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2006.11.17
Under the act of July 29, 2005 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), manufacturers and importers marketing electrical and electronic equipment on the Polish market are obligated to organize and finance the collection, pickup, processing, reclaiming and recycling of waste equipment.
The act allows the assignment of part of the obligations from the introducer to an electrical and electronic equipment recycling organization (article 57 of the WEEE act). Businesses marketing lighting equipment are explicitly obligated to assign their obligations to an electrical and electronic equipment recycling organization (such as ElektroEko) (article 34 of the WEEE act)
Businesses who do not wish to sign a contract with an appropriate recycling organization are obligated to deposit a cash security constituting a guarantee to finance the Introducer’s obligations in case of nonperformance or improper performance. The amount of security is calculated as follows: product charge rate times the weight of products introduced by the entity within a given year.
The cash security may take the form of a deposit paid to a separate bank account of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management; a third party liability insurance policy against the nonperformance of the obligation to collect, process, reclaim, recycle and neutralize waste equipment (the policy is deposited with the NFEPWM); a bank guarantee deposited with the NFEPWM
Introducer’s obligations:
- Submit a registry entry application to the General Environment Protection Inspectorate and pay the registration fee and annual fee (articles 7 and 9 of the WEEE act)
- Assign registry numbers to all invoices issued and to other documents issued in connection with business operations (article 21 of the WEEE act)
- Inform users of the equipment sold about the obligation to selectively collect waste equipment (article 22, section 1 of the WEEE act)
- Inform users of the equipment sold about the availability of the waste equipment collection system (article 22, section 2 of the WEEE act)
- Brand the introduced equipment with the symbol of the crossed waste basket, which denotes the ban on disposing of this piece of equipment in a regular waste basket (article 23 of the WEEE act)
- Prepare and submit to the General Environment Protection Inspectorate regular reports about the quantity and weight of equipment introduced (article 24 of the WEEE act)
- Submit quarterly reports to the General Environment Protection Inspectorate about the weight of waste equipment collected and subjected to processing, reclaim including recycling and neutralization, as well as an annual report on the attained levels of collection, reclaim and recycling of waste equipment (article 31 of the WEEE act)
- Entities introducing electrical and electronic equipment to the domestic market, e.g. producers and importers, may inform retailers and wholesalers about the amount of WMF fees incurred, in the form of a separate price component indicated in a separate item on the invoice (article 25 of the WEEE act)
- Introducers are obligated to prepare information about the reuse and processing of waste equipment within 12 months as of the date of introduction of a new type of equipment; this information is to be prepared for the processing facilities (article 26 section 1 of the WEEE act)
- introducers of household equipment are obligated to organize and finance the collection of WEEE from operators of waste equipment collection points, processing, recycling and neutralization of waste equipment from households (article 27 of the WEEE act)
- Introducers of non-household equipment are obligated to organize and finance the collection, processing, reclaim, recycling and neutralization of the following types of waste equipment from non-household users:
- from equipment introduced to the domestic market after August 13, 2005
- from equipment introduced to the domestic market prior to August 13, 2005 if the waste equipment is being replaced by equipment of the same type as the equipment delivered by this introducer, whereas the costs of financing of the collection, processing, reclaim, recycling and neutralization of this equipment may also be borne by the user, and the scope defined in the contract included between the introducer of the equipment and its user (article 29 of the WEEE)
- As of January 1, 2008, introducers will be obligated to attain statutory levels of reclaim and recycling, calculated as a percentage of the weight of waste equipment collected, and transfer it to operators of registered processing plants (article 30 of the WEEE)
- Introducers are obligated to provide a network of processing facilities covering the territory of the country, with sufficient processing capacity to process the collected waste equipment (article 33, section 1 of the WEEE act)
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