Act No. 542 / 2020 Coll.

Law on end-of-life products

Valid Law Effective from 01.01.2021
542
THE LAW
of 1 December 2020
on end-of-life products
Parliament has decided on this law of the Czech Republic:

ČÁST PRVNÍ

GENERAL PROVISIONS

HLAVA I

INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
§ 1
Subject matter
(1) This law implements the relevant provisions of the European Union1), following the directly applicable provisions of the European Union2), and provides for
(a) rules for preventing waste from selected products;
(b) the rights and obligations of manufacturers when placing selected products on the market;
(c) the rights and obligations of persons when handling end-of-life products; and
(d) the competence of the administrations in preventing waste from selected products and in the management of end-of-life products.
§ 2
Scope of the law
(1) This law applies to selected products, whether placed on the market separately or as part or accessories of other products, from their manufacture and placing on the market to the treatment of waste resulting therefrom.
(2) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the Waste Act shall apply to the prevention of the generation of waste from selected products and the disposal of end-of-life products.
(3) This law does not apply to:
(a) electrical equipment necessary for the protection of the security interests of the Czech Republic, including weapons, ammunition and ammunition intended for the use of safety or armed corps and other military material intended solely for safety or military purposes;
(b) electrical equipment designed and installed as part of other equipment not falling within the scope of this Act if they can perform their function only as part of such equipment and not for lamps or solar panels;
(c) electrical equipment intended for space launch;
(d) large stationary industrial machinery;
(e) large fixed installations, except for equipment not specifically designed and installed as part of such installations;
(f) non-road mobile machinery intended exclusively for professional use;
(g) electrical equipment specifically designed solely for research and development purposes which are not normally available to consumers;
(h) medical devices if they are expected to be a source of disease before the end of life and active implantable medical devices;
(i) explosives;
(j) batteries or accumulators used in equipment
1. related to the protection of the security interests of the Czech Republic, including weapons, ammunition and ammunition intended for the needs of the Security or Armed Corps and other military material, with the exception of products not intended exclusively for safety or military purposes; or
2. intended for deployment into space; and
(k) vehicles of the armed forces.
§ 3
Basic concepts
(1) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) a selected product of electrical equipment, battery or battery, tyre or vehicle;
(b) the end-of-life product of the selected product which has become waste;
(c) electrical or electronic equipment, the correct function of which depends on the electrical current or on the electromagnetic field, or equipment for the production, transmission and measurement of the electrical current or electromagnetic field, intended for use at a voltage not exceeding 1 000 V for AC and 1 500 V for DC;
(d) waste electrical equipment of electrical equipment which has become waste, including all its components, components and consumables;
(e) waste electrical equipment coming from households waste electrical equipment originating from households or by its nature and quantities similar to waste electrical equipment coming from legal persons and businesses; waste electrical equipment originating from households is always possible to be used by both households and other end-users before it became an end-of-life product,
(f) a battery or accumulator source of electrical energy generated by direct conversion of chemical energy, consisting of one or more primary non-rechargeable cells or one or more secondary rechargeable cells;
(g) waste battery or battery accumulator or accumulator which has become waste;
(h) a flexible tyre part of a wheel assembly which is made of natural or synthetic rubber and reinforcing materials without rims, with the exception of a wheel for use on devices drawn or pushed by a person on foot, on a bicycle or on a personal medical device or on rehabilitation or compensation aids;
(i) the tyre waste which has become waste;
(j) a road motor vehicle pursuant to the Road Traffic Conditions Act;
(k) an end-of-life vehicle which has become waste;
(l) manufacturer of electrical equipment, battery or battery manufacturer, tyre manufacturer or vehicle manufacturer,
(m) electrical equipment manufacturer
1. an entrepreneur established in the Czech Republic who, irrespective of the method of sale, including the use of means of communication on a distance (3) under the name, trade mark or any other sign associated with him (hereinafter referred to as "own mark") produces and places on the market electrical equipment or has electrical equipment produced or designed and placed on the market under his own mark,
2. an entrepreneur established in the Czech Republic, who, irrespective of the method of sale, including the use of means of communication on a distance (3) under his own brand, puts into circulation electrical equipment manufactured by other suppliers, unless their own brand of a person referred to in point 1 appears on them; the putting into circulation by the manufacturer under this provision is considered to be the placing on the market for the purposes of this Act,
3. an entrepreneur established in the Czech Republic, who, irrespective of the method of sale, including the use of means of communication on a distance (3), places electrical equipment acquired from another State on the market; or
4. an entrepreneur who places electrical equipment on the market by making it available through means of communication on a distance (3) directly to end users in the Czech Republic from another country where it is established,
(n) a manufacturer of batteries or accumulators, an entrepreneur which, irrespective of the method of sale, including the use of means of communication on a distance (3), places on the market, within its business, batteries or accumulators, including batteries or accumulators incorporated in or attached to vehicles, electrical equipment or other products;
