The complex revisions to the way the UK handles the WEEE Directive – covering waste electrical and electronic equipment – has taken a step further with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills publishing a set of criteria for organisations looking to submit a proposal for a ‘compliance fee’ under the revised WEEE regulations.
The regulations, which came into effect in January, establish mandatory collection targets for each compliance scheme, with under-collecting schemes having to pay a fee for every tonne of WEEE they have been unable to collect or face sanctions for non-compliance.
The existence of the compliance fee is intended to discourage producer compliance schemes collecting volumes of WEEE significantly above their collection targets and then seeking to sell the surplus evidence to schemes seeking more evidence to meet their obligations.
The mechanism for calculating the compliance fee is to be changed yearly – with BIS accepting proposals to establish the fee for 2014 until September 30. The methodology for the fee will be announced in February 2015 – which BIS claims will allow schemes sufficient time to pay it in line with the compliance deadline of March 31 2015.
