What does producer responsibility mean?
Producer responsibility refers to companies’ obligation to handle the waste management of products they have imported or manufactured when the products are discarded. (Waste Act 646/2011, section 6, paragraphs 46-67)
Pirkanmaa ELY Centres information letter: Frequently asked questions about producer responsibility (31.3.2015)
Who is a producer?
Producer responsibility pertains to companies that import or manufacture the following products:
- cars, vans and comparable vehicles;
- tyres from motor vehicles, other vehicles and equipment as well as vehicles or equipment supplied with tyres (including tyre retreading companies);
- electronic and electrical appliances;
- batteries and accumulators;
- printing paper and paper for manufacturing other paper products;
- packaging where the producer responsibility pertains to the packers of the products and importers or packaged products, but excluding the packaging producers.
Pirkanmaa ELY Centre´s guidelines on the definition of a producer (23 May 2017)
Fulfilling the producer responsibility
Producers are obliged to fulfil their producer responsibility in one of the following manners:
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by joining a producer organisation. Then the producer responsibility will be transferred to the producer organisation, which handles the obligations provided in the Waste Act on behalf of the producer.
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by submitting the Pirkanmaa ELY Centre an application for registration in the producer database, in which case the producer itself shall handle the collection, recycling and waste management of the products falling under producer responsibility. The application can be submitted only in Finnish or Swedish
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by establishing a producer organisation together with other producers.
If a company’s producer responsibility pertains to several areas of responsibility (for example, electronic and electrical appliances as well as packaging), the company has to organise its producer responsibility separate for each area.
Producers and producer organisations admitted to the register have to report annually follow-up data on the previous year. The reports shall contain information on the amounts of products delivered to the market and on the recycling, utilisation and other waste management of the waste related to the products. Producer organisations report the information on behalf of their members. The information is reported in Finnish or Swedish.
Guidance for WEEE Authorised representatives (30.12.2015)
Approved producer organisations
The national authority is the Pirkanmaa ELY Centre
As the national authority for producer responsibility, the Pirkanmaa ELY Centre supervises the compliance with provisions concerning producer responsibility, with the exception of Åland.
The Centre also approves the return systems for beverage containers in Finland, with the exception of Åland.
More information
For more information, please send an email: tuottajavastuu@ely-keskus.fi