Update as of December 15, 2006

STATUS OF WEEE DIRECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION IN BULGARIA – DECEMBER 2006

EU directives for WEEE and RoHS are fully transposed in the Bulgarian legislation through the Ordinance for the placing on the market’s requirements for EEE and the treatment and transportation of WEEE (State Gazette No 36/2006). The Ordinance is in force from 1 September 2006. The lead organization for the transposition and implementation is the Ministry of Environment and Waters (MOEW).

The obligation persons are the manufacturers and the importers who place EEE on the market. After 1 January 2007 when Republic of Bulgaria will become a Member State of EU, the common EU definition for “manufacturer”, “importer”, “authorized representative” and “placing on the market” will be in force on the territory of Bulgaria, namely:
· “manufacturer” - any natural or legal person who is responsible for designing and manufacturing a product with a view to placing it on the market on his own behalf or who changes, substantially modifies and re-builds the product or manufactures it for his own use.
· the manufacturer may authorize his representative, who shall be any natural or legal person, established in the territory of the European Union, to act on his behalf for specified tasks with regard to the manufacturer’s responsibilities under the ordinance;
· “importer ” - any natural or legal person established in the European Union who places products imported from third countries on the Community market;
· where the manufacturer is not established in the European Union, and has no authorized representative in the territory of the European Union, the importers are the obligated persons under the ordinance.
· “placing on the market” - making an individual product, intended for end use, available for the first time on the European Union and on the EEA EFTA States market, either free of charge or for payment, whereat it passes from the phase of manufacture or import to the phase of distribution and/or use;

The manufacturers and the importers can fulfill their obligations either applying an individual scheme (adopted by MOEW) or to take part in a collective organization (licensed by MOEW) or to pay so called “product fee” (according to Tariff adopted by Council of Ministries) to the State Enterprise for Environment Protection Activities’ Management (ПУДООС). The Ordinance doesn’t require a registration for the obligated persons.

The Bulgarian register is within the Ministry of Environment and Waters (MOEW), Waste Management Department. The contact person there is Mrs. Elina Velinova (e-mail: velinova@N0SPAM.moew.government.bg )

For further clarification, you can contact:
MOEW – Waste Management Directorate
Tel: +359 2 940 6531
Contact: Mrs.Kostadinova, Director
http://www.moew.government.bg

For more information, please contact:
Uliana Kanelli, Commercial Specialist
Email: Uliana.Kanelli@N0SPAM.mail.doc.gov
http://www.buyusa.gov/bulgaria
Tel: +359 2 939 5706
Fax: +359 2 939 5735

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