The European Commission is considering a review of the Waste Oils Directive (WOD). In a recent consultation, the Commission raised a number of issues challenging some of the basic aims and assumptions of the Directive. The Council of Ministers has also called for a simplification of the Directive's requirements. It could be inferred that the Commission is considering either substantial amendment of the WOD or possibly its complete repeal. The WOD (75/439/EEC as amended) was implemented in the 1970s. Its primary aim was the conservation of what was perceived at that time to be an increasingly scarce resource in view of the energy crisis that developed around that time. Thirty years on, the environment impacts of waste oil treatment options are now considered more important than resource issues.
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