In a letter seen by The Recycler, the EU Commission confirmed the obligations of producers of remanufactured products under Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE Directive).
The letter states that producers of remanufactured/refilled cartridges can turn to the EU’s Blue Guide, which gives information on the implementation of the Union’s 2016 EU product rules, to discover whether or not what they have manufactured is regarded as being a new product or not.
According to paragraph 1.4 of the Guide, a producer is deemed to be “either a manufacturer of a finished product or a component part of a finished product, producer of any raw material, or any person who presents himself as a manufacturer (for example by affixing a trademark).”
As for the products themselves, paragraph 2.1 of the Guide states that “a modified product sold under the name or trademark of a natural or legal person different from the original manufacturer, should be considered as new” and goes on to say that “The person who carries out important changes to the product carries the responsibility for verifying whether or not it should be considered as a new product in relation to the relevant Union harmonisation legislation. If the product is to be considered as new, this person becomes the manufacturer with the corresponding obligations.”
If the remanufactured/refilled cartridges are judged to be new “the product has to undergo a full conformity assessment before it is made available on the market”. However, “It is up to the natural or legal person who carries out changes or has changes carried out to the product to demonstrate that not all elements of the technical documentation need to be updated. Products which have been repaired or exchanged (for example following a defect), without changing the original performance, purpose or type, are not to be considered as new”. As a result they do not “need to undergo conformity assessment again”.
As to the legality of being deemed a manufacturer, in paragraph 3.1 of the Guide it says “the responsibility of the manufacturer is placed on any person who changes the intended use of a product in such a way that different essential or other legal requirements will become applicable, or substantially modifies or re-builds a product (thus creating a new product), with a view to placing it on the market or for putting it into service”.
As a result of these rules, anyone who places their remanufactured or refilled cartridges on the market, using their own trademark (providing said cartridges meet the EEE definition stated in Article 3(1)(a) of the WEEE directive), are considered as EEE producers and are bound by the relevant obligations.