Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic data
Title: Law on the placing on the market, return and environmentally compatible disposal of electrical and electronic equipment
Short title: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act
Abbreviation: ElektroG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany            
Legal matter: Commercial administrative law , environmental law
References : 2129-59
Original version from: March 16, 2005
( BGBl. I p. 762 )
Entry into force on: August 13, 2005
Last revision from: Art. 1 G of October 20, 2015
( BGBl. I p. 1739 )
Entry into force of the
new version on: 		October 24, 2015
(Art. 7 G of October 20, 2015)
Last change by: Art. 12 G of April 28, 2020
( Federal Law Gazette I p. 960, 1009 )
Effective date of the
last change: 		May 26, 2022
(Art. 18 G of April 28, 2020)
GESTA : M030
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) aims to ensure that old electrical equipment is not disposed of with household waste, but is collected separately and recycled. The controlled and controlled disposal is intended to combat the illegal export of old electrical appliances abroad, reuse valuable raw materials and reduce the negative impact on the environment and health.

The original version of the law dates from March 16, 2005 and implemented the EU directives 2002/95 / EC and 2002/96 / EC of January 27, 2003.

With the entry into force of Directive 2012/19 / EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment ( WEEE directive ) on August 13, 2012, the ElektroG was further developed so that in future significantly more waste electrical and electronic equipment can be disposed of properly and in an environmentally friendly manner. On October 24, 2015, the law to reorganize the law on the placing on the market, return and environmentally friendly disposal of electrical and electronic equipment came into force. At the same time, the law of March 16, 2005 expired.

EU legal requirements

Waste electrical and electronic equipment is one of the largest growing proportions of waste in the EU. In 2005, the amount was around 9 million tons ; by 2020 the EU Commission expects an increase to more than 12 million tons. Electronic scrap consists of a wide variety of materials and components, the hazardous ingredients of which can lead to particular environmental and health risks. In addition, the manufacture of such devices requires rare and expensive raw materials.

In response to this problem, the EU Commission issued two directives on January 27, 2003: Directive 2002/95 / EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and Directive 2002/96 / EC on electrical and electronic equipment Waste electronic equipment. Directive 2002/95 / EC was replaced by EU Directive 2011/65 / EU ( RoHS Directive ) in January 2013 . Directive 2012/19 / EU ( WEEE Directive ) should be implemented in national law by February 14, 2014 .

While the RoHS directive aims to reduce the use of hazardous substances in products, the WEEE directive created a legal framework for collecting used electrical and electronic equipment from consumers, the proportion of these devices in household waste to reduce and to collect raw materials professionally and to recycle them.

Implementation in Germany

ElektroG from 2005

The EU directives of January 27, 2003 were initially implemented in Germany by the law on the placing on the market, return and environmentally compatible disposal of electrical and electronic equipment (ElektroG) of March 16, 2005 as a consent law.

In order to dispose of the largest possible quantities of electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally friendly manner, municipal collection points were set up which had to be equipped with a sufficient number of containers to hold the old equipment. The further recovery and recycling of the old devices was financed by the manufacturers of electrical and electronic devices, who were subject to registration in Germany. They had to prove that the financing of the disposal of their devices manufactured after August 2005 for use in private households was secured. The registration obligation was intended to prevent manufacturers from placing devices on the market in an anti-competitive manner without complying with their respective take-back and disposal obligations.

Corresponding regulations have been introduced for commercially used devices. The manufacturers were responsible for taking back and recycling the devices sold from August 2005, but not for the commercial inventory available on the market. The recycling or removal of this old stock had to be organized by the commercial owners themselves. Contractual agreements with third parties regarding the return of old devices and the allocation of costs were possible.

In a petition supported by 514 signatories in 2014, it was criticized that, particularly in telecommunications devices and tablet computers, it is often no longer possible for the user to replace batteries or accumulators. This is a violation of the product concept of § 4 ElektroG. Against the background that the preparation of the new ecodesign work program for the years 2015 to 2017 will be discussed at European level, the petitions committee of the German Bundestag took the petition as an opportunity to forward it to the European Parliament so that it can be considered for a cross-product Regulation for the improved interchangeability of batteries for the products affected by the Ecodesign Directive can be included.

Transition periods

In order for manufacturers and municipalities to be able to prepare for their new tasks and to ensure a smooth start to the implementation of the law, transitional provisions have been included in the electrical engineering law: a transition period of eight months applied to the registration of manufacturers and to the collection and provision of old devices by the municipalities and the take-back and disposal by the manufacturers a transitional period of twelve months after promulgation of the law.

