A Producer, as defined by the WEEE regulations, is a manufacturer of Electrical & Electronic Equipment (EEE), selling under their own brand, a brand owner / re-brander of EEE manufactured by others, or those who import EEE into the UK .

Producers - Your obligations outlined

A Producer who puts Electrical & Electronic Equipment (EEE) on the market in the UK has Producer responsibility obligations based on the type and quantity of the (EEE) that they put on the UK market.

All Producers, regardless of their size, have been required to register with a compliance scheme since 15th March 2007 or within 28 days of placing EEE on the UK market and provide their Producer Compliance Scheme with the weight of EEE products in each category put on the market during the previous quarter in time for the quarterly submissions to be made. B2B customers are also required to declare the weight and category of WEEE that they have disposed of during each quarter.

Information is required by the Producer Compliance Scheme within three weeks of the end of each quarter to enable the information to be submitted to the Environment Agency within one month of the quarter end.

Producers are required to display their Producer Registration Number and usually show the number on invoices and/or letterheads.

Producers of EEE are responsible for all costs associated with recovery & recycling. Recycling information must be made available to customers, and when requested, processing sites (AATF's).

There are also obligations for business users of EEE, when the equipment they are using comes to the end of its life and becomes WEEE.

All producers are now responsible for marking EEE.

Mark your products

You should be marking all new electrical products with:

The crossed-out wheeled bin symbol
A producer identification mark 
A date mark

The wheeled bin mark aims to help minimise the amount of WEEE disposed of as unsorted household waste. In some cases, because of the size or the function of the product, the symbol can be printed on the packaging, the instructions or on the warranty.

European standards marking body CENELEC has developed a standard for WEEE Directive marking.

The WEEE directive requires that the product must be marked with a Do Not Landfill mark, date code, and name of producer. TAC (Technical Adaptation Committee) and the Cenelec standards body created the graphical, which is the crossed out wheel bin with a bar underneath it that indicates that the product was placed on the market after August 13, 2005.

Explanation of marking requirements with symbol and proportions (4 pages)

Environment Agency WEEE Producer Information – http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32106.aspx

EEE – What is Included? – Scope Guidance – What is EEE? – Our latest understanding        
November 2008

EEE: This will be equipment that you:

•  Manufacture and sell EEE under your own brand.
•  Re-sell EEE under your own brand anything made by others.
•  Import EEE for sale on the UK market.
•  Supply EEE for sale in another EU member state.

Types of EEE producers:
Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C)

• You are a B2C Producer if you are a producer and sell EEE Intended for domestic use .

  - Your obligations as a B2C business to consumer Producer / Distributor (2 pages)

  - Guidance notes for Distributers / Producers of EEE (6 pages)
  
  - Information to be made available to B2C customers – Example 1 page

• You are a B2B Producer if you are a producer and sell EEE Intended for business use .

• You may be both B2C and B2C Producer if you produce both of the above.

DO include “EEE” if it:

Operates using an electric current: -

The electric current (up to 1000V AC or 1500V DC) is required by the item in order to operate properly. Discount any item that, when the electric current is removed, the item continues to fulfil its primary purpose.

Falls within a Category: -

You need only include an item if it falls within any of the 13 categories listed in the form.

1. Large household appliances (e.g. cookers, dishwashers, fridges*)
2. Small household appliances (e.g. kettles, vacuum cleaners, paper shredders)
3. IT + telecoms (e.g. PCs, laptops, faxes, scanners, mobile phones, monitors*)
4. Consumer equipment (e.g. DVD players, Hi-Fi, radios, TVs*)
5. Lighting equipment (e.g. fluorescent tubes*, torches, luminaries)
6.   Electric tools (e.g. electric drill, garden vac)
7. Toys, leisure, sports (e.g. games consoles, electric guitar, rowing machine)
8. Medical devices (e.g. dialysis equipment, blood pressure monitors, gas chromatograph)
9. Monitoring + control (e.g. scales, smoke detectors, burglar alarm, remote control)
10. Automatic dispensers (e.g. drinks machine, plug-in air freshener)
11. Display equipment (e.g. TVs, monitors, oscilloscopes)
12. Cooling appliances (e.g. fridges, freezers, air-con units)
13. Gas discharge lamps (e.g. fluorescent tubes, sodium bulbs, neon tubes)

Also include:

Components and peripheral items sold as part of an item of EEE; power cables, transformers, supports, stands, guides, etc that are sold with an item of EEE in order to add to the functionality of that EEE.

Items that are “ fixed ” in place (e.g. wall mounted heaters, extractor fans and electric showers) are definitely within the scope of the regulations.

Are accessories which are not themselves a useable product EEE?

Yes - Accessories such as audio headphones, computer keyboards, antennas and connecting cables do not by themselves have a function, but they do when associated with another product. All cables inside and/or as extensions or connections are part of the equipment at the time of discarding are WEEE. They are therefore considered to be EEE. It is important therefore, that accessory manufacturers should register as producers of EEE

DO NOT include EEE if it is:

A Component:

Discount any item sold separately and likely to be discarded separately that is designed to be a component of another item of a system. Typically such an item will not have a stand alone function outside of the item/system for which it is intended for use and for which it is designed to add to the functionality of that item/system (e.g. motherboard, power supply, key pad).

The whole item will be EEE and within scope of the WEEE regulations.

Domestic lighting:- Discount any lighting that is intended for use by private households.

A filament bulb: - Discount any glass bulbs or other filament bulbs such as spot light bulbs.

A large, fixed industrial tool: - Discount any large stationary tools such as lathes, floor standing drills.

Part of a vehicle: - Do not include car radios or other electrical items that are designed to go in a vehicle.

Use the Environment Agency published web information available at

Producers Responsibility

Retailers Responsibility

Environment Agency WEEE Scope Guidance – 11 th March 2009
(WEEE Scope Guidance – Version 2.0, 11 th March 2009 – Received by AWB 02.07.09 – The Environment Agency have advised me that the document is classed as “live”, therefore could change in the next few weeks.)

and / or seek qualified guidance when making decisions.