position provides no room for compromise.”
In a news release, the RAL Quality Assurance Association says it is “very disappointed with this response, but strongly believes that neither the existing laws nor the facts of the case offer any real room for compromise.”
According to RAL Secretary Christoph Becker, the fact that not only RAL but also the EU environmental agencies are being excluded from discussing future approaches to handling and treating hydrocarbon appliances leaves the impression that the organizers have little interest in any strict compliance with the WEEE directive and the related national laws. “It is thus to be feared that in future the driving force behind the practical implementation of the WEEE legislation will be commercial interests, rather than environmental protection as originally intended by legislators,” the RAL says in its news release.
The RAL says that is will analyze the results of the meeting and “will be publishing its response to the results in due course and will continue to work towards the full and systematic implementation of the WEEE directive and the environmental protection legislation put in place by EU member states.”