WEEE REGISTER SOCIETY

Frequently Asked Questions

Do the products I make or import fall under the scope of this legislation?

The following 10 categories have been identified in the WEEE directive as belonging to EEE :

  • Large household appliances
  • Small household appliances
  • IT and telecommunications equipment
  • Consumer equipment
  • Lighting equipment
  • Electrical and electronic tools
  • Toys, leisure and sports equipment
  • Medical devices
  • Monitoring and control instruments
  • Automatic dispensers

In order to assess if a given product falls under the legislation, the transposition of the directive into national legislation must be checked.

If you have further queries on product classification, please refer to WEEE Register Society Ltd. Category Listings;


or do not hesitate to contact WEEE Register Society Ltd.

Do I need to register In Ireland?

According to the Statutory Instruments S.I. No. 340 of 2005 Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulations 2005 as amended by the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 375 of 2008), you need to register if you are considered a producer of EEE:

A "Producer" means any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication -

  • manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his or her own brand,
  • resells electrical and electronic equipment produced by other suppliers under his or her own brand,
  • imports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into the State,
  • exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis from the State to another Member State of the European Union, or
  • distributes electrical and electronic equipment from a producer who is deemed not to be registered under the provisions of article 12(2) Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations 2005, with the exception of a person or persons exclusively engaged in the provision of financing under or pursuant to any finance agreement unless also acting as a producer within the meaning of sub-paragraphs (i) to (v);
If you are considered a producer you will need to apply for registration with WEEE Register Society Ltd. Please download the Application Form from the REGISTRATION section of WEEE Register Society Ltd. website; www.weeeregsiter.ie.

 

Renewal of registration and fees for the WEEE Register Society Ltd.?
For application for registration or renewal of registration, as a producer you:

(a) should have applied for registration to the registration body no later than 20th July 2005 or the date of commencement of business, whichever is the later, AND
(b) need to apply for renewal of registration to the registration body no later than 31st January in each year following initial registration for the relevant calendar year!

Registration with WEEE Register Society Ltd. is annual and needs to be renewed by the 31st of January of each new year.

Committee of Management of WEEE Register Society Ltd. will set the registration fees for producers of EEE and these may be reviewed from time to time.
What information is to be provided for the renewal of registration?
  1. Name, address(es), telephone, electronic mail address and fax number of the registered office or, if not a company, the principal place of business, of the producer.
  2. Location(s) of premises at or from which electrical and electronic equipment is or will be supplied by the producer.
  3. The quantities, by weight or, as appropriate, by number of units, of electrical and electronic equipment for private households that was placed on the market in the calendar year prior to the date of application for renewal and substantiated estimates of the projected average life of the electrical and electronic equipment concerned in each of the categories specified in the First Schedule.
  4. The quantities, by weight or, as appropriate, by number of units, of electrical and electronic equipment for users other than private households that was placed on the market in the calendar year prior to the date of application for renewal and substantiated estimates of the projected average life of the electrical and electronic equipment concerned in each of the categories specified in the First Schedule.
  5. The cost of the environmentally sound management of electrical and electronic equipment for private households that was placed on the market in the calendar year prior to the date of application for renewal, in each of the categories specified in the First Schedule.
  6. The cost of the environmentally sound management of electrical and electronic equipment for users other than private households that was placed on the market in the calendar year prior to the date of application for renewal, in each of the categories specified in the First Schedule.
What is the WEEE Blackbox?
WEEE Register Society Ltd. has appointed Deloitte to manage and operate the WEEE Blackbox function on its behalf. The information gathered will be used to establish producers' financial liabilities associated with the management of a proportion of the WEEE arising in Ireland.

The proportion of WEEE management for which individual producers are responsible, will then be reported on a confidential basis to each producer, whether they are participating as part of collective compliance scheme or have opted to self-comply.

The proportion of WEEE management for which individual producers are responsible, will then be reported on a confidential basis to each producer, whether they are participating as part of collective compliance scheme or have opted to self-comply.

