Chapter 27: how to introduce a register of producers and importers of electronic and electrical equipment

In the field of waste management, Serbia needs to improve the implementation of legislation which is, according to the European Commission report, harmonised with the Union acquis. The 2020 data show that only 15.5 percent of waste was recycled, of which less than 2 percent came from households.

In order to harmonise the legislation related to electronic and electrical waste, as well as waste batteries and accumulators, the PLAC III project has provided support to the Ministry of Environmental Protection in the drafting of by-laws related to the preparation of registers of producers and importers of these products. Given the similar requirements in waste management, the support also included compliance with the Directive on end-of-life vehicles.

EU legislation governing this area includes Directive 2012/19/EU on electronic and electrical waste (EEE) and Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators. They oblige Member States to draw up a register of producers to ensure that every producer of EEE, batteries and accumulators is registered, including producers who supply via remote communication. The registers facilitate the monitoring of compliance with the requirements of the directives by economic operators who place products on the market and cooperation of authorities in charge. Identifying and monitoring producers is the first step towards an effective producer responsibility policy (EPR), which has proven to be a solution for achieving EU goals.

At the workshop held on December 13 in Belgrade, project expert Simona Gita presented an overview of examples of good practice in the EU - experience in establishing national registers in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Latvia. As she said, 22 out of 27 member states use an electronic register for waste data management, and 20 countries have also opened web portals recently.

Gita also presented a proposal for a Procedure on how to record and report data on batteries, accumulators and waste batteries, waste from electrical and electronic equipment, as well as end-of-life vehicles. The proposed document covers also packaging and packaging waste.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the interested public.