02Feb

BIS to go ahead with WEEE compliance fee

Posted on 2nd February, 2015

The Department for Business (BIS) has confirmed that it is to go ahead with plans to implement a ‘compliance fee’ under the WEEE regulations, which compliance schemes will have to pay if they have missed their collection targets in 2014.

BIS

Schemes are yet to learn the exact amount that they will be required to pay and how this is to be calculated, with one of three proposed methodologies to be chosen this week. BIS is to approve one compliance fee methodology per year as well as an administrator to run it.

The fee is intended to act as a deterrent to the trading of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) evidence between compliance schemes, which it had been claimed was increasing the cost of compliance with the old WEEE regulations.

By adopting the fee, BIS removes the need for schemes who have not been able to secure evidence to purchase surplus evidence from schemes who have collected more than their share – and are able to charge a higher price for evidence.

Schemes will not learn how much they would be required to pay through the fee until after every scheme has submitted its final evidence.

It is expected that the compliance fee will be set at a level that would encourage schemes to collect the amount of WEEE that they are obliged to collect on behalf of their members.