CONSULTATION BRIEF ON THE DRAFT REGULATIONS AMENDING THE WASTE MANAGEMENT (WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT) REGULATIONS
1. BACKGROUND TO DIRECTIVE 2012/19/EU ON WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
Directive 2012/19/EU of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (hereinafter referred to as Directive 2012/19/EU or WEEE) was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on 24 July 2012. Member States were required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the WEEE Recast Directive by 14 February 2014.
Malta has transposed most of the provisions of the Directive under Subsidiary Legislation 549.89 – the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations. Some provisions of the Directive were transposed under Subsidiary Legislation 427.57, the Restriction of Use of Hazardous
Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations.
2. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO S.L. 549.89 – THE WASTE MANAGEMENT (WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC) REGULATIONS, 2014
The amendments to S.L. 549.89 are aimed at ensuring compliance with Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on WEEE.
The following amendments to the national Legislation are being proposed:
a) Amendment to introduce a fine for disposal of WEEE in the form of unsorted municipal waste.
Amendments to sub-regulation 1(a) of regulation 5 of the Principal Regulations, as per regulation 2 of these amendments, introduces a schedule of fees as per Schedule 1 of these amendments for the disposal of WEEE in the form of unsorted municipal waste, to be in line with the WEEE Directive and to minimise disposal, ensure correct treatment, and achieve a high collection rate.
b) Amendment to increase the timeframe for financial guarantee by schemes.
Amendments to sub-regulation 4 of regulation 13A of the Principal Regulations, as per regulation 4 of these amendments, increase the timeframe for the submission of the financial guarantee by schemes from a period of 30 days to 3 months of the beginning of every operational year.
c) Amendment to the deregistration process
Amendments to sub-regulation 5 of regulation 16 of the Principal Regulations, as per regulation 6 of these amendments, have been made to make reference to the deregistration form which is already in place and needs to be completed, and to ensure that a person’s registration is terminated following the submission of the deregistration form; provided that such person indicates how he has ensured that the environmentally sound management of WEEE up until the last date he has placed EEE on the market, and further provided that any pending information is submitted to the Authority upon applying for deregistration.
d) Amendment to introduce a fee for application of a scheme.
Amendments to sub-regulation 1 of regulation 21 of the Principal Regulations, as per regulation 9 of these amendments, introduces a fee of €500 to be paid by the authorised WEEE compliance schemes upon application.
e) Amendment to introduce a fee to be charged upon granting or renewal of the scheme’s permit.
Amendments to sub-regulation 5 of regulation 21 of the Principal Regulations, as per regulation 10 of these amendments, introduces a fee as per newly introduced Schedule (Schedule 2 of these amendments) which is to be charged upon granting of the permit or renewal for an authorised WEEE compliance scheme, which fee would be dependent on the number of producers as per relevant Schedule.
f) Additional minor amendments.
Amendments to substitute “waste electrical and electronic compliance scheme” with “waste electrical and electronic equipment compliance scheme”, to delete reference to “by its members” in sub-regulation 5 of regulation 13A, to renumber some provisions, to correct grammar in sub-regulation 1 of regulation 24, and to substitute Environment and Resources Authority to read Competent Authority in subregulation 3 of regulation 24.
3. COMMENTS
The draft Regulations amending Subsidiary Legislation 549.89 – the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations may be viewed on https://era.org.mt/en/Pages/Active-PublicConsultations.aspx
The Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change and the Environment and Resources Authority welcomes any feedback on the proposed amendments.
You may wish to submit any comments by 6 February 2017 on the following email addresses: [email protected] or [email protected].
The Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change and the Environmentand Resources Authority shall take into consideration your concerns and comments.
Draft WEEE Amending Regulations 2017_MT
Draft WEEE Amending Regulations 2017_EN