The eight-month transition period expired on November 24, 2005. From this date onwards, all manufacturers who bring electrical and electronic equipment onto the market in Germany had to be registered with the responsible foundation for waste electrical and electronic equipment . The Federal Environment Agency is the specialist and supervisory authority for the foundation .

The next level of the ElektroG followed on March 24, 2006: End users are now obliged to leave their old devices for separate collection. The public waste disposal authorities collect the devices returned to them from private households free of charge and make them available for collection, the manufacturers are responsible for the return and disposal of old devices.

The individual deadlines for German companies were as follows:

  • June 1, 2005: Original date for the start of registration with the EAR Foundation, test registrations earlier.
  • November 24, 2005: Every manufacturer must be registered, otherwise the placing of devices on the market can be prohibited.
  • March 24, 2006: At this point in time, new devices must comply with the labeling requirements of the law at the latest .
  • July 1, 2006: Limit values ​​for certain pollutants in new devices apply and must be observed.
  • December 31, 2006: Manufacturers or importers as well as distributors have to prove and communicate their recycling rates.

According to the EAR Foundation, only a registration number in the format WEEE Reg.-No. DE 12345678 is permitted as proof of a legally valid registration within the scope of the labeling requirement. This means that devices that are not appropriately labeled or devices that have been labeled using an "InterimID" that has been assigned in the meantime may no longer be sold.

The company incurs costs when converting the products, possibly additional costs for production, as well as costs for registration and membership in the EAR Foundation. For devices in the lower price segment, price increases between 10 and 25 percent were expected. B. 25 to 30 euros for a refrigerator or 40 euro cents for a fluorescent tube.

The improvement of the environmental compatibility of electrical and electronic equipment by banning lead is controversial. Lead-free solders require higher soldering temperatures, which are associated with longer heating and cooling phases, which leads to approx. 20–30% more energy consumption during soldering. The long-term stability of lead-free solders has not been adequately investigated. It is possible that mass-produced goods in particular will have a significantly shorter service life in the future due to the whisker formation of pure tin.

Although Directive 2002/95 / EC was replaced by a new version in 2011 that introduced more extensive substance restrictions, a corresponding extension of the German ElektroG was rejected. Instead, the part of the RoHS directive in ElektroG was deleted and implemented with ElektroStoffV .

Amendment 2015

The new version of the ElektroG ( ElektroG2 ) formulates a collection target of 45% of the average amount of devices placed on the market in the three previous years. In 2019 this collection target will be increased to 65%. A comprehensive collection structure and optimized collection groups should ensure a more efficient recycling process and an increased recovery of raw materials.

The obligation to take back old electrical equipment free of charge applies to all distributors with a sales area for electrical and electronic equipment (storage and dispatch areas for distance sellers) of 400 m² and more. Small devices (if none of the external dimensions exceed 25 cm) are to be taken back regardless of the sale of a corresponding new device.

From August 15, 2018, the ElektroG will introduce an open area of ​​application that extends to all electrical and electronic equipment and comprises the following six categories:

  1. Heat exchanger
  2. Screens, monitors and devices containing screens with a surface area of ​​more than 100 cm²
  3. Lamps
  4. Devices with at least one of the external dimensions more than 50 cm (large devices)
  5. Devices with none of the external dimensions exceeding 50 cm (small devices)
  6. Small devices in information and telecommunications technology, where none of the external dimensions is more than 50 cm

The ElektroG applies according to Section 2 (2) ElektroG does not apply to the following electrical and electronic equipment ("whitelist"):

  1. Devices that serve to safeguard the essential security interests of the Federal Republic of Germany, including weapons, ammunition and military material that are only intended for military purposes,
  2. Devices that (a) are built into another device that is excluded from the scope of this Act or that does not fall within the scope of this Act and (b) can only fulfill their function specifically as part of this other device,
  3. Lightbulbs,
  4. Equipment for use in space,
  5. large stationary industrial tools,
  6. fixed large systems; However, this law applies to devices that are not specifically designed as part of these systems and are not installed in them,
  7. Means of transport for the transport of people and goods; However, this law applies to electric two-wheeled vehicles for which type approval is not required,
  8. moving machines,
  9. Equipment specifically designed for research and development purposes only and provided only on an inter-company level, and
  10. medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices, each expected to become infectious before the end of their life, and active implantable medical devices.