(o) a tyre manufacturer who places on the market, irrespective of the method of sale, including the use of means of distance communication (3), tyres or functional units of which the tyres are part or accessories within its business; an entrepreneur is not a tyre manufacturer in relation to tyres which it transmits solely for the purpose of their placing on the market, in the Czech Republic or outside, as part or accessory of the functional unit,
(p) the manufacturer of vehicles, the person producing the vehicles or the accredited representative, under the Road Traffic Conditions Act, which, in the course of their business, places vehicles on the market;
(q) by re-collection of waste electrical equipment, waste batteries or accumulators or waste tyres from end-users or, where appropriate, from other persons at the site designated by the manufacturer or by the last seller;
(r) the place of collection designated by the manufacturer where end-of-life products are withdrawn;
(s) a public point of return, a point of return, which shall be accessible to each end-user without restriction throughout the year at the designated operating time;
(t) processing of any activity carried out after taking over the end-of-life product for use, including preparation for reuse, disposal or treatment before the end-of-life product, its components or substances and the materials contained therein, in a device designated for that purpose;
(u) by a processor, an entrepreneur authorised under this Act to process end-of-life products;
(v) the reverse collection system shall have a network of end-of-life and end-of-life processing facilities and contractual relations between their operators and their producers or collective scheme operators to ensure the processing and use of end-of-life products;
(w) an individual system of a recall system established and operated separately, in its name and at its own expense by one manufacturer;
(x) a collective system of a recall system created exclusively by producers of electrical equipment, battery or accumulator manufacturers, tyre manufacturers or solar power plants with solar panels placed on the market until 1 January 2013 and operated by a legal entity different from the manufacturer or the solar power plant operator authorised to operate the collective system;
(y) an operator of a collective scheme, a legal person operating a collective scheme on the basis of an authorisation granted under this law.
(2) For the purposes of this Act:
(a) a Member State of the European Union or another Contracting State of the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
(b) the placing on the market of the first scheduled or free-of-charge supply of the selected product in the territory of the Czech Republic in the course of business by its manufacturer or by a person who acquired it from another Member State for distribution, consumption or use or import of the product for business purposes; the transmission referred to in paragraph 1 (o) shall not be considered as marketing;
(c) by putting into circulation any bribery or free-of-charge supply of the selected product in the Czech Republic for distribution, consumption or use after marketing;
(d) the importation into the Czech Republic of the release for free circulation of the selected product from a country outside the European Union,
(e) by the distributor, the person who puts the selected product into circulation in the supply chain in the course of his business;
f) the last seller who supplies the final user in the Czech Republic, regardless of the method of sale, including the use of means of communication on tele3)
1. selected products,
2. vehicles, electrical equipment, tyres or other products to which they are incorporated or accompanied by batteries or accumulators; or
3. vehicles or other functional units with tyres or accessories;
(g) by the end user, the person using the selected product before becoming waste and before his surrender to the person authorised to take it under this law;
(h) a person established in a Member State who has a registered office in the territory of a Member State, an organisational component, a branch, a permanent establishment or a permanent representation;
(i) a photovoltaic article consisting of semiconductor or organic elements which convert solar energy into electrical energy;
(j) a solar panel of electrical equipment consisting of photovoltaic cells and intended for direct production of electricity from sunlight;
(k) a waste solar panel which has become waste,
(l) a solar power plant which uses solar panels to produce electricity;
(m) the operator of a solar power plant, the holder of a licence for the production of electricity under the Energy Act in a solar power plant or a person who, in accordance with the Energy Act, produces electricity in a solar power plant without such a licence;
(n) a large stationary industrial system of large dimensions consisting of machines, equipment or components which work together for a purpose, are permanently installed and dismantled by professional staff at a specific location and their use and maintenance is reserved to professional staff in industrial production or research and development premises;
(o) a large fixed installation of a large-scale system consisting of several types of apparatus and, where appropriate, other devices which are assembled, installed and dismantled by professional staff, are intended for permanent use as part of a building or construction at a pre-determined location reserved for that purpose and may only be replaced by equipment specifically designed for the same purpose;
(p) a non-road mobile machinery intended exclusively for the professional use of a machine with its own source of energy, the operation of which requires either mobility or continuous or partly continuous movement between the sequence of fixed jobs and which is intended exclusively for professional use;
(q) by ecomodulating the environmental impact of the selected product, in particular its durability, repairability, re-usability, recyclability, the content of hazardous substances and the fulfilment of requirements laid down by other legislation4), within its life cycle in determining the amount of the money contribution by the collective scheme operator for a single selected product or a set of similar selected products, paid by the manufacturer to ensure the collective fulfilment of obligations under this law.

