EdLaw
Producer obligations: design, financing, information, registration
What a producer owes in each Member State where it sells: product design, financing of collection and treatment for household and non-household WEEE, user information and the crossed-out wheeled bin marking, information for treatment facilities, registration in each national register, and the authorised-representative route for distance sellers.
Article 4 — Product design
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
Member States shall, without prejudice to the requirements of Union legislation on the proper functioning of the internal market and on product design, including Directive 2009/125/EC, encourage cooperation between producers and recyclers and measures to promote the design and production of EEE, notably in view of facilitating re-use, dismantling and recovery of WEEE, its components and materials. In this context, Member States shall take appropriate measures so that the ecodesign requirements facilitating re-use and treatment of WEEE established in the framework of Directive 2009/125/EC are applied and producers do not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being re-used, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, for example, with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.
Article 12 — Financing in respect of WEEE from private households
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. Member States shall ensure that producers provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from private households that has been deposited at collection facilities set up under Article 5(2) as follows:
- (a) for WEEE resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, where such EEE was placed on the market after 13 August 2005;
- (b) for WEEE resulting from photovoltaic panels where such photovoltaic panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012; and
- (c) for WEEE resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (b), and which does not fall within the scope of Article 2(1), point (a), where such EEE was placed on the market from 15 August 2018.
2. Member States may, where appropriate, encourage producers to finance also the costs occurring for collection of WEEE from private households to collection facilities.
3. Each producer shall be responsible for financing the operations referred to in paragraph 1 relating to the waste from his own products. The producer may choose to fulfil this obligation either individually or by joining a collective scheme.
Member States shall ensure that each producer provides a guarantee when placing a product on the market showing that the management of all WEEE will be financed and shall ensure that producers clearly mark their products in accordance with Article 15(2). This guarantee shall ensure that the operations referred to in paragraph 1 relating to this product will be financed. The guarantee may take the form of participation by the producer in appropriate schemes for the financing of the management of WEEE, a recycling insurance or a blocked bank account.
4. The responsibility for the financing of the costs of the management of WEEE from products referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, placed on the market on or before 13 August 2005 (‘historical waste’) shall be borne by one or more systems to which all producers existing on the market when the respective costs occur contribute proportionately, e.g. in proportion to their respective share of the market by type of equipment.
5. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that appropriate mechanisms or refund procedures are developed for the reimbursement of contributions to the producers where EEE is transferred for placing on the market outside the territory of the Member State concerned. Such mechanisms or procedures may be developed by producers or third parties acting on their behalf.
6. The Commission is invited to report, by 14 August 2015, on the possibility of developing criteria to incorporate the real end-of-life costs into the financing of WEEE by producers, and to submit a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and the Council if appropriate.
Article 13 — Financing in respect of WEEE from users other than private households
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. Member States shall ensure that the financing of the costs for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE from users other than private households is to be provided for by producers as follows:
- (a) for WEEE resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, where such EEE was placed on the market after 13 August 2005;
- (b) for WEEE resulting from photovoltaic panels where such photovoltaic panels were placed on the market from 13 August 2012; and
- (c) for WEEE resulting from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (b), which does not fall within the scope of Article 2(1), point (a), where such EEE was placed on the market from 15 August 2018.
For historical waste from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by producers of those products when supplying them. Member States may, as an alternative, provide that users other than private households also be made, partly or totally, responsible for that financing.
For other historical waste from EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), other than photovoltaic panels, the financing of the costs shall be provided for by the users other than private households.
2. Producers and users other than private households may, without prejudice to this Directive, conclude agreements stipulating other financing methods.
Article 14 — Information for users
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. Member States may require producers to show purchasers, at the time of sale of new products, the costs of collection, treatment and disposal in an environmentally sound way. The costs mentioned shall not exceed the best estimate of the actual costs incurred.
2. Member States shall ensure that users of EEE in private households are given the necessary information about:
- (a) the requirement not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such WEEE separately;
- (b) the return and collection systems available to them, encouraging the coordination of information on the available collection points irrespective of the producers or other operators which have set them up;
- (c) their role in contributing to re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of WEEE;
- (d) the potential effects on the environment and human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in EEE;
- (e) the meaning of the symbol shown in Annex IX.
3. Member States shall adopt appropriate measures so that consumers participate in the collection of WEEE and to encourage them to facilitate the process of re-use, treatment and recovery.
4. With a view to minimising the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to facilitating its separate collection, Member States shall ensure that producers appropriately mark – preferably in accordance with the European standard EN 50419:2022 – EEE placed on the market with the symbol shown in Annex IX. 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 EEE.
