Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : EIC 230/2/11

26 August 2009

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 438/2009

European Union (EU)* : Registration of Producers of Batteries and Accumulators

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 386/2006 of 29 September 2006, the European Commission (the Commission) has adopted a Decision on the registration requirements for producers of batteries and accumulators. Details are set out in Commission Decision 2009/603/EC (the Decision), which can be accessed through the following link:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:206:0013:0015:EN:PDF

DETAILS

2. Directive 2006/66/EC concerning the marketing and disposal of batteries and accumulators requires that producers of batteries and accumulators be registered. According to the Directive, producers mean any person in a EU Member State that, irrespective of the selling technique used, places batteries or accumulators on the market for the first time within the territory of that Member State.

3. To avoid unnecessary administrative burden for the producers, the Commission has established the procedural requirements for the registration which are applicable throughout the Community. Provisions on the procedural requirements include:

   • -registration of producers of batteries and accumulators shall take place with the national authorities or with national producer responsibility organisations authorised by Member States (hereinafter registration bodies), either on paper or electronically;
   • -the information to be provided for the registration is set out in Annex of the Decision. Producers shall not be obliged to provide any other information not listed in the Annex;
   • -producers of batteries and accumulators shall only need to register once in a Member State for the first time on a professional basis. A registration number will be provided to the producer upon registration;
   • -registration bodies may only apply registration fees on a cost-based and proportionate basis;
   • -whenever there is any change to the data provided by the producers, they shall inform the registration bodies no later than one month after the change; and
   • -when producers ceased to be producers in a Member State, they shall deregister by informing the relevant registration body.

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries concerning the contents of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5556.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Peggy LEUNG)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.