1cc presents at E-Waste World Summit 2015 in Shanghai

The 3^rd e-Waste World Summit 2015, an international recycling conference, will be held in Shanghai, China, from April 15 to 17, 2015.

1cc consultant Ms. Yun Zhang from our Shanghai office will be a keynote speaker on April 16, 2015. She will give an overview about “WEEE Compliance and Recast in Europe”.

We look forward meeting you at the conference.

Further information: www.e-wasteworld.com

Retailers have to take back used electrical and electronic equipment free of charge

Consumers will be able to return their used electrical and electronic equipment such as laptops, radios or vacuum cleaners free of charge if they buy a new and comparable device in the store.

Smaller electrical and electronic equipment may be returned without purchasing a new device. However, the latter regulation will only apply to bigger retailers with a sales area of more than 400 square meters, and also to bigger online sellers.

The new take-back obligations are regulated by the reform of the German ElektroG (Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act), which is expected to enter into force at the end of this year. This reform transposes the changes of the WEEE Directive 2012/19 /EU (WEEE Recast Directive) which came into force in 2012. As further EU member states, Germany is in delay with the implementation which should have been carried out before February 14, 2014.

Beside the increased take-back obligations for retailers, the WEEE Directive foresees new collection rates for WEEE starting with next year. The collection rates shall evolve gradually, and from 2019 the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually shall be 65 percent. Furthermore, the product scope will be extended to all electrical and electronic devices beginning with 2018.

Spain: National Transposition of WEEE Recast

Spain was one of the EU member states which were delayed in transposing the EU WEEE Recast: Finally, on last Saturday, February 21, 2015, “Real Decreto 110/2015, sobre residuos de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos” (Royal Decree 110/2015) was officially published in the Spanish Official Gazette. With this Decree, Spain has finally transposed the WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU into national law.
A deeper analysis of the new Spanish Decree will show which are the national specifications and changes. We will provide you soon with more information.

WEEE Recast Directive 2012/19/EU: Some states are still missing

EU Member States have to adopt national laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the new Directive 2012/19/EU of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE Recast Directive).

The deadline for transposition was 14 February 2014. Today, one year after that day, only 20 of the states have adopted the necessary legal provisions.

In Belgium only one of the three regions, namely Flanders, has transposed the Recast. Cyprus, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain only have drafts available. In Slovenia not even a draft has been published yet.

1cc at IERC Congress in Salzburg

From 21. – 23.01.2015 the „14th International Electronics Recycling Congress” (IERC) will take place in Salzburg/Austria. This is an international platform where the latest developments and challenges on WEEE all over the world are discussed. 1cc as well as its affiliate company WEEElogic will give an expert lecture in Salzburg.

Date: January 21, 2015, 4:30 – 5pm
Theme: “Who owns the waste – Makes the profit? Producer responsibility – Time for an overdue paradigm shift?”
Speaker: Michael Krug, 1cc
Room: Europe

Date: January 22, 2015, 11– 12 am
Theme: “Towards harmonisation – Private European initiative filling the gap of WEEE2”
Speakers: Meike Ruoff and Romain Letenneur, WEEElogic GmbH
Room: Mozart

Further Information:
www.icm.ch/ierc-2015

Copyright Levies: Cascade of levy system abolishments to be expected?

While some countries around the world have created or expanded on their existing copyright levy systems, another European country has abolished its system as of January 1, 2015: Finland repealed the legal basis of the copyright levies on blank media & recording devices. Instead, the authors will be compensated via a fund paid out of the state budget. After the Finnish levy tariffs have remained unchanged for the last two years, the parliament voted in December to replace the Copyright Levy system by a government fund. From now on, no copyright levies should be paid anymore in Finland. In 2012 the Spanish Government decided to abolish its copyright levy system, establishing and replacing it by a different one, comparable to the Norwegian system, where levies are calculated into the state budget. In Estonia, a similar system is now in the planning phase.

Basically, device- and media-based copyright levy systems are a matter of fervent controversies in all countries in which they are implemented. Nevertheless, their abolishment can be considered critical: The question of (the estimated) harm for right holders caused by private copying remains and, with it, the question of its compensation. A state budget being nothing but tax revenue, every author would rely on government aid. In fact, the harm is to be taken into account and, in the absence of a copyright levy system, he will simply be financed from other sources. The authorities will raise their claims elsewhere. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the Spanish authority tried to claim excessive fees for licensing recently? It seems as if the controversy just shifted somewhere else.