DIGITALAUROPE's comments on the Draft Amendment of the Correspondents' Guidelines No.1

DIGITALEUROPE, the European association representing the digital industry, fully supports the intention of the Correspondent Guidelines aimed at preventing illegal shipments of e-Waste and closing loopholes exploited by unscrupulous actors. However, we believe that specific elements of the current Guidelines will have a considerable impact on making the Circular Economy a reality as the Guidelines could hinder our member companies’ ability to operate their legitimate repair, remanufacturing and/or refurbishment service models. These models are the backbone of the circular economy as they ensure reuse by extending products lifetime and/or giving products a new life.

DIGITALEUROPE believes that mirroring the Basel approach in the Correspondents Guidelines would establish sufficient safeguards to prevent e-waste being illegally shipped and declared as products for re-use. The Basel Guidelines clarify that all products shipped for repair, refurbishment or remanufacturing should be shipped as ‘non waste’ without references to warranty and professional use as long as appropriate documentation (e.g. a repair contract) and packaging are provided. Both are sufficient tools to enable enforcement agencies to differentiate between waste and products sent for legitimate repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing.

In the context of the Annex 6 of Directive 2012/19/EU, DIGITALEUROPE is aligned with the European Commission’s FAQ of the aforementioned Directive and relies on these definitions to assist in evaluating UEEE and WEEE. We fully support the definition of ‘warranty’ within the context of Annex VI point 2a of the Directive 2012/19/EU, which was provided the FAQ document, specifically FAQ 11.3 (below) and fully support that this definition has been maintained in the Correspondent Guidelines Appendix 1.