Batteries Act Section 6 Joint Collection Scheme for waste portable batteries

Batteries Act Section 6 Joint Collection Scheme for waste portable batteries

(1) Producers of portable batteries shall ensure compliance with their obligations under Section 5 by setting up and participating in a joint, not-for-profit, nation-wide collection scheme for waste portable batteries (Joint Collection Scheme). Each participating producer shall provide to the Joint Collection Scheme the information needed to comply with the reporting obligations under Section 15 (1) on demand. Any producer who withdraws from the Joint Collection Scheme shall notify the authority named in Section 7 (1) of its withdrawal without delay.

(2) The Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) acting in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWI) shall issue a binding declaration stating whether the collection scheme under paragraph (1) read in conjunction with paragraph (3) has been established. Producers under paragraph (1) sentence 1 shall be notified of the declaration under sentence 1 of this paragraph by publication in the Federal Gazette [Bundesanzeiger]. The notice shall specifically and clearly designate the Joint Collection Scheme.

(3) The Joint Collection Scheme shall:

1. Be open to all producers of portable batteries on equal terms;

2. Offer to collect waste portable batteries at no charge from all distributors of portable batteries, all public waste management authorities and all treatment facilities under Section 12 (1) and (2);

3. Ensure that waste portable batteries are taken back nation-wide by all distributors of portable batteries, all public waste management authorities and all treatment facilities under Section 12 (1) and (2) who make use of the offer under no. 2 (participating collectors);

4. Collect portable batteries, regardless of type, brand or origin, at no charge from participating collectors and submit the collected batteries for recycling in accordance with Section 14;

5. Provide participating collectors with suitable transport containers at no charge;

6. Put waste management services such as collection, transport, sorting and recycling of waste portable batteries and disposal of non-recyclable waste portable batteries out to tender for a maximum period of five years in a tendering procedure which ensures that contracts are awarded in free competition;

7. Secure its financing by allocating any costs remaining after collection, recycling and disposal, including value-added tax and necessary overheads, to producers in proportion to their respective shares, as measured by battery mass and subdivided by chemical system and classification, of batteries placed on the market in the year in question and by collecting a commensurate contribution from each producer;

8. Report each year to the Federal Environment Agency stating the cost of collection, sorting, recycling and disposal of collected waste portable batteries, including overheads, subdivided by chemical system and classification;

9. Safeguard the confidentiality of data to which it has access to the extent that the data is specific to or directly attributable to individual producers.

(4) The Joint Collection Scheme may charge producers of portable batteries who neither participate in the Joint Collection Scheme nor operate a producer-specific collection scheme under Section 7 for the costs of collection, sorting and recycling or disposing of waste portable batteries that they place on the market and are collected by the Joint Collection Scheme. The chargeable costs may include the overheads of the Joint Collection Scheme.

(5) If it is not determined that the Joint Collection Scheme has been established, producers of portable batteries shall each be required to ensure compliance with their obligations under Section 5 by setting up a producer-specific collection scheme as defined in Section 7.