Business Alert - EU
Business Alert - EU |
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WEEE and RoHS update: Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Austria In this edition, Business Alert-EU proceeds with its update on the current implementation status of Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS). This report tracks the stage the legislative process is at in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Austria (see: previous issues for a number of other Member States). DENMARK: National Legislation -- Regulation (BEK No 1008 of 12 October 2004) on the Limitation of Import and Sales of Electrical and Electronic Products Containing Certain Hazardous Substances was adopted on 30 October 2004 transposing the RoHS Directive into Danish law. For the Danish WEEE legislation the following Act and Order were adopted: Act no. 385 on producer liability for electronic waste, amending the Environmental Protection Act (entered into force on 1 June 2005) and Statutory Order 664 concerning the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment of 27 June 2005. Competent Bodies -- The Danish legislation on WEEE and RoHS was issued by the Ministry of the Environment (www.mim.dk/eng/). WEEE-System (www.weee-system.dk) is the enforcement body for the WEEE legislation and is also responsible for the WEEE register. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (www.mst.dk) is the national enforcement body for RoHS and for some WEEE measures. Main requirements -- For WEEE, requests for producer registration should have been made before 1 January 2006 or no later than 14 days before EEE products are placed on the market. In addition producers must: submit information to allow their market share to be calculated; finance collection, recovery, recycling and treatment of WEEE and mark new EEE put on the Danish market after 13 August 2005. As for the Danish RoHS legislation, this is consistent with the RoHS Directive, imposing a ban on the use of six hazardous substances in EEE where an exemption does not apply from 1 July 2006. Notable differences with Directive -- The implementation date in the Danish WEEE legislation is later than that required by the WEEE Directive. Schemes -- In Denmark, producers must comply with WEEE-System's scheme (www.weee-system.dk) unless they choose to transfer their responsibility to a collective scheme. Elretur (www.elretur.dk) is the only collective scheme set up in Denmark at the current time and it will start its activities on 1 April 2006. Laboratories offering RoHS compliance testing facilities in Denmark include DELTA - Danish Electronics, Light & Acoustics (www.delta.dk). Penalties -- Failure to comply with the Danish RoHS legislation will result in the removal of manufacturers' products from the market place. Fines may also apply (for example, where producers have failed to provide for the take-back and treatment of WEEE or have failed to collect allocated WEEE). Companies and other legal persons may also be held criminally liable. Under both the RoHS and WEEE legislation, fines or a prison sentence of up to two years imprisonment can be imposed if the infringement inflicts damage to, or endangers, either a person's life or health or the environment, or where the infringement creates an economic advantage for the infringer. No maximum fine is provided for; instead fines will be assessed taking the facts and nature of the infringement into account. FINLAND: Government Decree on the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Materials in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (853/2004) transposed the RoHS Directive into Finnish law on 9 September 2004. Act 452/2004 amending the Waste Act (1072/1993) of 4 June 2004 and Government Decree on Electrical and Electronic Waste 852/2004 of 9 September 2004 transposed the WEEE Directive. Competent Bodies -- The legislation was transposed by the Ministry of the Environment (www.environment.fi). The RoHS legislation is to be enforced by the Safety Technology Authority (TUKES) (www.tukes.fi) and the WEEE legislation by the Pirkanmaa Regional Environmental Centre (www.environment.fi). Main requirements -- The main requirements of the Finnish WEEE legislation are that producers must: organise the collection, transport and treatment in an approved facility of separately collected WEEE; finance the recovery and other waste management of WEEE; ensure EEE is properly marked; provide the necessary information for users; register with the Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre; submit annual reports; and provide a guarantee (either a financial guarantee or by joining a collective scheme). The Finnish RoHS legislation is consistent with the RoHS Directive, imposing a ban on the use of six hazardous substances in EEE where an exemption does not apply from 1 July 2006. Schemes -- Collective schemes which have been set up include SER-Tuottajayhteisory (Society of WEEE Producers, www.serty.fi) and Elker Oy (www.elker.fi) an umbrella organisation. A laboratory carrying out RoHS testing in Finland is SGS, www.fi.sgs.com. Notable differences with Directive - The scope of products in the Finnish Decree includes luminaries in households, whereas these have been expressly excluded from the scope of products in the WEEE Directive. Penalties --Environmental authorities may prohibit infringing activities, order compliance, and impose interim measures. They can oblige a producer to make changes to a product to ensure compliance. The Pirkanmaa Regional Environment Centre may cancel its decision concerning the approval of the producer in the producer data register. The authorities can enforce orders by imposing conditional fines, or by giving notice that (i) the measure which has not been complied with will be carried out by the authority, in which case the producer will be liable to compensate the costs incurred, or (ii) the producer's activities are suspended or prohibited. Criminal sanctions (fines) are applicable to intentional or grossly negligent infringements. If the infringement is of a serious nature (likely to cause deterioration/harm to the environment or human health) a prison sentence may be imposed. SWEDEN: Ordinance (SFS 2005:217) amending Ordinance (SFS 1998:944) entered into force on 13 August 2005 with certain provisions entering into force on 1 July 2006 and the Chemicals Inspectorate's Regulations on Chemical Products and Biotechnical Organisms (KIFS 1998:8, last amended KIFS 2005:6) will enter into force on 1 July 2006 transposing the