Product Stewardship (Televisions and
Computers) Regulations
Liable Party Information Session
The e-waste problem
 Electronic waste is a significant and growing part of the
waste stream
 Televisions and computers contain hazardous
substances such as lead, bromine, mercury and zinc
 Waste volumes are increasing and expected to grow to
44 million units (181,000 tonnes) by 2027-28
Developing a solution: initial phase
 Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (July 2009)
 Broad range of options considered
 Decision Regulation Impact Statement (Nov 2009)
 Best option is a co-regulatory scheme
 Obligations on importers/domestic manufacturers to
participate
 Computers, televisions, printers, and computer products
 Government decision (Nov 2009)
 Endorsed by all state and territory governments
Developing a solution: detailed design
 Meetings of Industry Working Group
 Studies undertaken
 Consultation paper on the Regulations (March 2011)
 Exposure draft of the Regulations (September 2011)
 Regulations made and in effect (8 November 2011)
The Regulations: An Overview
 Operate under the Product Stewardship Act 2011
 Co-regulatory: government sets the outcomes, industry works
out how to achieve those outcomes
 Primary objective: minimise waste (particularly hazardous
waste) and maximise resource recovery, in a safe and
environmentally sound way
 Industry run and funded collection and recycling of televisions,
computers and computer products (products identified in
Schedule 1 of regulations)
Key obligations
 Under the Act and Regulations there are two key obligations:
 Liable parties must be members of ‘an approved co-regulatory
arrangement’
 Administrators of approved co-regulatory arrangements must take all
reasonable steps to ensure that collection and recycling outcomes are
achieved
Membership of an approved arrangement
 Primary obligation of a liable party is to be a member of an
approved co-regulatory arrangement
 Expected that co-regulatory arrangements approved by
February 2012
 Administrators of approved arrangements will report their
membership as at 1 April 2012
 The Department will identify liable parties that are not
members as at that date
When is an importer a liable party?
 An importer will be a liable party in 2011-12 if it:


Is a constitutional corporation
Imported relevant products in 2010-11

39 ‘Television’ Product Codes

11 ‘Computer and Monitor’ Product Codes

10 ‘Printer’ Product Codes

15 ‘Computer Product’ Product Codes
 Imported above the threshold in 2010-11

Televisions class: 5,000 televisions

Computers, printers and computer products class: 5,000 computers or
printers, or 15,000 computer products
Example
 Import figures are obtained under data sharing
arrangements with Customs and Border Protection
 In this example, the company would be a liable party in
2011-12 because it exceeded the 5,000 unit threshold
Product
code
Applicable
threshold
Units
imported
(2010-11)
Conversion
factor
(kg/unit)
Converted
weight (kg)
8471.49.00.92
Computers or
printers
4,000
13.5
54,000
8471.41.00.91
Computers or
printers
4,000
10
40,000
8471.70.00.74
Computer
products
10,000
0.6
6,000
Total for
computers
and printers
8,000
94,000
Total for
computer
products
10,000
6,000
When is an importer a liable party?
 To deter import-splitting, imports of related companies are
counted together for assessing whether a company is a liable
party

e.g. Where Company A imports 2,000 televisions and related
Company B imports 4,000 televisions, both are liable parties

This applies to televisions, computers and printers – not computer
products (e.g. keyboards, mice)

Only applies to companies that have imported >1,000 units
 Imports of related companies are only relevant for whether
a company is a liable party, not for calculating import share
Related bodies corporate
XYZ Holdings
Company A
0 units
Company B
4000 computers
Company D
0 units
Company C
0 units
Company E
2000 computers
Liable party reporting obligations: related bodies
 A liable party must report on related bodies corporate (if
any) that imported or manufactured products in the same
class
Example: A company imported 10,000 televisions in 2010-11, and had a
subsidiary that imported 4,000 televisions in that year. The company
must report details of the subsidiary to the Department
 Purpose of this requirement is to help the Department
identify liable parties.
 Reports are due 1 March 2012, and 1 September in following
years
 No need to submit a nil report
Liable party reporting obligations: manufacturing
 Liable parties must report on number of products in the
relevant class manufactured in Australia (if any)
Example: A company imported 10,000 televisions in 2010-11. If it
manufactured 1000 televisions in that year it must report this to the
Department.
 This reporting requirement does not apply to computers
 Purpose of the requirement is to provide information on
relevant manufacturing activity
 Reports are due 1 March 2012, and 1 September in following
years
 No need to submit a nil report
Timeline for the National Television and Computer
Recycling Scheme
Regulations
in effect
8 Nov 2011
Nov
11
Dec
11
Reporting
deadline
1 March 2012
Jan
12
Feb
12
Department
write to liable
parties with
2011-12
import data
Membership
deadline
1 April 2012
Mar
12
Estimated date
for approval of
co-regulatory
arrangements
Apr
12
May
12
Jun
12
Jul
12
Aug
12
Sep
12
Oct
12
Nov
12
Dec
12
July 2012 – June 2013
First Target Period
Jan
12
Feb
12
Key obligations
 As mentioned previously, there are two key obligations:
 Liable parties must be members of ‘an approved co-regulatory
arrangement’
 Administrators of approved co-regulatory arrangements must take all
reasonable steps to ensure that collection, recycling, and material
recovery outcomes are achieved
What is a co-regulatory arrangement?
 A co-regulatory arrangement is set of measures designed to
meet the outcomes in the Regulations
 It is administered by a body corporate responsible for
ensuring that these outcomes are achieved

