EU Commission responds to proposals by VERE members

The European Commission has responded to the points of criticism and proposals raised by the VERE members on the topic “WEEE (2012/19/EU): EU Bureaucracy prevents its desired free Europe-wide online trading” on the REFIT portal.
 
Background:REFIT is a programme for improved legislation of the EU Commission. It is intended to ensure that EU legal regulations yield the planned benefit, simultaneously dismantling bureaucracy and lowering costs. In addition, EU legal regulations are to be simplified and made more readily comprehensible. REFIT chiefly addresses small enterprises for which compliance with EU legal regulations can mean disproportionately high effort and expense. Proposals for improvements and for dismantling bureaucracy can be submitted via the REFIT platform.

Thanks to the immense support of the participating VERE members, on 7 March 2018 we bundled and submitted our proposals to the Commission via REFIT. In particular, the bureaucratic efforts associated with EU-wide sales, but also rules relating to small quantities and illegal direct sales by free riders were the central issues addressed by our members in no uncertain terms. You will find the arguments of the VERE members here.
 
The result: Fifteen member states contributed towards the statement by the Commission on the deliberations of the VERE members and other stakeholder representatives. Thirteen member states support the recommendations of the stakeholder group, either wholly or in part. According to one particular member state, a uniform platform should be established at EU level. One member state does not agree to the establishment of a single registration office but nevertheless endorses a harmonised format and the exchange of information amongst the member states. The detailed points considered by the stakeholder representatives and the member states are available on the REFIT platform.
 
Harmonisation: In this connection, the VERE Association endorses the new commission implementing regulation (EU) 2019/290 establishing the format for registration and reporting of producers of electrical and electronic equipment to the register as a step in the right direction:
 
In order to harmonise the procedures used by the member states for registration and reporting, all producers of electrical and electronic equipment as well as all registers should use one and the same registration and reporting format as of 1 January 2020.
 
The definition of a harmonised format for registration and reporting as well as a shared understanding with respect to the frequency of reporting to the register can contribute towards reducing unnecessary effort and expense and encourage the member states to simplify the administrative processes for first distributors and, therefore, especially for the VERE members. In the coming months, we will provide further information in this regard.
 
Save the date: A symposium is scheduled to be held in Stuttgart/Germany on 12 November 2019 on this and other urgent topics relating to product responsibility exclusively for VERE members and take-e-way customers. If you already wish to register your interest in attending in advance, please be so kind as to contact Silke Meyer at info@vereev.de. Further details will follow in due course.

Please do not hesitate to contact Christoph Brellinger by calling +49/40/750687-111 or send an e-mail to info@vereev.de.