Importing and exporting

In the WEEE Directive a Producer is defined as any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used;

• Manufactures and sells EEE under his own brand
• Resells under his own brand equipment produced by other suppliers
• Imports EEE on a professional basis into a Member State

Therefore, the importing and exporting of products between Member States is an important issue in respect of who is deemed the producer.

Anything exported outside the EU is not subject to the requirements of the WEEE and RoHS Directives. Companies will have to keep detailed records of product sales and the destinations to which they are sent.

Member States can only legislate for WEEE that enters the waste stream in that particular Member State . For example, the UK legislation will cover WEEE that enters the waste stream in the UK regardless of which other Member States or non-EU country it has come from.

This means that anything exported out of a Member State will come under the legislation of the Member State in which it is disposed.

If your company exports to other EU Member States it is essential to understand the way the WEEE Directive has been implemented in that country.

For details on the implementation of the WEEE Directive in other EU Member States see "The WEEE Directive in other EU Member States" section of this toolkit.

Please note that the above explanation relates to the WEEE Directive. RoHS is discussed in the “How will RoHS work?” section of this toolkit.