The role of the Blackbox includes:

  1. Receipt and processing of data on market share from registered producers;
  2. Determination of market share based on product type, producer and/or other criteria e.g., consortia or collective compliance scheme;
  3. Advising WEEE Register Society Ltd. on the validation of environmental management costs (costs of collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of WEEE);
  4. Advising WEEE Register Society Ltd. on the adequacy of financial guarantees;
  5. Providing management reports for WEEE Register Society Ltd.; and
  6. Providing year-end reporting by preparing and sending out annual summaries for each producer and/or compliance scheme.
Confidentiality of Market Data:

Producers should note that the WEEE Blackbox is statute-barred from informing any third party, including the collective schemes and the Executive and Committee of Management of WEEE Register Society Ltd. itself of market share information. The contractor will not handle monies arising from registration fees or recycling monies paid by producers.

Measures  taken to ensure the security and confidentiality of data submitted to the WEEE-Blackbox:

A highly secure approach to computer and network security is employed, based on the following premise: "that which is not explicitly allowed is denied".

Rigorous controls are employed for access of any type to the system, incorporating the use of strong passwords, secure sockets layer technology and database encryption.
When am I fully WEEE compliant for Ireland?
The following steps must be completed in order to achieve full WEE compliance and in turn receive certification from the WEEE Register Society:

  1. Registration with WEEE Register Society Ltd. to obtain a unique registration number. This number must be shown on all invoices, credit notes, dispatches and delivery dockets issued from the 13th of August 2005.
  2. Provide the WEEE Blackbox with the requested data input. This includes historical sales data for the period 01 January 2004 - 31 December 2005 and monthly sales data for the period 13 August 2005 - Current Reporting Month.  
  3. Producers will need to apply for renewal of registration with WEEE Register Society Ltd. by the 31st of January each year as in Articles 10 and 11.
  4. Registration with an approved compliance scheme ERP Ireland or WEEE Ireland or a Self-Compliant Producer. Producers participating satisfactorily in an approved compliance scheme are exempt from the provisions of some of the articles listed below.
Producer responsibility:
  1. All producers are required to comply with to the requirements of Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 40 and 41 of the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 340 of 2005).
  2. Register with WEEE Register Society Ltd. in Ireland, pay the appropriate registration fee (Article 10) and provide information to WEEE Register Society Ltd. (Article 28).
  3. Finance the take back of WEEE from private households and other users (Article 16 and 17).
  4. Be responsible for the collection of WEEE (Article 19).
  5. Ensure that any collection point and recovery facility carrying out the treatment of WEEE complies with the technical requirements as set out in the Sixth Schedule (Article 20).
  6. Adhere to the obligations for the treatment requirements of WEEE (Article 21).
  7. Achieve specified recovery rates depending upon the category and type of the WEEE arising (Article 22) and to maintain documentary evidence of progress on these targets. Producers can obtain this documentary evidence from their waste management contractors.
  8. Maintain and keep records of all treatment and recovery data, including specific weights in and out of treatment facilities, for a period of at least 6 years (Article 23).
  9. Self-complying producers must prepare a WEEE waste management plan and provide it to the EPA, at least once every three years (Article 24).
  10. Self-complying producers must prepare a waste management report and provide it to the EPA by 31st January each year.
  11. Producers are obliged to inform waste management facilities of the appropriate re-use and treatment information for the products it places on the market after August 13th 2005, including a list of dangerous substances and the location of such substances in each product (Articles 25 & 26).
  12. Producers are also obligated to mark their product with the appropriate marking identifying that the producer of the EEE has registered with the National Registration Body in accordance with their terms and conditions (Article 27 & Ninth Schedule).
  13. Producers must not use design features or production processes that make it difficult to reuse or treat the WEEE unless such designs have overriding environmental and/or health and safety advantages (Article 40).
  14. Obligations under Article 41 on the Reuse of EEE
Is there a penalty for non compliance?
Under article 15, The EU Directive states that Member States shall determine penalties applicable to breaches of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the WEEE Directive.

