Organising your producer responsibility
Whether your business manufactures in-scope products or imports such products you can choose to transfer part of the duties to a so-called collective compliance scheme, or you can comply with an individual registration - or both. If you are from another EU member state selling directly to end-users, you must appoint an Authorised Representative (AR) with a Danish VAT number. See how the producer responsibility may be organised and the collective schemes established in Denmark.
Which scheme suits your business?
When you are to decide which form of organisation to choose for your business in view of assuming the producer responsibility most expediently, you should investigate a number of issues that may have an economic and practical impact on your business:
- End-user segment: Are your products manufactured or imported for use in households or similar, or for professional use?
- Quantities sold: How much (in kilograms) do you sell in Denmark on an annual basis?
- Type of sale: Are you established in Denmark, or do you deal in online sale to end-users without establishment in the recipient country?
Individual or collective compliance
A collective compliance scheme is a private, commercial business offering against payment to the affected business the service of assuming some of the administrative and practical tasks associated with the producer responsibility. However, the overall responsibility stays with the business subject to producer responsibility.
Collective schemes are businesses operating on a competitive market. The schemes are organised in different ways and have different focus on types of businesses (customers), products, and models of payment.
Whether you choose to become a member of a collective scheme or not, you must assume certain issues relating to registration and reporting yourselves.
Marking of equipment
What you must check yourselves
You must be aware that there are requirements in connection with the producer responsibility system that you always must assume yourselves, whether or not you are a member of a compliance scheme. One of these requirements relates to the marking of equipment.
See how to mark your productsCollective schemes
Typically, a collective scheme will offer to assume the following practical tasks in whole or in part:
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Registration and reporting
Read more about Registration
Establishment of statutory registration in DPA's producer register. However, you must digitally sign a confirmation of the registration yourselves. You report to the collective scheme who will transfer data to DPA. -
Environmental treatment
Read more about Reporting
The compliance scheme will collect your electronic waste and batteries at their end-of-life. They will ensure that your products are subjected to an approved environmental treatment in the waste and resources industry. -
Provision of financial guarantees
Read more about financial guarantees
The compliance scheme will provide financial guarantee for transport and management of waste electronics at the municipal collection sites.
Authorised Representative
The requirement for an Authorised Representative (AR) was introduced with the WEEE Directive recast in 2012. The provision was implemented in 2014 as an obligation for electronics manufacturers in EU Member States selling directly to end-users in Denmark eg. by internet sales.
If your business in the EU is not established in Denmark but deals distance selling, for instance internet trade, directly to end-users in Denmark you must assume your producer responsibility by designating an authorised representative (AR) in Denmark. If your business has an authorised representative, you can have this representative assume the interests of your business in relation to selection of a compliance scheme or choice of individual solutions.
An AR is a legal entity established in Denmark, with a Danish CVR number, and designated by one or several foreign businesses in the EU to assume their producer responsibility in Denmark
Businesses from an EU country without establishment in Denmark and dealing in distance selling of electrical equipment directly to end-users in Denmark must designate an authorised representative (AR) in Denmark to assume their producer responsibility for all equipment sold on the Danish market.
This scheme has been established as an exemption from the main rule that the first level of the distribution chain is seen as the producer or importer in Denmark who has the duty to register and report in the producer responsibility system.
The authorised representative gets the legal responsibility for reporting and other duties under the national producer responsibility legislation.
How?
In practice, the European company designates an authorised representative in Denmark through a mail module in the DPA producer register. The mutual affiliation and responsibilities are formally and technically established when the authorised representative confirms that he assumes the producer responsibility for the European company in Denmark. The official registration is then established with the authorised representative’s Danish CVR number.
Businesses from outside the EU without establishment in Denmark and dealing in distance selling of electrical equipment directly to end-users in Denmark must register directly in the DPA register.
Difference between collective scheme and authorised representative
The authorised representative has the full legal responsibility towards the authority on behalf of the producer, while a collective scheme is a company offering to producers to carry out various practical tasks, including collection and recovery – with the purpose of benefiting from economies of scale.
However, both compliance schemes – individual or collective – have this registration option through a function in the producer register.
Link up to collective scheme
First inspect and contact the various collective schemes to find the scheme that best suits your company. When you have found the collective scheme you want to cooperate with, you can proceed as follows:
- Ask the collective scheme to establish your registration at DPA
OR - Log into the producer register and choose menu item: “Category selection and reporting” and ”collective schemes”. Off every category you choose the relevant collective scheme in the drop-down list. Click Save.
If you and the scheme have an agreement the collective scheme will accept. When the collective scheme accepts the request, the official link to the compliance scheme has been established and can be searched out in the public part of the register.
Establish new collective scheme
In principle, anybody can establish a collective compliance scheme. In addition to compliance with the requirements of the Statutory Order for collective schemes, such scheme must be registered with DPA with its name, CVR/VAT number, contact information, and a website. And at least two complying members.
Individual compliers
As a producer or an importer, you may choose to assume the tasks under the producer responsibility yourself. Producers and importers not affiliated to a collective scheme are called “individual compliers or schemes”.
It makes a difference whether you sell products for professional use or if the products you sell on the Danish market are for use in private households.
The producer will often benefit from solving tasks under the producer responsibility individually, as these products are not covered by the duty of collection/pick-up from municipal recycling centres.
Individual compliance primarily entails the following duties for the business:
- Register in the national producer register found on this site.
- Conduct the annual reporting directly to DPA in the period from 1 January – 31 March
- Receive end-of-life products in cases where the customer wishes to take them back to the seller.
- This is the take-back obligation that applies to all businesses subject to producer responsibility.
In addition to the above, producers and importers of products typically used in households must provide a financial guarantee for the take-back system that compliance schemes carry out on behalf of their members.
Furthermore.
Note that individual compliers themselves must enter agreements with treatment facilities if end-of-life equipment is returned to the company.
By far, most producers/importers assuming their producer responsibility individually sell equipment manufactured for professional use.
Quantities subject to transfer of responsibility means that producers having only professional end-users may transfer their responsibility for take-back and environmental treatment of end-of-life equipment to their customers. It is not possible for producers to transfer the producer responsibility in itself.
Both collective scheme and individual complier
A producer may choose to cooperate with a compliance scheme and still be an individual complier depending on the kind of end-user his equipment is intended for (households and businesses, respectively).
It is also possible to be affiliated to several compliance schemes at the same time – distributed on the different categories of electronics, batteries and accumulators, and vehicles. However, this does not apply to the same category/end-user.
| Registrations as per 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Number of registrations, total | 2,244 |
| - in compliance schemes | 1,156 |
| - individual compliers | 1,288 |
Shortcuts
Registration
See how to register
Compliance schemes
See list of all compliance schemes in Denmark, including contact information
Criteria for shift between compliance schemes
Read about criteria for change of organisation status
Registration of compliance scheme
Read about registration of compliance schemes
Distribution of responsibilities between DPA, producers, and compliance schemes
Read about the distribution of responsibilities between the producer register DPA, producers, and compliance schemes
Allocation
Read more about take-back from municipal recycling centres