EdLaw
WEEE Directive (Directive 2012/19/EU)
The end-of-life directive for electrical and electronic equipment, published in the Official Journal on 24 July 2012 (OJ L 197, 24.7.2012, p. 38), in force since 13 August 2012, transposition due by 14 February 2014 (Art. 24, not extracted; see Sources). This folder reproduces the consolidated text 02012L0019-20240408 (as amended by Directives (EU) 2018/849 and 2024/884). Unlike the CE instruments, WEEE is not about the product's design conformity but about the producer's per-Member-State obligations: register, finance collection and treatment, mark the product, and inform users.
"Producer" is defined by selling posture, not manufacturing: it includes anyone who "sells EEE by means of distance communication directly to private households or to users other than private households in a Member State, and is established in another Member State or in a third country" (Art. 3(1)(f)) — so cross-border direct sales create producer obligations in the buyer's Member State.
Applicability to EdTech
- Selling hardware into a Member State makes you a producer there (Art. 3(1)(f)) — registration in that state's producer register (Art. 16), financing of WEEE management (Art. 12 households, Art. 13 non-household — school equipment is typically assessed under Art. 13, subject to the dual-use rule in Art. 3(1)(h)), and per-state reporting.
- Distance sellers may appoint an authorised representative in the target Member State instead of establishing there (Art. 17).
- The crossed-out wheeled bin marking is mandatory: producers must "appropriately mark – preferably in accordance with the European standard EN 50419:2022 – EEE placed on the market with the symbol shown in Annex IX", moving it to packaging/instructions/warranty only in exceptional size/function cases (Art. 14(4)).
- Design duty: Member States encourage design facilitating re-use and treatment, and producers must not prevent re-use through specific design features or manufacturing processes, save for overriding advantages (Art. 4).
- Information for treatment facilities: re-use and treatment information for each new EEE type within one year of placing on the market (Art. 15).
Contents
| Document | Covers |
|---|---|
| SCOPE-AND-DEFINITIONS.md | Arts. 1–3 — scope and the producer definition |
| PRODUCER-OBLIGATIONS.md | Arts. 4, 12–17 — design, financing, marking, user/treatment information, registration, authorised representative |
| ENFORCEMENT.md | Arts. 22–23 — penalties, inspection and monitoring |
Scope note: the collection/treatment machinery addressed to Member States and operators (Arts. 5–11), and the annexes (EEE categories, collection rates, treatment requirements, the Annex IX symbol) are not extracted — the consolidated XHTML carries duplicate annex ids (pre-/post-2018 versions side by side), so annexes are cited by title against the EUR-Lex text instead.
Key obligations at a glance
- Register as producer in each Member State of sale (Art. 16(2)); appoint an authorised representative where selling at distance from elsewhere (Art. 17).
- Finance collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal (Art. 12, Art. 13).
- Mark EEE with the Annex IX crossed-out wheeled bin (Art. 14(4)); inform users about separate collection (Art. 14).
- Provide treatment information per EEE type (Art. 15).
Enforcement
National penalties, "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" (Art. 22), with minimum inspection and monitoring duties on Member States (Art. 23).
Related
- Product-safety cluster index
- RoHS Directive — the substances companion: RoHS restricts what goes in, WEEE governs what comes out
Sources
Meta
Article text in the content documents is reproduced verbatim from the EUR-Lex consolidated text (CELEX 02012L0019-20240408) and built/re-verified mechanically by tools/eur-lex/build_eu_product_safety.py (verify mode; do not hand-edit; adopt new consolidation ids deliberately). Anchors: official ELI ids plus derived paragraph/point anchors from printed labels. Annexes are not extracted (duplicate ids in the consolidated XHTML — see the builder's source notes).