RoHS Directive into Swedish law. The WEEE Directive is transposed by Ordinance (SFS No. 2005:209) which entered into force on 13 August 2005. Competent Bodies -- Both the RoHS and WEEE legislation was transposed by the Ministry of Sustainable Development (www.sweden.gov.se). The enforcement body for the RoHS legislation is the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate (www.kemi.se) and for the WEEE legislation it is the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") (www.internat.naturvardsverket.se). The EPA is to set up the producer register. Main requirements -- The main requirements of the Swedish WEEE legislation are that producers must: register (expected to start in early 2006) and to submit information to the EPA; finance the collection, recovery and recycling of WEEE (according to market share for private household WEEE placed on the market before 13 August 2005); and mark new EEE put onto the Swedish market. The Swedish legislation is consistent with the RoHS Directive, imposing a ban on the use of six hazardous substances in EEE where an exemption does not apply from 1 July 2006. Notable differences with Directives -- In Sweden waste light bulbs and luminaries for private household use are regulated separately in the Ordinance (SFS No. 2000:208, last amended SFS 2005:210). Sweden has applied to the Commission for a national derogation to the recycling, recovery and collection targets for the EEE covered in this separate Ordinance. It should also be noted that the lists of EEE in Annex 1 to the Ordinance are based on a description of the function of the EEE products (in contrast to the WEEE Directive, which provides for a product-descriptions list). Schemes -- In Sweden, a scheme had already been set up in advance of the EU WEEE legislation being transposed into Swedish law. The scheme, which is in line with the WEEE Directive, is run by an organisation called El-Kretsen (www.el-kretsen.se/). RoHS testing is available in Sweden from SEMKO (an Intertek testing services company - www.sweden.intertek-etlsemko.com). Penalties -- Individuals who infringe the Swedish RoHS legislation can be liable to a fine or a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years. For serious offences (particularly with reference to damage which was or could have been caused), the penalty shall be a term of imprisonment of not less than six months or more than six years. Under the Swedish WEEE legislation, a fine may be imposed on any person who fails (intentionally or through negligence) to fulfil obligations (including failure to ensure that EEE is marked and failure to supply required data). When setting a fine for both WEEE and RoHS infringements the level of the fine depends on the nature of the infringement, the means of the infringing person and how serious it is (unit fines range from a minimum of 30 x SEK 30 to a maximum of 150 x SEK 1,000). In addition, under the WEEE legislation, it is possible to impose an environmental fine on undertakings e.g. where an undertaking sells products without informing the Swedish EPA (from SEK 5,000 to 100,000) or does not provide the EPA with information regarding how the products are dealt with (SEK 20,000). Higher fines may be invoked where the breach of the relevant provisions is deemed sufficiently serious or in light of aggravating circumstances. AUSTRIA: The Ordinance on Waste Prevention, Collection and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment published on 29 April 2005 transposes the RoHS Directive into Austrian law. An amendment to the Waste Management Law published in the Federal Law Gazette on 30 December 2004, and two regulations: (a) the Ordinance on Waste Prevention, Collection and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ; and (b) the Ordinance on Waste Treatment Obligations published in the Federal Law Gazette on 3 December 2004 transpose the requirements of the WEEE Directive. Competent Bodies - The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management (www.lebensministerium.at) transposed both the RoHS and the WEEE legislation. The Federal Environment Agency (www.umweltbundesamt.at) carries out general evaluations in connection with the legislation. In addition the respective District Administrative Authorities are responsible for controlling producer compliance. Main requirements - the WEEE Ordinance requires that producers: register with the Federal Environment Agency; mark new equipment put onto the Austrian market; inform final users and treatment facilities in accordance with the WEEE Directive; submit quarterly and annual reports to the clearing house (either directly or via a collective scheme); and finance the collection recovery and recycling of WEEE. The Austrian RoHS legislation is consistent with the RoHS Directive, imposing a ban on the use of six hazardous substances in EEE where an exemption does not apply from 1 July 2006. Schemes -- Schemes which have been set up in line with the WEEE Ordinance include UFH (www.ufh.at), Era GmbH (www.era-gmbh.at), EVA (www.eva.co.at) and ERP (www.erp-recycling.org).Intertek Caleb Brett provides RoHS compliance testing services to Austria via their laboratories based in Switzerland: (http://www.itscb.com/newsitetest/news/switzerland30122003.shtml). Notable differences with Directive -- The Austrian WEEE legislation excludes retailers with a sales area of less than 150 m2 from the obligation to take back WEEE from consumers on a 1:1 basis. In addition, producers and collective systems have to set up at least one collection point per district. The legislation also provides that WEEE may be sorted into five collection categories that reflect the traditional Austrian collection categories. Penalties - Non-compliance with the RoHS provisions prohibiting the use of hazardous substances in EEE is subject to fines ranging between EUR 360 and EUR 7,270. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Austrian WEEE legislation is subject to fines ranging from EUR 360 to EUR 7,270, unless the perpetrator is professionally active in the area of waste management, in which case the minimum fine is EUR 1,800. Infringements of obligations to keep records, provide access to documents, notify, provide information, or register pursuant to the WEEE Ordinance may lead to the imposition of an administrative fine of up to EUR 2,910. Higher fines may be invoked where the breach of the relevant provisions is deemed sufficiently serious or in light of aggravating circumstances. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