HLAVA II

BASIC OBLIGATIONS

Díl 1

General obligations
§ 4
Transmission of end-of-life product
Anyone who dumps an end-of-life product shall be obliged to hand it over only to the person authorised to take it. Other persons may be handed over to an end-of-life product only if the necessary number of items is transmitted for the purposes of science and research, for museum purposes or for the purposes of artistic, creative or collectors' activities.
§ 5
Conditions concerning reporting under the Waste Act
End-of-life products are not included in the volume of production and waste management that is relevant for the fulfilment of reporting obligations under the Waste Act (5).

Díl 2

Prevention of waste generation in production and marketing of selected products
§ 6
Obligations in the production of selected products
(1) Whoever produces selected products is obliged to design and construct them in such a way that:
(a) are easily dismantled;
(b) the hazardous substances contained therein have not escaped into the environment;
(c) dangerous substances may be removed from them; and
(d) their use after their service life has been facilitated.
(2) Whoever produces the selected product must further design and construct it, taking into account its entire life cycle;
(a) the materials used in its manufacture have been recycled as much as possible;
(b) the generation of waste, particularly hazardous, has been minimised in its production and consumption;
(c) after its application, its repair, repair or renovation and re-use, if possible, taking into account the nature of the product; and
(d) after the end of its life, its recycling or other recovery, including the recovery of its components and derived materials, in accordance with this Act, the Waste Act and other environmental and public health legislation have been made possible.
§ 7
Obligations when placing selected products on the market
(1) Only those selected products which comply with the requirements of this Law may be placed on the market by the manufacturer. The requirements for selected products resulting from other legislation governing technical requirements for products and their safety 4), regulations governing ecodesign requirements for energy-related products (6) and environmental and public healthlegislation (7) are not affected by this law.
(2) The manufacturer who places the selected products on the market is required to provide information in the accompanying documentation of the product, on the packaging, in the instructions for use or in any other appropriate form on the method of re-collection or collection, reuse, recovery or disposal of the end-of-life product.

ČÁST DRUHÁ

ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION, BATORY OR ACUMULATORS AND PNEUMATICS

HLAVA I

COMMON PROVISIONS
§ 8
Scope
(1) The provisions of this Part lay down the rights and obligations of manufacturers and other persons relating to the recovery, certain additional rights and obligations and the manner in which manufacturers are to fulfil their obligations as regards waste electrical equipment, waste batteries or accumulators and waste tyres.
(2) The provisions of this Part shall not apply to manufacturers of vehicles, end-of-life vehicles and electrical equipment which are means of transport for the carriage of persons or goods, with the exception of electric two-wheel vehicles for which no type-approval has been granted under the Road Traffic Conditions Act.
(3) The Waste Act does not apply to the treatment of end-of-life products from the time they are withdrawn until they are handed over to the processor or to cross-border shipments under the directly applicable European Union legislation on shipments of waste (8).
§ 9
Means of carrying out the obligations of the manufacturer
The manufacturer shall comply with the obligations laid down in this Act for the re-procurement, processing, recovery and disposal of end-of-life products, informing the end-user of the re-procurement and other obligations related thereto.
(a) in an individual system; or
(b) in the collective scheme, on the basis of a written contract to ensure compliance with the obligations for the recovery, processing and recovery or disposal of end-of-life products ("collective performance contract") with the collective scheme operator; the manufacturer's responsibility for the performance of these obligations shall not cease if the collective scheme operator does not ensure that they are fulfilled.
§ 10
Responsibility of the distributor
If the selected product does not come from a manufacturer which is registered in the Manufacturer's List or where an authorised representative is registered in the Manufacturer's List, the manufacturer's rights and obligations laid down by this Law shall be exercised by the distributor of that product.
§ 11
Authorised representative
(1) If the manufacturer is not established in the Czech Republic, he is entitled to appoint an authorised representative on the basis of a written contract in order to fulfil the obligations laid down by this law.
(2) The authorised representative may only be a person authorised to do business established in the Czech Republic.
(3) An authorised representative cannot be designated as a collective scheme operator. This shall not affect the performance of the obligations of the manufacturer by the authorised representative in the collective system.
(4) The authorised representative fulfils all the obligations of the manufacturer laid down in this Act.

