Regulations

WEEE Directive (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) No. 2002/96/EC

UK

The EU Directive on Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE Directive) No. 2002/96/EC was transposed into UK regulations statutory instrument number 3289 in December 2006. The WEEE producer compliance obligation started on 1 July 2007.

The regulations place responsibility on the producer to finance the collection and treatment of waste arising from electronic equipment on the market.

The crossed wheelie bin symbol (see right hand figure), found on our electronic products, means that when the products reach the end of their useful life they have to undergo separate collection, treatment and recycling. This means that household electronic waste should be disposed off separately from the general household waste.

The black bar signifies the product was put on the market after 15th August 2005.

Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd WEEE registration number with the Environment Agency is: WEE/FF0057TS.

Sharp UK is a member of:

• REPIC Ltd (www.repic.co.uk):
  
  The largest compliance scheme in the UK, for household and business to business equipment.

 
• Valpak (www.valpak.co.uk):
  We are also registered with Valpak under the Distributor Take-Back Scheme (DTS) covering our on-line business.
  To find out how to dispose of the product at end of its life, the nearest local authority waste site and to learn more about recycling, please go to:
  http://www.recycle-more.co.uk

Note: Consumables for multi function printers, calculators, fax machines are not in the scope of the WEEE directive. Solar panels, spare parts and batteries are also excluded. Batteries are covered by the new battery directive, see below.

Ireland

In Ireland the producer obligation started on 15 August 2005 and we have been complying with the local regulations since then. 

Sharp’s registration number with the Irish Environment Protection Agency is: 00131

We meet our WEEE obligation via our memberships of WeeeIreland Ltd.

RoHS Directive (Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical Electronic Equipment) No.  2002/95/EC

Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd places only certified EEE (Electrical Electronic Equipment) in the UK and Ireland that meet the requirements of the directive 2002/95/EC as transposed by local Governments in the UK and Ireland.

Sharp’s consumer electronics models are compliant with RoHS Directive banning the use of mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, Polybrominated Biphenyls and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers where the quantities exceed the maximum concentration value of 0.01% for cadmium and 0.1% for the other 5 substances.

The legislation came into effect on 1 July 2006.

Energy Using Products Directive 2005/32/EC

The Directive 2005/32/EC was finalised and published on 6 July 2005 and aims to set minimum energy efficiency and environmental standards for a range of energy using products including, but not limited to, imaging equipment, copiers, faxes, printers, scanners, multifunctional devices, fridge freezers and televisions. The UK regulations transposing the directive came into force on 11 August 2007.

The EuP Directive provides a framework for setting the eco-design requirements of energy-using products, aiming to improve the environmental performance during the life-cycle of these products by systematic integration of environmental aspects at a very early stage in the product design.

The importance of these new regulations is that they form a mandatory part of the CE mark requirements for any product covered by the regulations. The Commission estimates that EuP has the potential to reduce EU energy consumption by around 10% each year.

REACH Regulations

REACH is a new EC regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.

The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through a better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances.  It is aimed at streamlining and improving the former legislative framework on chemicals of the EU. REACH switches responsibility for the control and safety of chemicals from authorities to companies that manufacture, import and use chemicals.

REACH Timeline

EU Battery Directive

The new batteries directive was proposed by the European Commission in November 2003. On the 2 May 2006 the EU agreed changes to the draft directive and the directive was published in the EU Official Journal on 26 September 2006.

Key elements of the directive are:

• A ban on the use of hazardous metals like cadmium and mercury in the manufacture of batteries and accumulators, except in medical equipment, emergency or alarm systems, and in cordless power drills.
• Collection targets to reach 25% by 26 September 2012 and 45% by 26 September 2016.
• A ban on the disposal of untreated automotive and industrial batteries in landfill or by incineration.

Ireland:   The Battery Regulations were published in Ireland on 24th July 2008. Producers have to register by 1st September with a local compliance scheme. The enforcement will begin on 26th September 2008.

UK:   The regulations are not yet published in the UK but the labelling, Article 21, requirements will be enforced from 26th September 2008 for new products put on the market thereafter.