Germany: Never before have so many products been subject to copyright levies

After alone this year and alone in Germany, two other large product families became taxable through contracts between collecting societies and companies, Smartwatches are now also taxable. Manufacturers and importers have to pay 1.50 euros per unit. The agreement for Smartwatches applies retroactively from 1 January 2019 and at least until the end of 2022. Only then can the amount of levies be renegotiated.

While the scope of taxable products in Germany was manageable for a long time, it has now become inclusive and comprehensive. Germany is one of the countries with levies on reprography equipment, which includes copiers, printers and scanners. In addition, until a few years ago, only some storage media were subject to levies. But intensive negotiations took place so that today, practically all relevant IT devices, all storage media and the entire range of consumer electronics are additionally subject to copyright levies.

Ultimately, the contracting parties have overcome long-standing obstacles to negotiations, the European market is more competitive, companies have more planning security and right holders have more income.

However, many more companies now have more work to do in terms of sales volume reporting. For example, a Smartwatch must first be clearly distinguished from a pure fitness tracker as well as from jewellery and toys in accordance with the product definition in the tariff agreement.

For more information: copyright@1cc-consulting.com

More sustainability for household appliances

At the beginning of October, the European Commission adopted new ecodesign measures for some product groups, among others electronic displays (including televisions), light sources and external power suppliers. The novelty of this set of ecodesign requirements consists in its valuable contribution to circular economy objectives. Thus, for the first time the ecodesign requirements also cover the matters of products reparability and recyclability. For example, promoting reparability, in practical terms, means increasing the lifespan of the equipment, which can be made possible through increasing the availability of spare parts over longer time periods after the purchase of appliances.

The newly adopted measures (combined with the energy labels adopted in March) are expected to save as much as 167 TWh of energy per year by the year 2030, which in its turn equals to a CO2 reduction of over 46 million tons, possibly saving consumers €150 per year on average.

More information at: https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-5895_en.htm

Germany – The Packaging Register has published Minimum Standard for the Assessment of the Recyclability of Packaging

In coordination with the German Federal Environment Agency, on 1 September 2019 the Central Packaging Register (ZSVR) has published the minimum standard for the assessment of the recyclability of packaging subject to system participation.

This is in line with the requirements of § 21 (1) VerpackG, which stipulates that schemes are obliged to calculate the participation fees in such a way that incentives are included with respect to environmentally friendly(ier) production of packaging. The aim of the standard is to help provide schemes with a uniform framework for the determination of packaging recyclability.

This standard is expected to be reviewed and updated annually on the basis of technical progress and feedback reports from the schemes; the next update is planned beginning June 2020.

Further information: www.verpackungsregister.org/fileadmin/files/Mindeststandard/Mindeststandard_VerpackG_2019.pdf

GRS to change Legal Status – Reduction of Costs prospected

On 28 August 2019, the collective compliance scheme for portable batteries in Germany, Stiftung Gemeinsames Rücknahmesystem Batterien (GRS), has informed their members that they will apply for an approval as a so-called producer-owned battery compliance scheme according to Article 7 of the German Battery Act (BattG).

Currently, the GRS is a collective battery compliance scheme according to Article 6 of the Battery Act and operates as a foundation on a non-profit basis.

Against that background, the GRS is obligated to pay for collection and recycling of all batteries that are collected in public collection points, regardless of whether the producer of the collected batteries is member of GRS or another take-back scheme. This situation has caused financial imbalance between the GRS and the producer-owned battery compliance schemes.

In order to change the situation, the GRS intends to change their legal status. Once the change is implemented, the costs for take-back and recycling will be shared between all producer-owned battery compliance schemes, the load-balance will be calculated on the total volumes collected in Germany and the market share of the schemes.

As this will reduce the financial burden of the GRS, they have announced that they will be able to reduce the contributions of their members and offer competitive prices.

The new battery law that is expected to enter into force in 2022 will implement further improvements regarding the load-balance between the compliance schemes for portable batteries.

EEU states launching copyright levy systems

The five member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are currently revising and concretizing their copyright regulations. This applies not only to legal provisions, but also to purely organisational issues and has an impact on the copyright levy systems. A harmonisation of the systems in the sense of this community of states is to be expected.

Russia and Kazakhstan have already introduced levies on devices and storage media. The Russian levy system has been established and active for a long time and is very comprehensive. The scope has been revised recently. Remarkably, the list of levied devices names the EEU code, which fulfils a similar function to the EORI number of the European Union. Kazakhstan has only recently revived the inactive levy system with Ordinances 445/2019 and 391/291. Manufacturers and importers are now called upon to register through binding agreements with collecting societies. They will then have to pay for the quantities of MP3/4-capable devices put on the market. Belarus has also established a complete levy system and only revised its Copyright Act in July (216-Z/2019). Among other things, the law now provides for procedural facilitations, which can also support negotiations between authorities and industry on the amount of levies for devices and storage media.

