Fulfilling the obligation
Reporting and data collection
A company that places products of concern on the Estonian market must keep records of them. Data must be submitted to PROTO by 31 January each year as part of the reporting process, or to the PRO for transmission to the register (specific dates are agreed upon between the parties in the contract). Records must be maintained continuously, not just before the reporting deadline. This ensures a lower administrative burden during the reporting period, as it can be difficult later on to determine which products were products of concern, in what quantities they were placed on the Estonian market, and whether the responsibility remained with the company, the supplier, or another party. If the company fulfills its obligations through a PRO, the necessary data must be submitted to the PRO in the agreed format and by the specified deadline.
Important to know concerning this step
The exact data set depends on the category of the product of concern, but a company may require the following information:
- Which products of concern were placed on the Estonian market;
- Which category of products of concern they belong to;
- When the products were placed on the Estonian market;
- How many products were placed on the market;
- What the mass (weight) of the products was;
- Where the products originated from;
- Whether the products were sold to Estonian customers or moved onward abroad;
- Whether the products contain an accumulator, batteries, electronics, components of electronic equipment, or tyres;
- Whether the obligation is fulfilled independently or through a PRO.
Some products of concern may encompass multiple categories of products of concern. For example, in the case of an electronic device with a battery, separate records must be kept for the batteries. For category M1, N1, and L2e motor vehicles, both tyres and batteries fall under separate producer responsibility requirements and must be registered and accounted for separately in PROTO.
The necessary data can come from the company's regular accounting records, such as:
- Purchase invoices;
- Sales reports;
- Inventory records;
- Import and shipping documents;
- Product descriptions;
- Supplier confirmations;
- Data from an online store or sales platform;
- Contracts and accompanying documentation.
If the company has transferred its obligations to a PRO, it must ask the PRO in what format and at what level of detail the data must be submitted.
Data must be collected continuously from the moment the company begins manufacturing, importing, selling, or leasing products of concern to Estonian customers. In practice, this means that the company should already indicate during purchasing, importing, inventory accounting, or sales whether a product might be classified as a product of concern.
The company that places the products of concern on the Estonian market is responsible for submitting the data and ensuring its accuracy.
The Estonian Environment Agency has the right to suspend a registration if a producer repeatedly fails to submit data regarding products placed on the market or waste collected and recovered. Failure to submit data is a violation of the Waste Act requirements, which may lead to enforcement or administrative proceedings and the imposition of non-compliance levies (penalty fines).
References
Contacts
Do you have a question about products of concern that you couldn't find an answer to?
Contact the Estonian Environment Agency or visit the Problem Products Register website.