India drafts new e-waste management regulations

On May 20, 2022, the Ministry of environment, forests and climate change of India published a new draft e-waste management regulation to replace the current 2016 e-waste management regulation.  

The products regulated by the new regulations include information technology and telecommunications equipment as well as consumer electrical equipment, large and small electrical equipment, power tools and medical equipment. Regulated companies must register on the online portal provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and states their annual production and e-waste collection objectives. In addition, the new regulations also have specific provisions for recyclers, Refurbishers and bulk buyers.  

According to the new regulations, manufacturers can obtain partial subsidies by purchasing EPR certificates when they complete the obligation of collecting and recycling electronic wastes. If they violate the regulations, they will be subject to environmental protection fines. The payment of environmental protection fines cannot exempt the producers from the EPR obligations specified in this regulation. The outstanding EPR obligations in one year will be settled to the next year, and so on, up to 3 years. If the EPR obligation not completed is completed after 1 year, 85% of the collected environmental penalty will be returned to the producer; if it is completed after 2 years, 60% of the collected environmental penalty will be returned; if it is completed after 3 years, 30% of the collected environmental penalty will be returned; after that, even if the producer complete the previously uncompleted EPR obligation, and the environmental penalty will not be returned.  

In addition, the new regulation introduces a tradable certificate system similar to the international trading carbon credit. Manufacturers can purchase EPR certificates, and the purchase amount is limited to their EPR obligations in this year plus any remaining EPR obligations in previous years plus 10% of the EPR obligations in this year.Availability, requirements and other details of EPR certificates will be provided on the portal. All transactions shall be recorded and submitted by the producer / recycler on the online portal when submitting the quarterly report. EPR certificate transactions and submission of annual reports are implemented and managed through the online portal.  

Manufacturers must ensure that at least 60% of e-waste is collected and recycled by 2023. This proportion will increase to 70% by 2024 and 80% by 2025. The importers of used electrical and electronic equipment shall bear 100% EPR obligations for imported materials whose service life is over and which are not exported again. For producers who have recently started sales business, i.e. the number of years of sales business is lower than the average life of their products mentioned in the guidelines updated by cPCB from time to time, their EPR obligations shall refer to the following table. However, once the number of years of sales operation is equal to the average life of their products mentioned in the guidelines issued by cPCB, their EPR obligations shall follow the e-waste collection targets provided at the beginning of this paragragh.

At present, the implementation date of the new regulations has not been announced. Before the implementation of the new regulations, the 2016 version of the regulations will continue to be implemented. Please follow us and we will closely follow the progress of this new regulation. To apply for EPR certificate, please contact us.