Recycle Waste Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

EU Requirements: If you are selling electrical or electronic equipment (“EEE”)in the EU, you may be subject to the European Directive 2012/19/EU (the “WEEE Directive”) concerning the collection and recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“WEEE”) and the national laws implementing this Directive.

It is your responsibility to comply with the WEEE Directive for products sold in the EU. You must also comply with national laws and regulations in EU Member States, which implement the WEEE Directive.

Please see below for further information about EU requirements.

UK Requirements: If you are selling electrical or electronic equipment (“EEE”) in the UK, you may be subject to the UK’s Regulation SI 2013/3113 (the “WEEE Regulation”) concerning the collection and recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“WEEE”). In the following, you can find a short overview of the requirements of the WEEE Regulation and how this affects you as a seller.

It is your responsibility to comply with the WEEE Regulation for products sold in the UK. If you also sell these products on Amazon EU website(s), then you must also comply with national laws and regulations in EU Member States, which implement the WEEE Directive.

Please see below for further information about UK requirements.

This material is for informational purposes and you should not take it as a substitute for legal advice. We encourage you to consult your legal counsel for any concerns about the laws and regulations concerning your product. This material only reflects the position at the date of writing and requirements across the EU and in the UK may change. You should refer to current UK Brexit guidance about your products (where available) to learn more about changes that may affect you from 1 January 2021.

EU Requirements

What is the WEEE Directive?

The purpose of the WEEE Directive is to prevent the creation of WEEE, to reduce the disposal of waste into the environment and to contribute to the efficient use of resources and the retrieval of valuable secondary raw materials. Therefore, the WEEE Directive aims at involving all operators taking part in the life cycle of EEE, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers, in the collection and treatment of WEEE. The WEEE Directive lays down the essential criteria on the management of WEEE and the responsibility of producers and distributors, and creates minimum standards for the treatment of WEEE.

Since this Directive only lays down the minimum standards and each Member State of the EU implements these standards in its own laws, there can be discrepancies between the national regulations. Please inform yourself about the applicable national laws for every EU Member State you deliver to; we can only provide you with a broad overview.

What products does the WEEE Directive apply to?

The WEEE Directive is meant to cover all EEE used by consumers and EEE intended for professional use.

Specifically, the WEEE Directive applies to any equipment powered by electricity or through electromagnetic fields and designed for use with voltage <1000 volts AC and <1500 volts DC. You can find the (few) products with exceptions in Article 2 of the WEEE Directive.

For whom does the WEEE Directive create obligations?

The WEEE Directive places obligations on both producers and distributors, which includes mere sellers. Many EEE sellers will be considered producers for the purpose of the Directive. You can be a mere seller in one member state and at the same time, a producer in a different member state.

If you are not established in the Member State to which you dispatch products, for that Member State, You are a producer if you are a natural or legal person and:

1. You are established in an EU country and either:
   • Market your own brand of EEE productswithin the territory of that EU country
   • Resell within the territory of that EU country, under your own name or trademark, EEE produced by other suppliers (a reseller is not regarded as the “producer” if the brand of the producer appears on the EEE)
   • Sell in that EU country, on a professional basis, EEE from a third country or from another EU country
2. Sell EEE by means of distance communication directly to an EU country, and are established in another EU country or in a third country.

You are a distributor if:

• You make EEE available for sale in the EU (you may also be a producer).
• National WEEE laws may define additional sellers as producers (see below)

What obligations do producers have?

All producers must in particular:

• Have/establish a branch in each EU member state they ship to, or appoint an authorized representative who is based in the Member State in order to interact with the national WEEE authority.
• Register with the national WEEE authorities in the shipping destination country for each product type and brand.
• Provide a guarantee when selling a product in a member state showing that the management of all WEEE will be financed (this guarantee may, in some member states be replaced by a participation by the producer in appropriate schemes for the financing of the management of WEEE, a recycling insurance or a blocked bank account).
• Report to the national WEEE authorities the amount of EEE products sold in the member state, and the products shipped abroad from there, and the products taken back from customers.
• Label all EEE products in a durable, indelible fashion, i.e. not just by flag, with the wheelie bin symbol including the date mark (as per EN50419).
• Identify the producer on the product.
• Provide information (in the form of manuals or by electronic media) to any person carrying out treatment activities on the reuse and environmentally sound treatment for each new type of product you sell.
• Provide information to customers on WEEE.
• Provide take-back services for the electronics sold to customers. The responsibility to take-back WEEE products is one of the main obligations resulting from the Directive. In this regard, the WEEE Directive differentiates between the obligations for producers and sellers. However, it is up to the member states to detail the specific requirements.

