WEEE fee given go-ahead by BIS

The Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) announced on the 27^th January that they will continue with plans to introduce a compliance fee, the announcement taking place ahead of the deadline for schemes to report final evidence for the 2014 compliance period.

This early action could put Compliance Schemes which have ‘surplus’ tonnage, i.e. evidence of collection greater than their target, on the back foot in negotiations with Schemes that are short on tonnage but which clearly now have the option to achieve compliance by an alternative route.

This news reflects the content of the revised WEEE regulations which came into effect from January 2014. This revision introduced the option that should a compliance scheme fail to meet its collection target for the year then they would have the alternative to pay a compliance fee, to offset member obligation, and avoid the risk of prosecution for being in breach.

In communications to schemes a BIS official said, “Following the consultation held last autumn, I am writing to inform you that the Government has decided to approve a compliance fee methodology and administrator for the 2014 WEEE compliance period as provided under the 2013 WEEE Regulations. Three proposals were received and we will announce details of the winning bid week commencing 2 February.”

It has since been announced that the Joint Trade Association’s (JTA) proposal has been successful in its bid to operate the compliance fee. As explained in its proposal, schemes opting to use the compliance fee will pay based on a sliding scale. This will mean the further away from their scheme obligation target, the more they will pay to meet compliance.

James Champ, Compliance Specialist at ecosurety, commented “The announcement heralds a new chapter within the WEEE compliance debate where there are tensions between Schemes which hold surplus tonnage and those which are short of tonnage – mainly hinged around control of local authority contracts."

"Schemes which are contractually obliged to finance collection of tonnage, which may be higher than their needs, no longer have a guaranteed market place to transfer the evidence and costs – which will now, invariably, fall upon their existing members. Ecosurety has always maintained an independence in this field and, thankfully, does not expose its members to this risk”

If you would simply like to know more about how this change could affect you, please contact our experts by calling 0845 094 2228 or email weee@ecosurety.com.

 

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