In two other member states of the Union, neither legislation nor practical organisation have yet reached that stage: Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have the right to private copying. In Kyrgyzstan, a copyright levy is also planned to compensate for legal private copying. However, there are still no effective procedural rules for the Kyrgyzpatent authority to assert the claims.

For more information, please contact: copyright@1cc-consulting.com

Meet us at Eurobike in Friedrichshafen and IFA in Berlin

• Eurobike in Friedrichshafen: Thursday, 05.09.2019
• IFA in Berlin: Monday, 09.09.2019 or Tuesday, 10.09.2019

Your contact to us:

+49 7031 43938-0

contact@1cc-consulting.com

We look forward to your contact request and a personal meeting.

German authorities prosecute infringements against German Packaging Law

In July, the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) has contacted dozens of thousands of producers that are not fully compliant with the legal requirements of the German Packaging Law (VerpackG).

The most common lacks of compliance relate to:

• missing registration with packaging register (LUCID)
• missing system participation (membership with a packaging compliance scheme)
• outstanding or incomplete volume declarations.

The ZSVR urges the producers to take action to address the deficiencies identified.

If the manufacturers do not remedy the shortcomings in a timely manner, the ZSVR will forward the information to the competent enforcement authorities so that they can examine whether an offence procedure will be initiated.

Furthermore, the ZSVR has announced that it intends to carry out such investigations on a regular basis in the future. In the long term, this should lead to a higher rate of system participation and licensed packaging volumes.

If you have received a letter from the ZSVR or need any assistance regarding packaging compliance in Germany, please contact us: contact@1cc-consulting.com

ECHA publishes updated Candidate List

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published the new REACH Candidate List on July 16, 2019: Four Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) were added to the list. The Candidate List of substances of very high concern for Authorization now contains 201 substances.

The newly added substances have many different uses. For instance, 2-methoxyethyl acetate is among other things used in various applications as a solvent (e.g. industrial as well as a for resins and different types of gums). TNPP is mainly applied as an antioxidant for polymer stabilization. 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-(heptafluoropropoxy)propionic acid, its salts and its acyl halides are used in the processing of fluorinated polymers. Diverse applications of 4-tert-butylphenol include for example production of epoxy resins and due to its specific properties manufacture of flexible plastics.

Link to the ECHA website: https://echa.europa.eu/-/four-new-substances-added-to-the-candidate-list

1cc – Team news

Nina Farcic joined the 1cc team as a Monitoring Specialist in April 2019. She successfully completed her Master’s degree in Italian and Sociology in Croatia. In addition, Nina is a certified court interpreter for Italian and speaks fluent Croatian, English and German. After completing her studies, Nina worked in the customer service. She is looking forward to the new challenges at 1cc and supporting the monitoring team in the geographical scope of her linguistic and cultural expertise.

Philipp Bayha joined the 1cc team as a Reporting Specialist in July 2019. After graduating high school, he travelled abroad for six months to gather experience and improve his language skills. Philipp joined TechProtect GmbH, 1cc’s sister company, upon his return to Germany and embarked on an apprenticeship in industrial management. Upon successful completion, Philipp joined 1cc and was assigned to the reporting of WEEE and battery issues and the logistic coordination involved therein.

EU-RoHS: Open Scope and new substance restrictions as of 22 July 2019

Phthalates become restricted substances:

The scope of the EU RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU) will change once again as of 22 July 2019. As implemented by amending Directive 2015/863, four new substances will be added to the list of restricted substances and their use to a maximum concentration of 0,1% in homogeneous material: .

• Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP)
• Butylbenzylphthalate (BBP)
• Dibutylphthalate (DBP)
• Diisobutylphthalate (DIBP)

All electrical and electronic equipment under the scope of the RoHS Directive have to comply with the substance restrictions of 10 instead of the initial six substances, if placed on the market for the first time after 21 July 2019.

New industry sectors affected for the first time:

In addition, the so-called “open scope” will apply as of 22 July 2019. This implies that all electrical and electronic equipment – which means equipment that is dependent on electric current or electromagnetic fields for at least one intended function – will be covered by the Directive’s scope (exclusions remain unchanged). Products that didn’t initially fall under one of the 10 categories, such as clothing, furniture and cables not dedicated to a specific category of equipment, will also have to comply with the substance restrictions as of the aforementioned date.

We would be happy to answer your queries regarding compliance to the RoHS Directive and compliance issues under the EU RoHS.

Please contact us at contact@1cc-consulting.com