Member states have some room to implement the Directive in different ways. Below you'll find an overview of such country-specific rules on WEEE for Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain.

For more detailed information, please visit the website of the relevant national register; for an overview see here.

What obligations do distributors have?

If selling EEE in the EU, distributors are responsible for ensuring customers can dispose of their old WEEE free of charge and on a one-to-one basis when selling the customer a new or equivalent version of the item.

This obligation is implemented at a national level, therefore requirements may differ in each Member State. We encourage you to check national requirements in each Member State where you act as a distributor.

Recycle Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

• WEEE Obligations for Germany
• WEEE Obligations for France
• WEEE Obligations for Italy
• WEEE Obligations for Spain

UK Requirements

What is the WEEE Regulation?

The purpose of the WEEE Regulation is to prevent the creation of WEEE, to reduce the disposal of waste into the environment and to contribute to the efficient use of resources and the retrieval of valuable secondary raw materials. Therefore, the WEEE Regulation aims at involving all operators taking part in the life cycle of EEE, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers, in the collection and treatment of WEEE. The WEEE Regulation lays down the essential criteria on the management of WEEE and the responsibility of producers and distributors, and creates minimum standards for the treatment of WEEE.

What products does the WEEE Regulation apply to?

The WEEE Regulation is meant to cover all EEE used by consumers and EEE intended for professional use.

Specifically, the WEEE Regulation applies to any equipment powered by electricity or through electromagnetic fields and designed for use with voltage <1000 volts AC and <1500 volts DC. You can find the (few) products that are exempt in Regulations 7 and 8 of the WEEE Regulation.

For whom does the WEEE Regulation create obligations?

The WEEE Regulation places obligations on both producers and distributors, which includes mere sellers. Many EEE sellers will be considered producers for the purpose of the Regulation.

You are a producer if you are a natural or legal person and:

• You are established in the UK
• Manufacture and sell your own brand of EEE in the UK
• Resell within the UK, under your own name or trademark, EEE produced by other suppliers (a reseller is not regarded as the “producer” if the brand of the producer appears on the EEE)
• Import EEE into the UK on a professional basis
• You are established outside the UK, and you sell EEE by means of distance selling (e.g. online) directly to the UK.

You are a distributor if you sell EEE in the UK (you may also be a producer).

What obligations do producers have?

If selling EEE in the UK, all producers must in particular:

• Register as a producer annually by either:
  • Registering direct on the National Packaging Waste Database (if selling less than 5 tonnes of EEE in the UK in a compliance year); or
  • Joining a scheme or appointing an authorized representative who will join a scheme and fulfill the producer’s other responsibilities (if selling more than 5 tonnes of EEE in the UK in a compliance year)
• Report information on EEE products sold in the UK.
• Label all EEE products in a durable, indelible fashion, i.e. not just by label, with the wheelie bin symbol including the date mark (Regulations 22 and 23).
• Identify the producer EEE registration number to any distributor selling the product.
• Provide information (in the form of manuals or by electronic media) free of charge, within a year of selling a product in the UK, on the reuse and environmentally sound treatment for each new type of product you sell in the UK so any person carrying out treatment activities can process the EEE. This should identify the components and materials in the EEE and the location of any dangerous substances and mixtures in the EEE.
• Keep records of relevant documents for a period of four years (Regulation 20).

What obligations do distributors have?

If selling EEE in the UK, distributors must provide a way for customers to dispose of their old WEEE when selling them a new version of the same item. This applies regardless of how the products are sold and include online sales.

If distributors do not have their own take back service, they must join the Distributor Takeback Scheme.

Distributors must also provide information to customers on WEEE (including which take back service they provide, how they can reuse and recycle WEEE, why WEEE needs to be separated from other waste, the damaging effects of not recycling WEEE and the meaning of the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol).

For more detailed information, please see UK guidance on producer responsibilities and on distributor responsibilities.

Please also visit the website of the relevant national register detailed below:

• England and Wales: Environment Agency
• Scotland: Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Northern Ireland: Environment and Heritage Service

Recycle Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

• WEEE Obligations for the UK

We also encourage you to visit the UK’s Business Companion website, which contains guidance on UK product compliance rules:

• https://www.businesscompanion.info/en/get-started