Germany introduces new fines to punish violations of the take-back obligation for electrical equipmen

The Federal Council (Bundesrat) has approved an amendment to the German regulation for electronic equipment (ElektroG) which introduces an administrative offense as a matter of fact in the event of a producer's non-compliance to the statutory take-back obligation. Depending on the severity of the case, producers can be penalized with fines up to € 100,000 in the future. The Act shall enter into force on 1 June 2017.

With this, the enforcement against illegaly acting producers shall be strengthened, commented the Federal Ministry of the Environment. Responsible regional authorities are now enabled to prosecute producers more effectively, which impede or refuse the take-back of end-of-life electronic equipment in both markets - online and brick and mortar.

In order to meet their extended producer take-back obligation for electronic equipment according to ElektroG, we recommend producers and retailers (including online retailers) to join an appropriate compliance scheme.
Your contacts at CCR / RELECTRA will be here to assist you in finding a suitable solution.

 

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