A producer who -
  1. fails to comply with any of the provisions of sub-article (1),
  2. is deemed not to be registered in accordance with article 12(2) or, as appropriate,
  3. is refused an application for renewal of registration in accordance with the provisions of article 12(4),

shall be prohibited from placing/distributing electrical and electronic equipment on the market.

Also failure to comply with the Regulations will result in prosecution and you run the risk of severe penalties with a maximum fine of € 15m and/or 10 years imprisonment.

Do I have to register in every EU country?

Registration takes place at individual Member State level. No single organisation can provide effective European-wide compliance. Therefore it is still necessary to register in every country.

What information is needed for WEEE Blackbox submission and what is its purpose?
All EEE producers must submit the following details:
  • Historical data: this consists of all EEE placed on the Irish market in the calendar year 2004 and is a once off requirement;
  • Monthly Turnover: input of any EEE placed on the Irish market thereafter. The data required is exact quantity and weight of EEE products, per category and subcategory brought on to the State Market
The latter will be submitted on a monthly basis, beginning in September, to collect the period August 13th 2005 up to and including August 31st 2005, and each calendar month thereafter.

Information is submitted through a specifically designed website managed by the WEEE Blackbox. Webaddress: https://www.weeeblackbox.ie. All producers will on completing the registration process receive a username and password by email and/or post to access a personal data input form. All monthly data must be submitted before or on the 19th of each month. A highly secure approach to computer and network security is employed.

The purpose of the data input is to determine the financial liability by market share of individual Producers.

The Historical data is being collected in order to calculate market share of individual producers for EEE placed on the market before 13th August 2005. The financing system to be applied on 13th August for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound management of WEEE  will be based on this calculation.
What are vEMC's?
“Visible Environmental Management Costs” means the costs of the environmentally sound management of WEEE from private households arising from EEE placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005. vEMC are not taxes or levies. WEEE Register Society Ltd., the National Registration Body for producers, has determined the vEMC per category and subcategory of EEE. This was done with consultation with the electronic and electrical industry.

The vEMC’s displayed to consumers cannot exceed the actual costs of recycling and are assigned for recycling activity and are not diverted elsewhere. The vEMC’s are calculated on the basis of the estimated number of electrical and electronic appliances that will be recovered and will be subject to change as more information becomes available.

To clarify “producer recycling fund”- PRF - has the same meaning as “visible environmental management costs” – vEMC.

The vEMC’s are inclusive of VAT.
List of useful definitions
“Producer” means any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication –
(i) manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his or her own brand,
(ii) resells electrical and electronic equipment produced by other suppliers under his or her own brand,
(iii) imports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into the State,
(iv) exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis from the State to another Member State of the European Union, or
(v) distributes electrical and electronic equipment from a producer who is deemed not to be registered under the provisions of article 12(2)

“distributed” means
(i) sold in exchange for any consideration including money whether or not by finance agreement, including but not exclusive to any loan, lease, hiring or deferred sale agreement or arrangement relating to any electrical and electronic equipment whether or not the terms of that agreement or arrangement or any collateral agreement or arrangement provide that a transfer of ownership of that equipment will or may take place, or
(ii) giving as a prize or otherwise making a gift;

“distributor” means any person who provides electrical and electronic equipment on a commercial basis to the party who is going to use it;

“distance communication” is as defined in Article 2(4) of Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts or, as appropriate, means sales and marketing services by electronic communication, voice telephony services, including telesales and telemarketing or non-electronic direct marketing services, including mail order;

“electrical and electronic equipment” means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA of European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volt for alternating current and 1,500 volt for direct current;

“waste electrical and electronic equipment” means electrical and electronic equipment, which is waste within the meaning of article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding;

“waste electrical and electronic equipment from private households” means waste electrical and electronic equipment which comes from private households, and from commercial, industrial, institutional and other sources which, because of its nature and quantity, is similar to that from private households.;

