SLOVAK RESPONSE TO BATTERY DIRECTIVE

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 001143 SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/EGC, EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EIND ETRD SENV LO EUN SUBJECT: SLOVAK RESPONSE TO BATTERY DIRECTIVE REF: STATE 259043 ¶1. Per reftel, On December 7 Econoff delivered questions about the EU's battery directive to Peter Gallovic, Director of Waste Management at the Ministry of Environment. On December 21, Gallovic reported that the GOS supports the new proposal of the Council Chairmanship to introduce a partial ban of cadmium in batteries. They further agree with the proposed ban of batteries that contain more than 0.0005 percent of their weight in mercury. Slovakia does not have a special collection system in place for portable batteries, though the law does state that they must be separated from normal household trash. ¶2. The GOS supports the proposal to set the collection limits at 20 percent after four years and 35 or 40 percent after seven years. Conversely, the GOS does not support the proposal to incorporate long-term collection targets at the 10 year mark. As for financing the collection, Gallovic stated that they support paragraph 20 of the current proposal which stipulates that third parties would cover all costs associated with collection, administration, and recycling of batteries. Finally, the GOS has not performed any local impact studies. THAYER NNNN