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Glossary of Terms and Legal Definitions

WEEE Regulations

Legal Definitions

APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY
In England and Wales, the Environment Agency; in Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency; in Wales, Natural Resource Wales; and, in Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment (see Links for the respective websites).

CATEGORIES OF EEE
For the purposes of the Regulations, EEE is categorised into 14 different groupings. Click here for the full list.

COMPLIANCE PERIOD
1 January to 31 December inclusive – i.e. the calender year.

COMPLIANCE FEE
The fee that can be paid by a PCS in lieu of collecting the amount of WEEE necessary to meet its category targets.

THE DIRECTIVE
Directive 2012/190/EU of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment.

DISTRIBUTOR
Any person who provides electrical or electronic equipment on a commercial basis to the party who is going to use it is a distributor for the purposes of the WEEE Regulations, regardless of whether that person is providing goods to a consumer (i.e. an individual) or an end-user (i.e. a business). Distributors include retailers, distance sellers and producers who also sell to the end-user or consumer.

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (EEE)
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is defined in the Regulations as ‘equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Schedule 1 [to the regulations] and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volts for alternating current and 1,500 volts for direct current’. EEE does not include equipment designed specifically to protect UK national security or for a military purpose, or equipment that is part of another type of equipment that is outside the scope of the Regulations (e.g. an aircraft or car).

PRODUCER
A producer is defined as any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication:-

(a)is established in a Member State and manufactures EEE under his own name or trademark, or has EEE designed or manufactured and markets it under his own name or trademark within the territory of that Member State;

b)is established in a Member State and resells within the territory of that Member State, under his own name or trademark, equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the “producer” if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in sub-paragraph (a);

(c)is established in a Member State and places on the market of that Member State, on a professional basis, EEE from a third country or from another Member State; or

(d)sells EEE by means of distance communication directly to private households or to users other than private households in a Member State, and is established in another Member State or in a third country.

THE REGULATIONS
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/3113)

WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE)
WEEE is electrical or electronic equipment which is waste within the meaning of the Waste Framework Directive including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding. ‘Waste’ is defined in the Directive as any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.

WEEE FROM PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS (WPH)
WEEE from Private Households (WPH) is WEEE which comes from private households and from commercial, industrial, institutional and other sources which, because of its nature and quantity, is similar to that from private households.

Glossary of Terms

APPROVED AUTHORISED TREATMENT FACILITY:
An authorised treatment facility (ATF) that is approved by the appropriate authority under the Regulations to issue Evidence Notes for WEEE treated within the UK. See also ‘Approved Exporter’.

APPROVED EXPORTER:
An exporter who is approved by the appropriate authority under the Regulations to issue Evidence Notes for WEEE that is exported out of the UK for treatment, recovery and recycling.

AUTHORISED TREATMENT FACILITY:
An authorised treatment facility (ATF) is a facility that treats WEEE in accordance with the requirements of the Annex to the WEEE Directive. ATFs are authorised under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Waste Management Licensing) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006 (or Scottish and Irish equivalents). All separately collected WEEE, e.g. WEEE deposited at DCFs and business WEEE collected by B2B producers, must be delivered to an ATF for treatment.

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B)
Business-to-Business (B2B) is the common term used for supplies of EEE for which the end-user is a business, as opposed to a consumer, or for WEEE arising from businesses. In the Regulations, B2B WEEE is referred to as ‘WEEE from users other than Private Households’.

BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER (B2C)
Business-to-Consumer (B2C) is the common term used for supplies of EEE for which the end-user is a consumer, i.e. a member of the public. In the Regulations, B2C WEEE is called ‘WEEE from Private Households (WPH)’, although, as the definition of WPH shows, it can include business WEEE (see ‘The Legislation in Depth’ in the members’ area for a more detailed account of WPH).

DESIGNATED COLLECTION FACILITY
Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) are sites dedicated to the collection of WEEE from Private Households (WPH) for onward clearance by, or on behalf of, producers or compliance schemes. DCFs may be established at local authority civic amenity sites or waste transfer stations, or by distributors, producers, third parties or charitable and social enterprise organisations engaged in the re-use of EEE.