“environmental management costs” means the costs of the environmentally sound management of waste electrical and electronic equipment from private households arising from electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market prior to 13 August 2005;

“environmentally sound management of waste electrical and electronic equipment” means the collection, storage, treatment and recovery or, as appropriate, disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally sound manner;

“producer recycling fund” has the same meaning as “environmental management costs”;

“final user” means any person who discards electrical and electronic equipment, for which they have no further use or, as appropriate, who intends to or is required to discard it, but shall not include any person who on behalf of or as a service to any other person –
(i) buys, sells or arranges for the purchase, sale or transfer of waste from one person to another, or
(ii) arranges for the collection, recovery or disposal of waste;

“civic amenity facility” means a purpose-designed facility operated by or on behalf of a local authority or a private sector operator which is provided for the efficient reception and temporary storage of recyclable and non-recyclable waste materials, including segregated waste electrical and electronic equipment arising from private households;

“collection point” means –
(i) a civic amenity facility, or
(ii) other facility for the receipt, storage or recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment subject to such a facility being appropriately licensed, permitted or registered under Regulations made pursuant to Section 39 of the Act, or other such facilities as may be prescribed in Regulations;
Who has to display the vEMC?
Since the 13th of August 2005, each producer, retailer and distance seller, must show separately to consumers of EEE the environmental management costs.
WEEE Product marking, what and by when?
Finished EEE products "put on the market" after 13th August 2005 for the first time in any Member State must be marked with:
  • Crossed-out wheeled bin
  • Unique producer identification (brand name, trade mark, company registration number or any other suitable means of identification etc)
  • Instructions for recycling and disassembly (if necessary).
The standard applies to both household and non-household WEEE.

Crossed-out wheeled bin: Article 10.3 of the WEEE Directive requires Member States to ensure that producers appropriately mark electrical and electronic equipment put on the market after 13 August 2005 with the symbol shown in Annex IV (the crossed-out wheeled bin). “In exceptional cases, where this is necessary because of the size or the function of the product, the symbol shall be printed on the packaging, on the instructions for use and on the warranty of the electrical and electronic equipment.”

Annex IV: The symbol indicating separate collection for electrical and electronic equipment consists of the crossed-out wheeled bin, as shown below. This symbol must be printed “visibly, legibly and indelibly.”


For the marking of ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT in accordance with the article 10(3) of Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE); you can buy the standard -ISEN50419- from the –

NSAI Standards Sales Office
Tel: 01 8073868
Glasnevin, Dublin 9.

Open from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm.  or call Tel: 01 8576730

to buy on line go to www.standards.ie
- Hardcopy €22 (from stock for sameday despatch)
- Electronic (PDF) €22

Producer identification (brand name, trade mark, company registration number or any other suitable means of identification etc)

Article 11.2 of the WEEE Directive requires that Member States shall ensure that any producer of EEE put on the market after 13 August 2005 is clearly identifiable by a mark on the appliance. Furthermore, in order to enable the date upon which the appliance was put on the market to be determined unequivocally, a mark on the appliance shall specify that the latter was put on the market after 13 August 2005. The Commission shall promote the preparation of European Standards for this purpose.

The standard says that to identify the producer and the equipment put on the market after 13 August 2005, the following shall be applied to the product:
  • a unique identification of the producer (a brand name, trademark, company registration number or any other suitable means of identification)
  • the date of manufacture or date put on the market, either in uncoded text or in coded text for which the code is made available to treatment facilities, and/or an additional mark used in conjunction with the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol. This additional mark is a solid bar, containing no text or other information, which appears below the bin symbol and whose dimensions are specified in the standard.
If size or other characteristics such as functionality of the product means that the marking cannot be applied on the product it shall appear on a flag on the fixed supply cord or in the operating instructions and warranty certificates included with the product.
What is a compliance scheme and what is its role?
A compliance scheme is a non profit organisation that will take care of the collection, treatment and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in Ireland on behalf of its producer members. The compliance scheme will then invoice the producer for his/her proportion of the WEEE collected in Ireland.

