A Peroducer Responsibility Organization (PRO) is an organisation whose clients (members) all work in the business of selling electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). The PRO works to create full compliance of all its members with their individual WEEE requirements by:
Consequently, PRO organize administrative proceedings, take back and recycling operations in order to fulfil the obligations of their clients.
The Producer and Compliance Scheme (PRO) offer such services to any locally registered company or authorized representative acting on behalf of a company holding obligations: manufacturer, importer, resellers under their own trademark and distant sellers (e-commerce).
PRO are usually non for profit in order to ensure producers and authorities that they provide reliable services without conflicts of interests.
Joining a PRO means producers of EEE products do not have to navigate the regulation processes by themselves and benefit from economies of scale in terms of operations and recycling costs.
All treated equally together through the PRO, producers of EEE components and products can avail of discount buying a direct contract deal with recyclers and by effect they decrease overall costs relating to the responsibility of regulation compliance.
Indeed, PRO do operate take back and recycling programs; producers can also contribute to meet collection take back and recycling targets with their own WEEE, or with their clients’s WEEE. PRO do audit their tiers in order to guarantee the quality of operations on behalf of their clients.
National governments act to create the legal and local framework of the WEEE directive requirements to EEE producers and provide them with the information and resources to create PCS among themselves.
After the PRO is formed it is their responsiblity to provide understanding of the regulations to any new producers and the wider public and particularly to consumers of EEE products. This is done through placing signs in collection areas where EEE products are sold or discarded and often including this requirement in writing within the product specifications, either on the package or in the enclosed instructions.
The application of the WEEE directive regulations across all European Union countries means that there is a level playing field between producers of EEE products and allows for fairness in the marketplace.
Placing the responsiblity in the hands of each producer has been found to be a consistent way of updating the register to show how many products were introduced to the market and taken off across the EU and allows for cohesiveness between EU nations in their common marketplace. Of course, it lacks of harmonisation among Member States since for example National Registries do not require the same format of declarations, and since Compliance fees are not harmonised.
While there is no requirement for a producer to involve themselves in a producer compliance scheme it is clear that by doing so producers of EEE products are able to avail of the best prices for complying by joining an existing group. Where there is no local PRO one can be formed with available direction from the government or on the EU level.
Romain Letenneur