DUAL USE
Business EEE that is similar in nature to household EEE and must therefore be classed as household EEE. This is also then classed as household WEEE on collection.

DECLARATION OF COMPLIANCE
The Declaration of Compliance (DoC) is a certificate submitted to the appropriate authority by compliance schemes or, in certain circumstances, producers declaring that the scheme/producer has or has not met its obligations under the WEEE Regulations. DoCs must be submitted by 1 June in the year following the end of the compliance period and be accompanied by copies of all evidence notes.

DISTRIBUTOR TAKE-BACK SCHEME
The Distributor Takeback Scheme is the body appointed by the DTI to approve DCFs. The DTS also provides its member distributors with signs in a standardised format for in-store display to provide information to their customers.

EEE PRODUCER REGISTRATION NUMBER
The EEE Producer Registration Number (EPRN) is a unique registration number issued to producers, via their compliance scheme, by the appropriate authority. Producers are required to declare their EPRN to any distributor to whom they intend to sell or supply EEE.

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is defined in the Regulations as ‘equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Schedule 1 [to the regulations] and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volts for alternating current and 1,500 volts for direct current’. EEE does not include equipment designed specifically to protect UK national security or for a military purpose, or equipment that is part of another type of equipment that is outside the scope of the Regulations (e.g. an aircraft or car).

EVIDENCE NOTE
The Evidence Note (EN) is the WEEE equivalent of the packaging regime’s ‘PRN’. ENs will be issued by the operators of AATFs in two stages: the first stage will document the WEEE received by the ATF for treatment; the second stage will document the WEEE leaving the ATF after treatment. ENs will be used by Compliance Schemes to demonstrate that they have met their targets for collection, recycling and recovery.

HISTORIC WEEE
WEEE arising from EEE put on the market before 13 August 2005.

NON-HOUSEHOLD WEEE
Non-household WEEE is WEEE arising from users other than consumers (i.e. business WEEE). See Business-to-Business.

PRODUCER COMPLIANCE SCHEME
A Producer Compliance Scheme is usually a limited company, through which producers will meet their obligations to register with the appropriate authority and finance the cost of collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal.

PRODUCER IDENTIFICATION MARK (PIM)
Producers must mark their EEE with a ‘producer identification mark’. This is usually their brand name or logo. The PIM must easily identify the producer of the EEE product.

RECOVERY
For practical purposes, ‘recovery’ is essentially recycling plus incineration with heat recovery.

RECYCLING
Recycling is defined as the reprocessing, in a production process, of waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes, but excluding energy recovery (which means the use of combustible waste as a means of generating energy through direct incineration with or without other waste but with recovery of the heat).

REPROCESSOR
A reprocessor is a person who carries out one or more activities of recovery or recycling and who holds a relevant authorisation, e.g. a waste management licence or exemption from holding such a licence.

RE-USE
‘Re-use’ means any operation by which WEEE or components thereof are used for the same purpose for which they were conceived, including the continued use of the equipment or components thereof which are returned to collection points, distributors, recyclers or manufacturers.

TREATMENT
‘Treatment’ is defined as any activity carried out on WEEE after it has been handed over to a facility for depollution, disassembly, shredding, recovery or preparation for disposal, and any other operation carried out for the recovery or disposal or both of WEEE. Treatment must be carried out using ‘best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques’ (BATRRT) and certain treatment for materials and components of WEEE is stipulated in Annex II to the Directive, transposed in the UK through the WEEE Treatment Regulations.

WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
WEEE is electrical or electronic equipment which is waste within the meaning of the Waste Framework Directive including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding. ‘Waste’ is defined in the Directive as any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.

WEEE MATERIALS
WEEE materials include all substances, components, subassemblies and consumables derived from WEEE that have not been fully recovered.

WEEE FROM PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS
WEEE from Private Households (WPH) is WEEE which comes from private households and from commercial, industrial, institutional and other sources which, because of its nature and quantity, is similar to that from private households.

WEEE FROM USERS OTHER THAN PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS
B2B or non-household WEEE.