My company sells electrical and electronic appliances: do WEEE have obligations?

The parties under obligation are the Producers according to the definition of each directive.

Brief description:

Producers are entities with responsibilities relating to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipments (WEEE) as well as related battery and packaging obligations because they are placing (i.e. invoicing) a product, battery and/or item of packaging on a national market for the first time. Thus, in respect of EU countries, businesses might have obligations in several EU member states according to their locally established entities including headquarters and subsidiaries.

Furthermore, it can be a complex matter to identify which registered entities have obligations. Several factors influence the liability and responsibility of an entity:

• Do you have local entities in the country of destination of the product?
• What is your sales strategy: direct, indirect, channel partners, etc.
• How do you ship goods? Who has the responsibility for shipment?
• How do you invoice? Which party invoices for the first time in the country of destination?
• Do you sell to subsidiaries, end-users, local entities, resellers/partners?

However, when pursuing a country by country analysis approach, Producers can be defined as follows:

• WEEE producers

  Entities located in one country and placing electrical/electronic goods on the market for the first time in that country.

  e.g. local manufacturers, importers, resellers with own brand or trademark if the product is manufactured locally.

  N.B. Distance sellers are also considered as Producers: companies located in one country (EU or otherwise) from where they sell and invoice their products to final end-users in EU countries. They must comply in the country(ies) of destination(s) of the product(s) by appointing an Authorized Representative locally.

  Learn more about the 7 WEEE producers obligations.

• Battery producers

  Entities placing batteries and batteries integrated into appliances on the market in an EU country where the battery directive is transposed on the national market.

• Packaging producers

  Entities located in one EU country and placing packaging on the market for the first time in that country.

Companies must organize and manage compliance of their registered entities so as to comply with and fulfill the national requirements arising from the European directives.

It is feasible that for the same commercial product, the WEEE liable entity (WEEE producer) and the battery liable entity (battery producer) are the same although not the packaging liable entity.

The assessment of such obligations can be complex and should be conferred for analysis by lawyers internal or external to the company.

If you would like to submit your product and/or entity situation for analysis, contact us.

Romain Letenneur