International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

that the effect on prices might not reflect either the full costs of collection, or the
environmental costs of materials use.
19.13 Evasion and Enforcement
In 2006 the WEEE Monitoring Group was established. Representatives from all the
key stakeholders are involved and play a pivotal role in monitoring the continued
implementation of the WEEE and RoHS Directives and in advising the Department
and the Minister of further improvements and refinements to the WEEE regime in
Ireland.
The EPA is working closely with the WEEE Register Society (the national producer
registration body) on producer enforcement, particularly those who fail to register,
who fail to join a compliance scheme or self-comply, or who fail to report what they
place on the market to the WEEE Blackbox.
The EPA is also continuing to follow up on any complaints regarding “free-riders”, i.e.
unregistered producers who are continuing to place EEE on the market. Unregistered
producers fail to contribute their share to the cost of environmentally sound
management of WEEE. Where specific instances of transgression have been
identified, Notifications of Non-Compliance are issued. Where the EPA receives no
response or the company continues in non-compliance, a Final Warning Letter may
issue to the company. Inspections are scheduled where non-compliances persist, and
may be followed by legal action where the company fails to comply. The EPA calls
compliance meetings with producers/retailers where necessary in order to raise
awareness of non-compliance with senior management and agree corrective actions
going forward. The EPA refers non-compliant print advertising to the Advertising
Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) for follow through with their media member
organisations. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) processes complaints
relating to noncompliant television and radio advertising.
The EPA and the National Consumer Agency (NCA) also work together to ensure
correct pricing of EEE at retail premises. NCA inspectors visited over 200 premises in
late 2005 to check that the retail price of EEE products on the shelf were in
compliance with the Product Prices Regulations. Any complaints regarding price
splitting are forwarded to the NCA for their information and follow up.
The EPA is hopeful that those contacted will work towards compliance without
recourse to legal action. However to date, the EPA has taken prosecutions against a
number of different retailers and producers for failure to comply with producer
obligations under the WEEE Regulations. The companies were all convicted in the
District Court and fines and costs were awarded to the EPA.
Under the WEEE Regulations, local authorities have responsibility for enforcement of
retailer obligations. A Producer Responsibility Enforcement Network has been in place
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