Summary: Notification G.S.R. 801(E), effective from April 1, 2023, introduces comprehensive E-Waste Management Rules 2022 applicable to manufacturers, producers, refurbishers, dismantlers, and recyclers of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I. The notification excludes waste batteries, packaging plastics, MSMEs, and radioactive waste. Key definitions include ‘bulk consumer,’ ‘dismantler,’ and ‘e-retailer,’ each with specific responsibilities. Entities must register on the designated portal and fulfill extended producer responsibility (EPR) targets through registered recyclers. Responsibilities include collecting e-waste, reporting to the portal, and ensuring environmentally sound recycling and disposal practices. The Central Pollution Control Board will oversee compliance and impose environmental compensation for violations. Extended producer responsibility mandates producers to meet recycling targets and report quarterly and annually. The due date for submitting annual returns for the fiscal year 2023-24 is August 31, 2024, including producers with zero EPR obligations.
Notification G.S.R. 801(E). Dated: 2nd November 2022
Effective Date : 1st day of April, 2023.
Applicability :-
These rules shall apply to every :-
a) manufacturer
b) producer
c) refurbisher,
d) dismantler and recycler
involved in manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, refurbishing, dismantling, recycling and processing of e-waste or electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I
Exemption/Exclusion : –
a) Waste Batteries
b) Packaging Plastics
c) MSME
d) radio-active waste
Key Definition :-
‘bulk consumer’ means any entity which has used at least one thousand units of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I, at any point of time in the particular Financial Year and includes e-retailer;
‘dismantler’ means any person or entity engaged in dismantling of used electrical and electronic equipment into their components and having authorisation from concerned State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee as per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board;
‘electrical and electronic equipment’ means equipment which are dependent on electric current or electro-magnetic field in order to become functional and also the equipment for the generation, transfer and measurements of the electricity;
‘e-retailer’ means an individual or company or business entity that uses an electronic network such as internet, social media, telephone or any other media, to sell its goods;
‘e-waste’ means electrical and electronic equipment, including solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells, whole or in part discarded as waste, as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes
‘extended producer responsibility’ means responsibility of any producer of electrical or electronic equipment as given in Schedule-I for meeting recycling targets as per Schedule-III and Schedule-IV, only through registered recyclers of e-waste to ensure environmentally sound management of such waste;
‘manufacturer’ means a person or an entity or a company as defined in the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or a factory as defined in the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948) or Small and Medium Enterprises as defined in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (27 of 2006), which has facilities for manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment as specified in Schedule-I;
‘producer’ means any person or entity who, –
(i) manufactures and offers to sell electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares under its own brand; or
(ii) offers to sell under its own brand, assembled electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares produced by other manufacturers or suppliers; or
(iii) offers to sell imported electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares; or
(iv) who imports used electrical and electronic equipment;
‘recycler’ means any person or entity who is engaged in recycling and reprocessing of waste electrical and electronic equipment or assemblies or their components or their parts for recovery of precious, semi-precious metals including rare earth elements and other useful recoverable materials to strengthened the secondary sourced materials and having facilities as elaborated in the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board made in this regard;
‘refurbisher’ means any person or entity repairing or assembling used electrical and electronic equipment as listed in Schedule-I for extending its working life over its originally intended life and for same use as originally intended, and selling the same in the market;
Registration:
The entities shall register on the portal in any of the following category, namely: –
(a) manufacturer;
(b) producer;
(c) refurbisher; or
(d) recycler.
In case any entity falls in more than one categories under, then the entity shall register under those categories separately.
Responsibility of Manufacturer :-
(1) register on the portal;
(2) collect e-waste generated during the manufacture of any electrical and electronic equipment and ensure its recycling or disposal;
(3) file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return related
Responsibilities of the producer. –
The producer of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall be responsible for –
(1) registration on the portal;
(2) obtaining and implementing extended producer responsibility targets as per Schedule-III and Schedule-IV through the portal:
(3) creating awareness through media, publications, advertisements, posters or by any other means of communication;
(4) file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates.
Responsibilities of the refurbisher.
All refurbisher shall have to, –
(1) register on the portal;
(2) collect e-waste generated during the process of refurbishing and hand over the waste to registered recycler and upload information on the portal;
(3) ensure that the refurbished equipment shall be as per Compulsory Registration Scheme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Standards of Bureau of Indian Standards framed for this purpose;
(4) file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates
Responsibilities of bulk consumer. –
Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall ensure that e-waste generated by them shall be handed over only to the registered producer, refurbisher or recycler
Responsibilities of the recycler.
All recycler shall have to, –
(1) register on the portal;
(2) ensure that the facility and recycling processes are in accordance with the standards or guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard from time to time;
(3) ensure that the fractions or material not recycled in its facility is sent to the respective registered recyclers;
(4) ensure that residue generated during recycling process is disposed of in anauthorised treatment storage disposal facility;
(5) maintain record of e-waste collected, dismantled, recycled and sent to registered recycler on the portal and make available all records for verification or audit as and when required;
(6) file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates;
(7) accept waste electrical and electronic equipment or components not listed in Schedule-I for recycling provided that they do not contain any radioactive material and same shall be uploaded on the portal;
(8) create awareness through media, publications, advertisements, posters or by such other means of communication;
(9) account for and upload information about any non-recyclable e-waste or any quantity which is not recycled and disposed of;
(10) take help of dismantlers for recycling purposes:
Provided that it shall be the responsibility of recycler to ensure proper material flow to and from those dismantlers and the dismantler shall give dismantled material to registered recycler only and maintain record of the same.
Procedure for storage of e-waste.
Every manufacturer, producer, refurbisher and recycler may store the e-waste for a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days and shall maintain a record of sale, transfer and storage of e-wastes and make these records available for inspection and the storage of the e-waste shall be done as per the applicable rules or guidelines for the time being in force:
Provided that the Central Pollution Control Board may extend the said period up to three hundred and sixty-five days in case the e-waste needs to be specifically stored for development of a process for its recycling or reuse.
Environmental Compensation :-
The Central Pollution Control Board shall lay down guidelines for imposition and collection of environmental compensation on any entity in case of violation of any of the provision of these rules and guidelines issued hereunder and the said guidelines shall be in accordance with these rules and shall be approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Payment of environmental compensation shall not absolve the producer from the extended producer responsibility as specified in these rules and the unfulfilled extended producer responsibility for a particular year shall be carried forward to the next year and so on and up to three years.
Modalities of the extended producer responsibility Regime. –
(1) All producers shall fulfil their extended producer responsibility obligation as per Schedule-III and Schedule-IV, in doing so they may also take help of third party organisations such as producer responsibility organisations, collection centres, dealers etc. Provided that the extended producer responsibility shall lie entirely on the producer only.
(2) The extended producer responsibility for each product shall be decided on the basis of the information provided by the producers on the portal and the individual product’s life period as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard and the targets specified in Schedule-III and Schedule-IV.
(3) (i) The producer shall fulfill their extended producer responsibility through online purchase of extended producer responsibility certificate from registered recyclers only and submit it online by filing quarterly return.
(ii) The details provided by producer and registered recycler shall be cross-checked on the portal.
(iii) In case of any difference, the lower figure shall be considered towards fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligation of the producer.
(iv) The certificates shall be subject to environmental audit by the Central Pollution Control Board or any other agencies authorized by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard
Due Date for Annual Return for FY 2023-24
Stakeholders registered in FY 2023-24 are obligated to submit their Annual returns by August 31, 2024 (Including producers having nil EPR obligation).
Source : E-waste management rules, 2022
https://cpcb.nic.in/rules-6/
https://eprewastecpcb.in/#/
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