HLAVA II

RESEARCH
§ 12
Ensuring that end-of-life products are recovered
(1) The manufacturer is obliged to ensure at his own expense the recovery of end-of-life products and their subsequent processing and recovery or disposal under the conditions laid down by this Act. In the event that the retake is ensured in cooperation with the operator of the retake point, a written contract must be concluded between that person and the manufacturer to establish the retake point.
(2) Where such a law requires that the manufacturer or the last seller ensure that end-of-life products are recovered free of charge or are not entitled to payment, any costs or other payments directly or indirectly related to recovery shall not be charged to the final user. This shall be without prejudice to the possibility of financial motivation of the end-user in the form of a remuneration or other incentive to submit an end-of-life product to or to submit it in any other way that this law allows.
(3) The manufacturer must not be obliged to withdraw the end-of-life product to buy a new product.
(4) If the end-of-life product is returned to the consumer by the end-of-life product, which is clearly incomplete as a result of the dismantling, or if only the part which has been dismantled from the end-of-life product is submitted to the end-of-life product, it shall not be offered for such a product or part of it, or a payment or other incentive.
§ 13
End-user information and information activities
(1) The manufacturer shall, through distributors, ensure that the end-of-life product is adequately and effectively informed by the end-of-life user of the way in which the end-of-life products are withdrawn.
(2) The manufacturer shall carry out an awareness-raising activity aimed at changing consumer behaviour in order to increase the involvement of end-users in the recall systems and to achieve the highest possible readmission level.
(3) The manufacturer is obliged to inform end-users, in particular through information campaigns on:
(a) preventing the generation of waste from selected products;
(b) options for preparing selected end-of-life products for reuse;
(c) the requirement that end-of-life products be surrendered in places designated in accordance with this Act, in particular that they are not disposed of as unsorted municipal waste, and the negative consequences of the illegal disposal of end-of-life products outside those intended for disposal on the environment;
(d) the way in which the recovery is ensured; and
(e) other facts which the end-users inform the manufacturers on the basis of § 63 or 82.
(4) The Ministry of the Environment (hereinafter referred to as "the Ministry") by decree sets out the minimum scope and manner of conducting the information campaigns referred to in paragraph 3 and their focus on specific target groups of end users.
§ 14
Transmission and acceptance of end-of-life products
(1) The end-of-life product may only be transferred by the end-of-life user to the point of collection or under the conditions laid down by this law to the last seller or, where appropriate, to another person designated by the manufacturer, unless otherwise provided for by this law.
(2) The end-of-life product withdrawn shall become the property of the collective system operator or the manufacturer who has set up the removal site at the time of its transmission to the disposal site. Where there are more operators of collective systems or producers which have set up a point of collection, the acquisition of ownership of their end-of-life products shall be governed by their agreement.
(3) A natural person, whether in law or in business, may hand over the end-of-life product withdrawn under the conditions laid down in this Act only to a processor designated by the manufacturer, unless otherwise provided for by this law. Pending the transmission to the processor, the end-of-life product shall not be subject to modification, recovery or disposal.
(4) Only the operator of the point of return, the last seller or any other person designated by the manufacturer, shall be entitled to take over the end-of-life product under the conditions laid down by this Act.
§ 15
Withdrawal points
(1) In order to fulfil the obligation to withdraw end-of-life products, the manufacturer shall establish a point of withdrawal.
(2) The manufacturer must inform the end-user of the end-user's withdrawal points established in an appropriate manner. This obligation shall be deemed to have been fulfilled in respect of the public recovery points for which the manufacturer has entered into the Register of Recovery Points (hereinafter referred to as the Register) the data referred to in Article 19 (4).
(3) The public place of collection cannot be the place of delivery of the selected product to the end-user.
(4) The Ministry shall, by decree, lay down the requirements for the means of collection and the areas at the points of re-collection and the technical design of the recollection points referred to in paragraph 1 in respect of end-of-life products with dangerous properties or the handling of which health or safety risks may be associated.
§ 16
Cooperation with municipalities
