Registers and Managing Schemes

National Registers and Schemes

National Registers are entities, which at Member State level, register producers and collect information on the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) put on their market, as well as the amounts of WEEE collected, recycled, recovered and exported.

Collective (or compliance) Schemes (CS) are commercial entities that discharge the responsibilities of the groups of producers. In return for that service, the CS charge a fee which varies depending on the equipment, weight or other criteria.

Schemes are companies that may act locally, regionally or nationally, depending on the law in each Member State. Each scheme uses their own equipment classifications, reporting and methodology.

This lack of harmonisation represents a practical problem for multinational companies and is very often wrongly identified as a National Register burden and cost.

In fact, the actual process of registering is totally free in some Member States and even the obligation to make periodic reports to the National Registers, are often discharged by the scheme to which the producer has joined, without the need for the producer to take any further action.