Legislation

Legislation in the field of waste electrical and electronic equipment management obligates all producers, acquirers and importers of this equipment to collect and ensure proper management and processing of waste equipment.

The new Decree on waste electrical and electronic equipment (Official Gazette of RS no. 55/2015, hereinafter: Decree), adopting the directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and the European Council into the national legislation, has been valid since 8th August 2015. The most crucial changes and innovations are the more ambitious goals of WEEE collection, increasing from 4 kg/inhabitant in Slovenia to 41% collection rate in 2016. By 2021 we need to achieve as much as a 65% rate of collection of WEEE with regard to the average quantity of EEE placed on the market of RS in the past three years. The Decree also prescribes additional measures for a larger quantity of collected small WEEE (with dimensions not exceeding 25 cm) and brings important provisions regarding the operation of the joint WEEE management schemes that are a crucial step forward towards an effective implementation of prolonged responsibility of the manufacturer, which is a foundation of the environmental EU legislation in the field of management of specific types of waste.

The adoption of the new Decree represents an important step forward in WEEE management in Slovenia. It makes a clearer presentation of the concept of extended responsibility of the manufacturer, while regulating the preparation area for reuse of WEEE. The Decree also represents a strengthening of the activities for informing the public on the importance of correct WEEE management, and introduces a standardisation of WEEE processing procedures through the already adopted EU norms. In 2015 they published the new amendment of the Decree on the management of batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators (Official Gazette of RS no. 103/2015), which, among other changes, also brings limitation in placing BA on the market.