This may be a liable party that is also a member of that arrangement
 It deals with matters specified in the Regulations, including
governance, membership and funding to achieve the
outcomes in the Regulations
Outcome: Reasonable access to collection services
 Approved arrangements must provide reasonable access to collection
services across Australia
 Reasonable access requirements ensure availability of services to
households and small business in regional and remote, not just metro
areas, by 31 December 2013
 Reasonable access defined in the regulations using a set of metrics –
these establish an objective basis to assess compliance
 Administrators have flexibility in the type of collection services they
offer – allowing tailoring to suit different situations
 Households and small business must not be charged to drop off
products at a designated collection service
Outcome: Recycling Target
Outcome: Recycling Targets
 Recycling means the initial processing of a product, including
disassembly or shredding, for the purpose of recovering
useable materials
 Scheme targets are set as a percentage of the waste
estimated to be generated in the year
 Percentage targets start at 30% waste recycled by June 2013
and rise every year to 80% by 2021
 Recycling target for a co-regulatory arrangement will be
allocated based on import/manufacture share of members
Recycling targets: calculating import share
 An arrangement’s share of the Scheme target will depend its
members’ share of all liable parties’ imports in the relevant
product class.
 This is measured using “converted weight”, not actual weight
- in this example, 100,000kg or 100 tonnes.
Product code
Applicable
threshold
Units
imported
(2010-11)
Conversion
factor
(kg/unit)
Converted
weight (kg)
8471.49.00.92
Computers or
printers
4,000
13.5
54,000
8471.41.00.91
Computers or
printers
4,000
10
40,000
8471.70.00.74
Computer
products
10,000
0.6
6,000
Total for
computers
and printers
8,000
94,000
Total for
computer
products
10,000
6,000
Recycling targets: taking exports into account
 Exports can be taken into account to reduce an
arrangement’s target, where an audited report is provided
with this information
Example: An arrangement’s members’ imported 5,000
tonnes of televisions in 2011-12 but 1,000 tonnes of those
televisions were exported in the same year. For
calculating the arrangement’s share of the Scheme target,
the relevant figure is 4,000 tonnes.
Note: Again, “converted weight” rather than actual weight is used
Outcome: Material Recovery Target from 2014-15
 Material recovery means the proportion of materials (by
weight) that is sent after recycling for processing into
useable materials
 Complements the recycling target
 A measure of the quality of recycling
 Material recovery target of 90% applies from the financial
year 2014-15

2014-15 start allows time to develop consistent measurement and
reporting methods
Membership requirements
 The Act and Regulations set the outcomes to be achieved –
they do not set membership requirements
 However, it is likely that members will be required to
contribute financially in proportion to their
import/manufacture share
 Membership requirements will be set out in applications for
approval of co-regulatory arrangements, and considered by
the Department as part of its assessment
Summary: implications for importers/manufacturers
 Work out whether your company is a liable party:



Did it import/manufacture relevant products in 2010-11?
Is it over the 5,000 or 15,000 threshold?
If not, is it over the 1,000 threshold and liable because of
imports/manufacture by related companies?
 If a liable party:

Consider whether a related body corporate/manufacture report must be
submitted (due 1 March 2012)

Ensure that the company is a member of an approved arrangement
(by 1 April 2012)
 Ensure that products have their proper tariff classification
Questions