At present, there are two approved compliance schemes in Ireland: ERP Ireland (European Recycling Platform) and WEEE  Ireland.

Who has to join a compliance scheme?
Companies considered to be a producer of Consumer EEE, have the option of delegating their responsibilities to one of the two approved compliance schemes or can be self compliant.
How will I be charged by my compliance scheme?
The actual costs for each sector's recovery and special services will be recorded. Fees from a specific sector/category shall be used exclusively to cover the costs of that sector. No sector shall subsidise any other sector, neither short-term nor long-term.

The compliance scheme will charge the producer differently depending on the product category.
If you are a producer of products in categories 1, 4 and 5, a vEMC (viable Environmental Management Cost) is charged. The producer must declare (via the WEEE Blackbox) how many of these units have been sold on a regular basis and the scheme will invoice the producer for the sum of vEMC’s associated with those products.

If you are a producer of products in categories 2, 3 and 6, compliance schemes will invoice the producer based on the weight submitted to the WEEE Blackbox of EEE placed onto the market.
Each compliance scheme decides on it’s costs per kilo.

If you are a producer of products in Categories 8, 9 and 10, there is no vEMC charged and your products are considered to be B2B, unless shown otherwise, and you do not need to join a compliance scheme.

Business to Business is when an EEE product is distributed from one business, for professional use only, to another business, and that business is the end user.

For further information on you obligations see the B2B requirements.

NOTE: All categories could be considered B2B. For any clarification, please contact the WEEE Register.
What do I need to be self-compliant?
Once you have established that you are a producer, the following needs to be achieved for compliance:

  • Registration with the WEEE Register Society Ltd to obtain a unique registration number. This number should be shown on all invoice, credit note, dispatch and delivery dockets issued from 13th August 2005. Provide the WEEE Blackbox with the requested data input. A producer will need to apply for renewal of registration annually as in Articles 10 and 11.
Producer responsibility:

  • All producers are required to comply with to the requirements of Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 40 and 41 of the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 340 of 2005).
  • Register with the WEEE Register Society in Ireland, pay the appropriate registration fee (Article 10) and provide information to the WEEE Register Society Ireland (Article 28).
  • Finance the take back of WEEE from private households and other users (Article 16 and 17).
  • Be responsible for the collection of WEEE (Article 19).
  • Ensure that any collection point and recovery facility carrying out the treatment of WEEE complies with the technical requirements as set out in the Sixth Schedule (Article 20).
  • Adhere to the obligations for the treatment requirements of WEEE (Article 21).
  • Achieve specified recovery rates depending upon the category and type of the WEEE arising (Article 22) and to maintain documentary evidence of progress on these targets. Producers can obtain this documentary evidence from their waste management contractors.
  • Maintain and keep records of all treatment and recovery data, including specific weights in and out of treatment facilities, for a period of at least 6 years (Article 23).
  • Prepare a WEEE waste management plan and provide it to the EPA, at least once every three years (Article 24).
  • Producers are obliged to inform waste management facilities of the appropriate re-use and treatment information for the products it places on the market after August 13th 2005, including a list of dangerous substances and the location of such substances in each product (Articles 25 & 26).
  • Producers are also obligated to mark their product with the appropriate marking identifying that the producer of the EEE has registered with the Registration Body in accordance with their terms and conditions (Article 27 & Ninth Schedule).
  • Producers must not use design features or production processes that make it difficult to reuse or treat the WEEE unless such designs have overriding environmental and/or health and safety advantages (Article 40).
  • Obligations under Article 41 on the Reuse of EEE
Are any products exempt from the WEEE-Directive?
WEEE Exemptions (by category):

    Lighting Equipment:
        Household lighting fixtures
        Filament light bulbs, including halogens
    Electrical and Electronic Tools:
        Some Large-scale stationary industrial tools. You should contact WEEE Register Society Ltd.
        to determine if EEE is exempt.
    Medical Devices:
        Implanted or infected products

Other exemptions:
  • Equipment solely for Military and National Security purposes - Product must be specific to this market.
  • Equipment covered by other existing waste directives such as the End of Life Vehicle (ELV) - Automotive Products.
  • Something that is part of equipment outside the scope of the WEEE directive such as equipment which is integral to:
    • Aerospace/Aircraft Products
    • Surface Transportation Products (aircraft, trains, boats, etc.)
Does the WEEE Directive apply to batteries?
The Waste Management (Batteries and Accumulators) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No 268 of 2008) have been introduced.

