The Ordinance transposes the Directive 2012/19 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste of electrical and electronic equipment, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, series L, No. 197 of 24 July 2012.
In accordance with the provisions of that ordinance, the owner of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has the obligation to give the wastes that pose risks to the health and safety of the personnel, directly to the collection centers, and, on the other hand, the individuals or legal entities that own WEEE are obliged to surrender them to the collection systems established by the ordinance, otherwise risking a fine between 500 lei and 1,000 lei for individuals or 10,000 lei and 20,000 lei for legal entities.
In terms of manufacturers who place in manufacturing electric and electronic equipment, they have the obligation to apply the ecological projection requirements facilitating re-use and treatment of waste, and also the obligation not to prevent re-use of waste through specific design features or specific processes of manufacturing. Moreover, in case of a new product supply, at the request of the buyer, the distributors are obliged to take the waste in the “one to one” system, free of charge, under the same conditions as new product delivery, and to inform the buyer about this possibility, before product purchasing. The penalty for failure to comply with these obligations is a fine range between 30,000 lei and 40,000 lei.
Also, the same penalties apply for breach of the obligations of producers to provide, free of charge, information relating to re-use and treatment, for each type of new equipment placed on the EU market. In order to assure opposability of the date on which it was placed on the market, the producers are obliged to apply a specific date marking.
Fines amounting 40,000 lei to 50,000 lei apply to distributors who have spaces for sale of electric and electronic equipment of at least 400 sqm and do not provide free waste collection of very small waste for end users, in the stores or in close proximity to them, without imposing to end users the obligation to buy equivalent equipment.
The same sanctions are also applicable to manufacturers that violate the obligation to ensure the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal, in terms of environmental protection, of the waste from private households. In order to avoid situations in which waste management costs are borne by the population, each producer should provide a guarantee at the date of the placing of the equipment on the market, demonstrating that all management of the waste from the equipment will be funded.
The provisions of the Ordinance came into force on 04.26.2015, except the provisions of art. 38 paragraph (2) on the National Register of Manufacturers and the provisions of art. 43 paragraph (1) letter c) point 4, on sanctions in connection with the Register, which will enter into force within 120 days from the publication of the Ordinance in the Official Gazette.