WEEE: Full name of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), namely, electrical and electronic equipment waste Directive.
From 1 January 2023, this will apply in Germany to all goods (including registration for brands and equipment types) that fall under the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive.
As we all know, Germany is a country with strict requirements on environmental protection. The law on recycling waste of electrical and electronic equipment plays a crucial role in protecting soil pollution and groundwater. Amazon and other e-commerce platforms have the legal obligation to check whether the sellers fulfill the relevant obligations, and also clearly require the sellers to comply with German WEEE.
How to judge whether to register German WEEE?
According to the requirements of the German Waste Directive on Electrical and Electronic Equipment, if you meet at least one of the following conditions, you are considered as a producer and need to register German WEEE:
1. You are a manufacturer, that is, an entity that manufactures in Germany goods covered by the Waste Directive on Electrical and Electronic Equipment and sells them under your own trade name or brand;
2. You are the brand holder, that is, you sell or commercially resell other manufacturers' goods covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive in Germany under your own trade name or brand. In this case, the manufacturer will not be considered a producer because your trade name or brand is displayed on electrical and electronic equipment;
3. You are a first-time importer, and for commercial purposes you are for the first time selling on the German market goods not of German origin which are covered by the Waste Directive on Electrical and Electronic Equipment. This includes the import into Germany from overseas of goods covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive;
4. You are a seller on an online platform, providing goods subject to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive directly to end users in Germany through online sales, but your company is not located in Germany.
Before selling goods covered by the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in Germany, the seller needs to ensure that the goods being sold are registered in the EAR with the correct brand and category of goods.
How to correctly confirm the registered WEEE commodity brand?
Under trademark law, a brand does not have to be a registered brand.
If the seller is selling an unbranded product (i.e. the product or package does not have a brand logo), the seller may use the company name or the name of the store where the product is being sold.
The words "no brand", "no name", pure commodity type name, device description (such as "measuring device", "Sudoku", "calculator", "flash drive") are not allowed to be registered on WEEE-Reg.-Nr.
Please note that the brand used in the registration process must be the brand of the commodity itself covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive.
How to correctly confirm the category of registered WEEE goods?
Each electrical and electronic equipment item can be assigned to one of WEEE's six equipment/goods categories, and electrical and electronic equipment can be classified as B2C (business-to-consumer) or B2B (business-to-business) equipment, depending on where the item is used. Therefore, there is at least one B2C and one B2B type device in each category.
· b2c equipment is a commodity covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive which may be used in private households. Usually used in private living Spaces, especially apartments and their respective lots or parts of buildings
· b2b equipment is a commodity covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive which can only be used outside of private homes or is not normally used in private homes
· Dual-use equipment is a commodity covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive which can be used in both private homes and commercial use. In principle, dual-use equipment is classified as b2c goods covered by the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste Directive.
A list of common product types:
The first type: heat exchanger; For example, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heat pumps, dehumidifiers and other integrated circuit appliances use substances other than water.
The second type: display screen; For example, televisions, computers, LCD picture frames and other screens with a surface area of more than 100 square centimeters of monitors and devices.
The third category: lamp; For example, table lamp, LED lamp and so on.
The fourth category: large electrical appliances; For example, washing machines, ovens, photocopiers, electric stoves, medical equipment, any appliance with an external size of more than 50 cm.
Fifth category: small electronic and electrical equipment; Such as: LED flashlight, LED light strip, wake up light, makeup mirror, camera, electronic alarm clock, electronic toys, adapter, kitchen electronic weighing, drone, pet electronic supplies, tire pressure instrument, wireless charger, travel charger, data cable, balance car, balance car, electric mosquito pats, impact, headphones, small night light, curling iron, electric toothbrush, electric shaver, vacuum cleaner, mosquito killer lamp Bluetooth thermometer.
Sixth type: small communication appliances; For example, mobile phones, routers, card readers, navigators, scanners equal to mobile phones, transmit, process, store and present information (information technology devices) and electronic devices.
What information is required for WEEE registration?
1. Application form for registration;
2. Product pictures and instructions with Logo;
3. Scanning copy of business license;
4. Letter of Authorization
Compliance requirements of WEEE:
Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997.
The compliance registration management agency EAR has registered and obtained the unique WEEE number. Sellers need to reflect the WEEE number on the platform, mark the WEEE logo on the products, declare the amount put into the market every month and entrust the service provider to fulfill the recovery obligation. There is no need to backtrack the compliance of WEEE in Germany, and EAR registration needs to be completed before delivery (large power consumption appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines must be marked with energy consumption levels).
Can the seller register German WEEE?
According to the German Law on Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ElektroG= German WEEE conversion), since October 24, 2015, producers without branches in Germany can no longer register or continue to register with the Foundation EAR (= German WEEE Registration Board).
Producers that do not have a branch in Germany but have already registered will need to re-register. This includes the appointment of an authorized representative in Germany and the notification of the clearing house Foundation EAR as the competent authority.
To put it simply, overseas buyers must develop German local representatives authorized by EAR to complete WEEE registration and post-compliance maintenance. Moreover, since this year, EAR has been more and more strict on the qualification examination of German authorized representatives. When choosing authorized representatives, we must pay attention to choosing agents verified by EAR. If you need to register, please contact us
How to make sure your product is registered successfully:
Log in WEEE official website for query:
https://www.ear-system.de/ear-verzeichnis/hersteller#no-back
After registering WEEE, what else do you need to do?
1. Verify the registration number and fill in WEEE-Reg.-Nr when the uploading interface is opened on the sales platform;
2. Declaration: declare the total sales weight of the previous month once a month; declare the total sales weight of the previous year annually; make 12 monthly reports +1 annual report;
3, regular payment of recovery charge, Germany is at the beginning of each year in accordance with the category of the product prepaid the basic recovery charge of the year, the basic recovery charge includes the weight of the commodity recovery is 10-25 tons, at the end of the year if the final declared sales weight exceeds the recovery weight prepaid at the beginning of the year, you need to pay additional recovery charge.
Do not register the consequences of German WEEE
1. According to Amazon's announcement, unregistered products will be removed from the shelves;
2. According to ElektroG's Bulletin, violation of ElektroG may result in a fine of up to €100,000;
3. The seller may be subject to legal complaints from competitors:
Asked a German lawyer to send a letter to Amazon, asking it to stop selling the company's products and apply for court proceedings to destroy all of the company's products on Amazon.
Several shops sell one brand. Can we only register one WEEE number?
Yes, German weee is registered according to the brand and category of goods, so the sales platform verifies the seller's weee registration number, and can use the brand holder as the weee number registered by the producer.
However, when these sellers using the same weee number make declaration, they must collect all the sales data of all stores to declare. Otherwise, if the weee number causes any non-compliance, the weee compliance of all stores will be affected. Although the use of brand holders as producers to register weee number will not cause store association, but for sellers, there are still some risks.
Is it better to declare more weight?
Declare truthfully;
The amount of WEEE's annual basic recycling sales varies according to the category of goods. The maximum recycling weight ton included in the basic recycling charge is 10-25 tons.