Please refer to the Battery FAQ’s.
Does the WEEE Directive apply to cables?
Antennas and cables meet the definition of EEE under the WEEE and RoHS Directives.  

The difference between electrical and fibre optics relates to the material, not the function (electrical cables too can be and have been used for the transmission of information, sound, imate etc.).  

Cables which have a connection point at one or both ends would be considered in-scope.

All cables inside and/or as extensions or connections which are part of the equipment at the time of discarding are considered WEEE.
Do retailers have a role to play?
Yes, from 13 August 2005, each retailer must:
  • be registered with their local authority;
  • provide for free in-store take back of household WEEE on a one-for-one basis on the sale of a new like product;
  • ensure that any WEEE collected is delivered to an approved collection facility;
  • ensure that the storage and transport of WEEE collected as above meets the requirements of the Regulations; and
  • ensure that private households are informed of the WEEE take back facilities available to them and that they are encouraged to participate in the separate collection of WEEE.
For more information see the Links page and click on “WEEE and the Retailer” under Recommended Reading or Retailers Guide under EPA Information.
Am I considered a distance seller?
“Distance communication” is as defined in Article 2(4) of Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts or, as appropriate, means sales and marketing services by electronic communication, voice telephony services, including telesales and telemarketing or non-electronic direct marketing services, including mail order;

Including by means of distance communication –

(i) manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his or her own brand,
(ii) resells electrical and electronic equipment produced by other suppliers under his or her own brand,
(iii) imports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into the State,
(iv) exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis from the State to another Member State of the European
(v) distributes electrical and electronic equipment from a producer who is deemed not to be registered under the provisions of article 12(2).
What are my Responsibilities as a Distance Seller?
Each producer or distributor who supplies EEE by means of distance communication (i.e. over the internet, telesales, mail order etc.) has to
  • register with the Registration Body, as per the requirements of Article 10,
  • notify the Registration Body that he/she supplies EEE via distance communication, and
  • provide information to demonstrate that he/she contributes in full to his/her share of the environmentally sound management of waste arising from EEE, in each member state of the European Union where he/she places EEE on the market when requested to do so by the Registration Body or the relevant enforcement agency.
  • notify customers that household EEE will be taken-back at least free of charge on a one-for-one basis.
  • to take back WEEE on a one-to-one basis when the replacement EEE is being delivered, provided that the old appliance is disconnected from public utilities or a permanent structure and is presented for immediate collection, and provided at least 24 hours notice of delivery has been given, or if not taken back when the replacement EEE is being delivered:
    • because at least 24 hours notice of delivery has not been given, within 15 days of the date of delivery, provided that the old appliance is disconnected from public utilities or a permanent structure and is presented for immediate collection, and provided at least 24 hours notice of collection has been given,
    • any or every place of business in the State from which he or she distributes electrical and electronic equipment and/or an address in the State, while it is occupied by an employee or agent of the direct seller, within a maximum of 30 days of the date of delivery of the replacement EEE.
Display EMC’s;
  1. on his or her website or other electronic means of communication, or, as appropriate,
  2. in each of his or her catalogues, brochures, or, as appropriate, direct mail communications. The price of EEE quoted, displayed and advertised to members of  the public must be inclusive of the vEMC.
Each
  1. invoice, receipt or docket issued at the point of sale to the customer,
  2. website or other electronic means of communication, or, as appropriate,
  3. catalogue, brochure, or, as appropriate, direct mail communication, displaying a vEMC shall state  –

