These Regulations amend the 1997 Regulations, which imposed on producers, and, on their behalf, scheme operators, obligations to recover and recycle specified tonnages of packaging waste, and related obligations, in order to attain the targets in Article 6(1) of Directive 94/62/EC. A revision of the Directive which will set new targets to be met in 2008 is presently being negotiated and is expected to be agreed soon. In order to ensure that the absence of targets higher than those presently in the 1997 Regulations does not prejudice the United Kingdom's ability to increase its rates of recovery and recycling sufficiently to meet the new Directive targets in 2008, these Regulations set interim domestic targets and recovery and recycling obligations which take account of the probable new targets which the United Kingdom is likely to have to meet in 2008.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland · 2003-12-19