Registration

This section needs to be revised: Is this information still up-to-date or have these problems been resolved by Directive 2012/19 / EU?
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

National legislation initially required every manufacturer to register and participate in the local disposal system in the country in which they sell their devices . This also applied to mail-order transactions directly to end consumers in other EU countries. Many of these national laws are only available in the respective national language or prohibit registration without a company headquarters in the respective country. In Germany, this foreclosure, which contradicts the EU internal market , is achieved by registering with the EAR, which according to the current status is only possible with a German bank account, which in turn is usually only available with a branch in Germany.

In order to be able to continue selling throughout the EU, a manufacturer would either need a branch in each country or a dealer who would take on the manufacturer's obligations, which is difficult to achieve for many smaller companies.

Occasionally it is claimed that this has changed since March 18, 2008, so that registration in Germany is sufficient to be able to sell from Germany to the whole of the EU. When asked, the EAR Foundation contradicted this statement. Here the reference is made that the law is only valid within the scope of the Federal Republic of Germany and that the national implementation of other member states may deviate from the German implementation.

The EAR Foundation's register is publicly accessible so that it is possible to check immediately whether manufacturers have registered their devices.

The registration requirement according to Section 6 (1) sentence 1 ElektroG applies primarily to manufacturers within the meaning of Section 3 No. 9 ElektroG. Manufacturers are not allowed to put unregistered devices on the market ( Section 6 (2) sentence 1 ElektroG). Distributors within the meaning of Section 3 No. 11 ElektroG may not offer unregistered devices for sale ( Section 6 (2) sentence 2 ElektroG). In the event of violations, both manufacturers and distributors act improperly and can be fined up to one hundred thousand euros ( Section 45 (1) No. 1, 3, 4, Paragraph 2 ElektroG).

literature

  • Markus W. Pauly: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act. Introduction, legal text, EU directives . Bundesanzeiger-Verlag, Cologne 2005. ISBN 3-89817-433-6
  • Martin Stabno: ElektroG. Text output with instructions for use . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-555-01374-2
  • Stefan Ernst: The electrical law - some information on implementing the obligations . Verwaltungsrundschau 2007, pp. 227–232. ISSN  0342-5592
  • Rebecca Prelle, Holger Thärichen , Andrea Versteyl : ElektroG. Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act. Comment . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-503-11017-9
  • Commentary on the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) in the version of October 20, 2015 . In: Heinrich Freiherr von Lersner , Helge Wendenburg, Olaf Kropp, Jörg Rüdiger (Hrsg.): Law of the waste and recycling management of the federal government, the states and the European Union. Commentaries on the Waste Framework Directive, the KrWG and other waste legislation and regulations, Volume 3. Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2nd edition 2015. ISBN 978 3 503 16516 2
  • Markus W. Pauly, Matthias Peine, Frederik Janke: The amendment of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act from the perspective of the private waste management industry . ZUR 2016, p. 67 ff.
  • Ludger Giesberts, Juliane Hilf: ElektroG. Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act. Comment . 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2018. ISBN 978-3-406-71618-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law on the placing on the market, taking back and environmentally friendly disposal of electrical and electronic equipment , Federal Law Gazette I p. 762
  2. ↑ Directive 2002/95 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 27, 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment ABl. L 037 of February 13, 2003
  3. ↑ Directive 2002/96 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 27, 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, ABl. L 37/24 of February 13, 2003
  4. ^ Draft of a law for the reorganization of the law on the placing on the market, the return and the environmentally friendly disposal of electrical and electronic equipment BT-Drs. 18/4901 of May 13, 2015
  5. ↑ BGBl. I p. 1739
  6. ↑ European Commission: Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Retrieved February 22, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Requests and complaints to the German Bundestag. The activities of the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag in 2014 BT-Drs. 18/4990 of June 9, 2015, p. 89
  8. ^ Daniel AJ Sokolov, Jürgen Kuri: EU rules for the return of electronic waste in force. In: heise online. August 13, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2009 .
  9. ↑ Law amending the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act , May 3, 2013
  10. ↑ cf. The electrical law. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  11. ^ Amendment of the ElektroG on March 11, 2015. In: Declaration of the Federal Government on the Electronic Equipment Act : E-waste easier to dispose of. March 11, 2015, accessed March 24, 2015 .
  12. ↑ ElektroG 2018: What applies to electrical / electronic devices since August 15, 2018? In: dogan.legal // public procurement law, IT law and data protection law . September 17, 2018 ( dogan.legal [accessed September 18, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Questions and Answers - Distributors. EAR Foundation, accessed on October 6, 2017 (FAQ, including on the question of whether the registration also applies to other EU countries).
  14. ↑ List of registered manufacturers and registered authorized representatives. In: ear portal. Retrieved December 18, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Andrea Struwe: 5 things you need to know about the mandatory registration of electrical and electronic devices! May 14, 2017