    “Producer Recycling Fund [amount of environmental management cost]”
Up until 13th of February 2006, vEMC’s do not have to be shown in catalogues. However, the vEMC and the retail price must be shown in a separate brochure, or at or within three meters of each entrance to his or her premises and at any location where catalogues are available and that such a brochure is inserted into any catalogue issued to a consumer.
What is Business to Consumer (B2C)?
If an EEE product placed on the Irish market, can at any stage be sold to or used by a consumer, this transaction is considered B2C, regardless of the supply chain (e.g. from producer to a wholesaler/retailer etc…)
What is Business to Business (B2B) and the requirement for compliance?
If you are deemed a Producer operating in a business capacity (B2B) (Article 17 & 18) and opting to self-comply*, you must do the following:
  • Register with WEEE Register Society Ltd. in Ireland, pay the appropriate registration fee (Article 10) and provide information to the WEEE Register Society Ltd. (Article 28).
  • Collect or provide for the collection of your proportion of WEEE arising from WEEE placed onto the market prior to 13th August 2005, which is dependent on your current market share. The market share target is provided by WEEE Register Society Ltd. Black Box Function.
  • Ensure that any collection point and recovery facility carrying out the treatment of WEEE complies with the technical requirements as set out in the Sixth Schedule (Article 20).
  • Adhere to the obligations for the treatment requirements of WEEE (Article 21).
  • Achieve specified recovery rates depending upon the category and type of the WEEE arising (Article 22) and to maintain documentary evidence of progress on these targets. Producers can obtain this documentary evidence from their waste management contractors.
  • Maintain and keep records of all treatment and recovery data, including specific weights in and out of treatment facilities, for a period of at least 6 years (Article 23).
  • Prepare a WEEE waste management plan and provide it to the EPA, at least once every three years (Article 24).
  • Prepare a WEEE waste management report and provide it to the EPA on/before 31st January each year.
  • Producers are obliged to inform waste management facilities of the appropriate re-use and treatment information for the products it places on the market after August 13th 2005, including a list of dangerous substances and the location of such substances in each product (Articles 25 & 26).
  • Producers are also obligated to mark their product with the appropriate marking identifying that the producer of the EEE has registered with the Registration Body in accordance with their terms and conditions (Article 27 & Ninth Schedule).
  • Producers must not use design features or production processes that make it difficult to reuse or treat the WEEE unless such designs have overriding environmental and/or health and safety advantages (Article 40).
  • Obligations under Article 41 on the Reuse of EEE.
  • B2B Producers are obliged to finance the takeback of historic and new B2B WEEE (Articles 17 & 18). From the 13th August 2005, each producer (or someone acting on his/her behalf) must finance the environmentally sound management of WEEE arising from B2B customers as follows:

    i. For historic B2B WEEE (equipment placed on the market prior to the 13th August 2005 that is now waste), the producer is obliged to take back WEEE of a similar type and function (irrespective of brand) when a business end user is purchasing new equipment from him/her. The producer is then responsible for the collection and environmental management of the WEEE.

    If the business end user is simply discarding the WEEE and not replacing it, the responsibility for ensuring the environmentally sound management of the WEEE remains with the business end user. An appropriately licensed and permitted waste management operator must be used to transport and manage the waste in both scenarios.

    ii. For new WEEE (equipment placed on the market after the 13th August 2005 that will become waste), the producer must take back and manage WEEE from the business end user or make alternative financing arrangements with the business user i.e. there must be a formal agreement between both parties on how and who will finance the management of the WEEE. The WEEE must be transported and managed by appropriately licensed and permitted waste management operators.
*Note: As in B2B, i.e. - the end user is commercial, Article 24(10) regarding the display of visible environmental management costs via self-compliance does not apply.
Wheelie Bin Logo
WEEE Register Society Ltd, The National Registration Body
Suite 509, 8 Dawson Street, Dublin 2 Tel: +353 (0)1-6333551 Fax: +353 (0)1-6333552 info@weeeregister.ie