Husky has serious issues with Weee Directive

The WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) aims to make producers of electrical and electronic equipment pay for its recycling, safe treatment and disposal when the products eventually come to the end of their useful life. All importers of such goods are obliged to register and submit the weight of goods they import at regular intervals. Each quarter, the importer receives a bill, representing a charge for the disposal/recycling of the goods in that period.

Husky Group Chief Executive Geoff Thomasson explains: "We welcome legislation and regulation that encourages an environmentally friendly approach to business, but it has to make sense and be fairly applied. The WEEE Directive fails on both counts at the moment."

The Business-to-Business case is easily monitored as Husky already operates a disposal policy when a customer replaces their old machine with a new Husky unit. Its concern is the way the Directive affects the Business to Consumer sector

Geoff Thomasson continued: "The Directive is effectively a retrospective tax on importers, who are now paying for the disposal of products sold maybe 15 or 20 years ago by companies that may no longer exist. The Business-to-Business WEEE applies from August 2005 - everyone knows where they stand - but the Business to Consumer WEEE has no such starting point - liability is simply whenever the goods turn up at a disposal site." He pointed out that the charge is based on the company's percentage of overall imported refrigeration product in a particular quarter which is unknown at the time of reporting. It is therefore impossible to determine within any certainty as to the amount of charge in that period. Also, as the amount is based on weight, refrigeration products are disadvantaged due to the fact that many higher-value products are lighter, but no less challenging to the environment.

"Moreover, we suspect that a sizeable minority of importers have yet to register and are therefore not paying the charges. Honest importers are effectively subsidising these companies. Although we support efforts towards environmentally friendly disposal, we are strongly opposed to the way the WEEE Directive has been implemented for Business to Consumer products - it is poorly thought out and ineffectively policed," he said.

The impact of these issues has yet to be felt by ordinary customers - but they will, as these charges become more and more onerous for suppliers, retailers and other importers."

Geoff Thomasson concluded: "Importers of electrical and electronic goods into the UK operate in a highly competitive, customer-led market. It's tough enough without having this additional charge imposed by a government trying to be seen to be environmentally aware."