As of: July 2011

ElektroG - Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act - Act Concerning the Placing on the Market, Collection and Environmentally Compatible Waste Management of Electrical and Electronic Equipment

As of 24 March 2006 consumers have been able to return waste electrical and electronic equipment to local collection points free of charge. Since this date date, producers have been obligated to take back equipment from collection points and dispose of it. This is laid down in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act which was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette on 23 March 2005 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 762 f).

Tastatur und CD (Foto: EyeWire)

By adopting the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act, Germany became one of the first EU Member States to implement both the Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment and the Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

Consumers may continue using the established local collection facilities, e.g. recycling yards. Producers have to collect the waste equipment from these collection points and ensure recycling or disposal.

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EU Directives on which the ElektroG is based

The RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC) was repealed by the new Directive 2011/65/EU, which entered into force on 21 July 2011. The deadline for transposing the Directive into national law is 2 January 2013. Substantial changes, which are the result of the recast Directive, include the gradual extension of the Directive's scope, the implementation of a procedure for the assessmet of substances which may have to be reclassified as restricted, the establishment of corresponding criteria for evaluation and the review of the procedure for applications for and approval of temporary exemptions.

Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment is currently being revised.