Chapter 27: assistance in setting up unified system for authorising and overseeing the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility obligations

The PLAC III project has provided support to the Ministry of Environmental Protection in establishing a unique system for authorisation and supervision of the implementation of extended producer responsibility obligations for each waste stream.

In the common position for Negotiating Chapter 27, the European Union stated that Serbia must dedicate “appropriate funding to infrastructure investments in line with relevant EU legislation, including the waste hierarchy”. In addition, Serbia must establish “waste prevention programmes and prepares waste management plans – national and regional – that include information on all waste streams and the solutions to manage them, including the type and capacity of waste management infrastructure, separate collection schemes and economic instruments.” In particular, “the EU encourages Serbia to pursue work for the full alignment with the Packaging and Packaging Waste, Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment, Restriction of Hazardous Substances, Batteries and End-of-Life Vehicles Directives, including the establishment and/or alignment with the EU requirements of the extended producer’s responsibility system needed for the creation and management of individual and collective schemes”.

The support of the project related to the analysis of the current situation in the sector and recommendations on how to establish a unique system for authorising and supervising the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations for the following waste streams: packaging and packaging waste, electrical and electronic waste, batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and endo-of-life vehicles. EPR is an environmental policy approach in which producer responsibility is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle.

Project experts Simona Ghita and Vladica Čudić presented an analysis of how the EPR scheme works in Serbia, the results of a comparative analysis of best practices in EU member states, as well as recommendations for adopting a legislative framework at a workshop held in Belgrade on 18 January 2024.

Vladica Čudić presented an overview of the existing EPR system in Serbia. She stated that the objectives of the EPR scheme are not clearly stated in the relevant laws, that the fees for the work of producer responsibility organisations do not differ according to the harmfulness of the material or the ease of recycling. Citizens are not stimulated or obliged to separate packaging waste, and their education is not well implemented at the national level. Čudić also gave recommendations on the steps and measures needed to improve the quality of information and data in accordance with the reporting requirements set in the relevant EU regulations.

Simona Ghita presented a comparative analysis of how the sector is regulated in Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Spain and Sweden. She presented recommendations for Serbia according to which the central body would be the Commission within the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Ghita presented to the participants a proposal Proposal for a by-law regarding the approval of the specific structure and the operating rules of the Commission for the permitting the extended producers responsibility bodies and the authorization procedure, annual approval and withdrawal of the right to operate of the organisations and producers that implements the extended producer obligations.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the competent ministry and organizations dealing with waste management.