How to fulfil your obligations as professional EEE producers

How to fulfil your obligations as professional EEE producers

As a “producer” of professional electrical equipment within the meaning of the regulations, you are required to comply with a number of regulatory obligations which we can help you to meet.

Are you a Producer within the meaning of the regulations?

Yes, if you :

  • Manufacture and sell EEE under your own brand in France.
     
  • Resell equipment made by someone else under your own brand (if the maker’s brand appears on the equipment they are the Producer).
     
  • Import EEE on a commercial basis into France.
     
  • Are established outside France and supply EEE directly to french market by distance selling (e.g. online, mail order, phone).

Your obligations as a producer of professional electrical and electronic equipment  

To register and to report annually to the French Register of EEE producers managed by Ademe, the equipment placed on the market, the amounts collected and treated, as well as the measures taken to manage your obligations

To organise and to finance the collection and recycling of WEEE so as to manage the future of used electrical equipment that your company places on the market (decontamination, recycling, energy recovery)

To provide recyclers with all documents and information relating to the treatment of your equipment that shall be available upon request
 

To inform your customers, by all appropriate means, about the free take-back and recycling solution available relating to the electrical equipment your company places on the market 

Your regulatory objectives

65%
Collection rate 
Between 55% and 80%
Recycling rate

 

How can you fulfil your obligations?

Joining a PRO (Producer Responsability Organisation) approved by the authorities (eco-organisation): ecosystem.

Joining an approved eco-organisation for WEEE treatment as a producer of professional EEE, allows you to transfer your obligations. 

This only involves the following : 

  • Signing a membership contract 
  • Declaring the equipment placed on the market quarterly or annually
  • Paying the eco-fee 

ecosystem take care of the rest!

Appointing an agent in France in order to meet regulatory obligations

A company based in EU outside of France may, or must in the case of direct distance selling to the end user, appoint a person or company established in France to act as its agent in order to ensure that all its obligations related to the sale of EEE in France are fulfilled. This agent can join ecosystem. If a foreign company does not appoint an agent, French retailers will continue to take on the role of producer as an importer or as an entity introducing the company's products. If the foreign company sells directly to the end user via distance selling, the appointment of an agent is mandatory.

WEEE Europe
WEEE Europe

A one-stop platform for becoming a member and declaring marketed equipment in several European countries.

Setting up your individual compliance scheme

You can create your own compliance scheme for the collection and recycling of professional electrical equipment , and refer directly to ADEME in order to prove that it meets the requirements defined by the article R.543-197 of the Environmental Code. 

This involves the following:

  • Registering to the French Register of EEE Producers managed by ADEME
     
  • Providing your direct or indirect customers with a free take-back solution for the products they purchased
     
  • Organising the treatment of used equipment by an authorised operator
     
  • Reporting data to the French Register of Producers annually (tonnage of products sold throughout the year, amount of products collected, list of treatment providers, amount of pollutant materials treated…)

Liability in the event of non-fulfilment of your obligations

According to the French Environmental Code, the producers of electrical and electronic equipment are subject to administrative fines (up to €7,500 per infringed equipment, refer to art. L541-10) and criminal penalties (refer to art. R543-205 and 543-206) if they do not fulfil their obligations.