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2019 WEEE Compliance Fee Method Confirmed

In October 2019, two proposals were put forward for the 2019 WEEE compliance fee, the mechanism which allows Producer Compliance Schemes to achieve compliance if collection targets are not met. Today (3 February 2020), DEFRA confirmed their chosen methodology for the 2019 compliance year

This year, as per 2018, only two proposals were put forward: the Joint Trade Association (JTA) whose methodologies were accepted in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018; and Valpak whose proposal was selected in 2016. Both proposals aim to encourage schemes to take the necessary steps to meet their collection targets through the procurement of recycling evidence generated through collections of waste electrical equipment rather than through the use of the compliance fee.

Specifically, this year the JTA proposal had three main suggested changes compared with the 2018 methodology; focus on the impact of new Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) guidance, suggestion of a new fee mechanism to account for increasing costs in POPs and an amendment to allow the compliance fee to still exceed the costs of collection but not to be unnecessarily high.

Alternatively, the method suggested by Valpak was built around alleviating the effects of 2019 recycling targets not being achieved and takes the approach of supporting compliance schemes so that they are not overcharged if they have made effort to facilitate adequate collections despite not meeting their targets.

Full details of the two proposals can be found here.

On 3 February 2020, DEFRA selected the JTA proposal again for the 2019 compliance year, subject to a couple of amends which have been agreed between both entities and partly contradict JTA's original proposal, as follows:

  • The removal of a collection shortfall factor which was proposed to be applied to the normal escalator in circumstances where there is a deficit in collections when compared to the national target for a WEEE stream.
  • The removal of a mechanism for accounting for additional cost of complying with the recast Regulation on POPs.

If you have any questions about the chosen proposal, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your Account Manager or the WEEE team at weee@complydirect.com or 01756 794 951