SME Chamber

Meeting the Electrical and Electronic Sector

 A meeting was held for the IT and Household Goods Operator Sectors where the main issue discussed was that which arose due to recent obligations developed under environmental laws and that operators complained that they do not want to pay Eco-Tax and Waste Packaging at the same time.

 

Basically importers of electrical and electronic equipment fell under the obligations of the WEEE Directive and as such are responsible for when the goods are disposed of and effectively become waste.

Eco-Tax was an issue that was given great importance throughout the meeting. There are still a large number of producers that have not registered yet for the packaging waste they place on the market and are therefore in breach of their current obligations these producers are expected to encounter problems in the near future.

Government right now is dragging his feet on introducing the WEEE system as Government wants first of all to have the producers in line with the Waste Packaging obligations and then it will introduce the WEEE system. As a result the WEEE system will take longer to be introduced and therefore the Eco-Tax situation will remain for sometime more. The operators are discontent with this as they pay more under the eco-tax whereas under the new WEEE system they would pay a much lesser fee to a waste compliance scheme according to the actual cost. The WEEE system will also be less costly because more operators will fall under it and therefore the burden will be better spread.

On the whole the system proposed to replace Eco-Tax was encouraged. This is because thanks to this system producers won't pay until the WEEE system is introduced and so they won't pay Eco-Tax and Waste Packaging at the same time.

It was also concluded that the law surrounding Eco-Tax would have to be amended and so discussions are to proceed in this regard. A meeting is to be held with every Ministry concerned, and a committee on behalf of GRTU is to be set up so as to attend these meetings.

At the end, it was highlighted that a lot of problems with consumers are faced and something has to be done so as to lighten up this problem. It was also agreed that a good idea would be that of having a representative to represent the sector when encountering such problems.

A committee led by GRTU was set up composed of different persons from the sector to represent the sections of IT & Household on behalf of GRTU when meetings are held so as to discuss Eco-Tax, WEEE, Waste Packaging and related problems.

Anyone who wishes to join this section committee in order to represent the section and the business do not hesitate to contact Bernice Cutajar or Liz Said at GRTU.

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