(1) The manufacturer and the municipality may conclude a written contract for the use of the municipal waste management system set up by that municipality in order to establish a point of collection. This Treaty shall not confer an exclusive right to use the municipal waste management system only for certain end-of-life producers or products; This is without prejudice to the possibility for the municipality to negotiate non-discriminatory conditions with the manufacturer, in cooperation with which it has set up a place of collection, to allow the use of the municipal waste management system by other producers.
(2) End-of-life products which have been recovered at the point of collection established in cooperation with the municipality must be treated in accordance with this Act and separately from other municipal waste.
(3) The manufacturer shall provide the municipality in whose territory he has set up the place of collection with information on the quantity of end-of-life products withdrawn, including information on their use, if the municipality so requests.
§ 17
Method of re-collection and disposal of end-of-life products
(1) The way in which end-of-life products are recovered, transported and handed over to the processor must not make it difficult to re-use or recycle those products, including their components.
(2) The operator of the point of collection shall:
(a) hand over the end-of-life product to the processor designated by the manufacturer, directly or through the carrier;
(b) treat end-of-life products containing operating fluids, fillers or components having a negative effect on the environment or on the health of persons in such a way as to prevent their mechanical damage and release into the environment;
(c) to concentrate and transport end-of-life products, including their temporary storage, in accordance with the requirements laid down in the Ministerial Decree;
(d) ensure end-of-life products throughout their storage at the point of collection before undesirable deterioration;
(e) to dispose of end-of-life products separately from other types of waste if they are in the process of concentrating other types of waste in the same establishment where the place of collection is located;
(f) issue, on request to the end-of-life product user, a proof of taking over the end-of-life products containing the operator's identification data, the date and place of take-over and the type, group and quantity of end-of-life products, not including the place of collection of the collection vessel without permanent operator;
(g) indicate at the manufacturer's expense the public point of return by a sign indicating the possibility of giving up end-of-life products in the framework of the re-take, visibly and legibly on the spot to the end-user and specifying the end-of-life products which are withdrawn; and
(h) report data relating to end-of-life products only once in order to avoid duplication of data and report only end-of-life products which have been physically collected at the point of withdrawal.
(3) The operator of the point of collection, if not the processor,
(a) it must not disassemble or otherwise interfere with the end-of-life product withdrawn;
(b) may refuse to take over an end-of-life product in the event that, due to contamination or serious damage, the product endangers the health of the persons carrying out the re-procurement or contains added waste;
(c) may refuse to take back end-of-life products if, in view of the quantity and type of end-of-life products or other circumstances, it is reasonable to doubt that they are end-of-life products from the end-user; and
(d) may refuse to take back end-of-life products in quantities exceeding the immediate capacity of the point of withdrawal.
(4) Unless otherwise provided for in this law, the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 (a) to (e) and 3 (a) shall apply mutatis mutandis to any person who is treated with a re-collected end-of-life product until the time of its transmission to the processor.
(5) The manufacturer shall be obliged to ensure that the end-of-life product can be surrendered to the end-of-life product, the takeover of which by the operator of the point of withdrawal refused in accordance with this Act, at another point of re-collection or to a designated processor. This possibility, including the indication of the designated location or person, shall be notified to the end-user without undue delay. The manufacturer shall provide the operator of the retake point with information on the retake points or persons to whom such end-of-life product may be surrendered.
§ 18
Rights and obligations of last sellers
(1) Unless otherwise provided for in this Act, the last seller is entitled to withdraw only end-of-life products of a similar type and use as selected products supplied to the end user, whether separately or as part or accessories of other products. The final seller must always carry out the recovery without any claim for payment from the end-user.
(2) The last seller to carry out the re-procurement of end-of-life products and is not at the same time the operator of the re-procurement site,

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Regulation Information

CitationAct No. 542 / 2020 Coll., on End-of-Life Products
Regulation TypeLaw
Author-
CollectionCode of Laws
Date of Promulgation23.12.2020
Effective from01.01.2021
Effective until-
Status Valid
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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