5. Member States may require that some or all of the information referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 shall be provided by producers and/or distributors, e.g. in the instructions for use, at the point of sale and through public awareness campaigns.
Article 15 — Information for treatment facilities
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. In order to facilitate the preparation for re-use and the correct and environmentally sound treatment of WEEE, including maintenance, upgrade, refurbishment and recycling, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that producers provide information free of charge about preparation for re-use and treatment in respect of each type of new EEE placed for the first time on the Union market within one year after the equipment is placed on the market. This information shall identify, as far as it is needed by centres which prepare for re-use and treatment and recycling facilities in order to comply with the provisions of this Directive, the different EEE components and materials, as well as the location of dangerous substances and mixtures in EEE. It shall be made available to centres which prepare for re-use and treatment and recycling facilities by producers of EEE in the form of manuals or by means of electronic media (e.g. CD-ROM, online services).
2. In order to enable the date upon which the EEE was placed on the market to be determined unequivocally, Member States shall ensure that a mark on the EEE specifies that the latter was placed on the market after 13 August 2005. Preferably, the European standard EN 50419:2022 shall be applied for this purpose.
For photovoltaic panels, the obligation referred to in the first subparagraph shall only apply to photovoltaic panels placed on the market from 13 August 2012.
For EEE referred to in Article 2(1), point (b), and which do not fall within the scope of Article 2(1), point (a), the obligation referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall only apply to the EEE placed on the market from 15 August 2018.
Article 16 — Registration, information and reporting
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. Member States shall, in accordance with paragraph 2, draw up a register of producers, including producers supplying EEE by means of distance communication. That register shall serve to monitor compliance with the requirements of this Directive.
Producers supplying EEE by means of distance communication as defined in Article 3(1)(f)(iv) shall be registered in the Member State that they sell to. Where such producers are not registered in the Member State that they are selling to, they shall be registered through their authorised representatives as referred to in Article 17(2).
- (a) each producer, or each authorised representative where appointed under Article 17, is registered as required and has the possibility of entering online in their national register all relevant information reflecting that producer’s activities in that Member State;
- (b) upon registering, each producer, or each authorised representative where appointed under Article 17, provides the information set out in Annex X, Part A, undertaking to update it as appropriate;
- (c) each producer, or each authorised representative where appointed under Article 17, provides the information set out in Annex X, Part B;
- (d) national registers provide links to other national registers on their website to facilitate, in all Member States, registration of producers or, where appointed under Article 17, authorised representatives.
3. In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Article, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts establishing the format for registration and reporting and the frequency of reporting to the register. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21(2).
4. Member States shall collect information, including substantiated estimates, on an annual basis, on the quantities and categories of EEE placed on their markets, collected through all routes, prepared for re-use, recycled and recovered within the Member State, and on separately collected WEEE exported, by weight.
6. Member States shall report the data concerning the implementation of paragraph 4 for each calendar year to the Commission.
They shall report the data electronically within 18 months of the end of the reporting year for which the data are collected. The data shall be reported in the format established by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 9.
The first reporting period shall start in the first full calendar year after the adoption of the implementing act that establishes the format for reporting, in accordance with paragraph 9, and it shall cover the data for that reporting period.
7. The data reported by Member States in accordance with paragraph 6 shall be accompanied by a quality check report.
8. The Commission shall review the data reported in accordance with paragraph 6 and publish a report on the results of its review. The report shall assess the organisation of the data collection, the sources of data and the methodology used in Member States as well as the completeness, reliability, timeliness and consistency of that data. The assessment may include specific recommendations for improvement. The report shall be drawn up after the first reporting of the data by the Member States and every four years thereafter.
9. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the format for reporting the data referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21(2).
Article 17 — Authorised representative
Verbatim from EUR-Lex (Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE) 02012L0019-20240408), via the Publications Office Cellar API.
1. Each Member State shall ensure that a producer as defined in Article 3(1)(f)(i) to (iii) established in another Member State is allowed, by way of exception to Article 3(1)(f)(i) to (iii), to appoint a legal or natural person established on its territory as the authorised representative that is responsible for fulfilling the obligations of that producer, pursuant to this Directive, on its territory.
2. Each Member State shall ensure that a producer as defined in Article 3(1)(f)(iv) and established on its territory, which sells EEE to another Member State in which it is not established, appoints an authorised representative in that Member State as the person responsible for fulfilling the obligations of that producer, pursuant to this Directive, on the territory of that Member State.
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