• offers to sell imported electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares; or
  • who imports used electrical and electronic equipment;

irrespective of the selling technique used such as dealer, retailer, e-retailer, etc.;

  • ‘recycler’ means any person or entity who is engaged in recycling and reprocessing of waste electrical and electronic equipment or assemblies or their components or their parts for recovery of precious, semi-precious metals including rare earth elements and other useful recoverable materials to strengthened the secondary sourced materials and having facilities as elaborated in the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board made in this regard;
  • ‘refurbisher’ means any person or entity repairing or assembling used electrical and electronic equipment as listed in Schedule-I for extending its working life over its originally intended life and for same use as originally intended, and selling the same in the market;
  • ‘Schedule’ means the Schedule appended to these rules;
  • ‘spares’ means a part or a sub-assembly or assembly for substitution which is ready to replace an identical or similar part or sub-assembly or assemblyincluding a component or an accessory; and
  • ‘target’ means the quantity of e-waste to be recycled through registered recycler by the producer in fulfilment of extended producer responsibility.

(2) Words and expressions used in these rules and not defined but defined in the Act shall have the same meanings as respectively, as assigned to them in the Act.

CHAPTER II

Extended Producer Responsibility Framework

  • Registration. – (1) The entities shall register on the portal in any of the following category, namely: –
    • manufacturer;
    • producer;
    • refurbisher; or
    • recycler.
  • In case any entity falls in more than one categories under sub-rule (1), then the entity shall register under those categories separately.
  • No entity referred in sub-rule (1) shall carry out any business without registration.
  • The entities registered under sub-rule (1) shall not deal with any unregistered manufacturer, producer, recycler and refurbisher.
  • Where any registered entity furnishes false information or willfully conceals information for getting registration or return or report or information required to be provided or furnished under these rules or in case of any irregularity, the registration of such entity may be revoked by the Central Pollution Control Board for a period up to three-years after giving an opportunity to be heard and in addition, environmental compensation charges may also be levied as per rule 22 in such cases.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board may charge such registration fee and annual maintenance charges from the entities seeking registration under these rules based on capacity of e-waste generated or recycled or handled by them as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board with the approval of the Steering Committee.

CHAPTER III RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Responsibilities of the manufacturer. – All manufacturer shall have to, –
  • register on the portal;
  • collect e-waste generated during the manufacture of any electrical and electronic equipment and ensure its recycling or disposal;
  • file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates.
  • Responsibilities of the producer. – The producer of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall be responsible for –
  • registration on the portal;
  • obtaining and implementing extended producer responsibility targets as per Schedule-III and Schedule-IV through the portal:

Provided that the producer having extended producer responsibility plan under the provisions of the erstwhile E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 shall migrate under these rules as per the procedure laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board with approval of Steering Committee;

  • creating awareness through media, publications, advertisements, posters or by any other means of communication;
  • file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates.
  • Responsibilities of the refurbisher. – All refurbisher shall have to, –
  • register on the portal;
  • collect e-waste generated during the process of refurbishing and hand over the waste to registered recycler and upload information on the portal;
  • ensure that the refurbished equipment shall be as per Compulsory Registration Scheme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Standards of Bureau of Indian Standards framed for this purpose;
  • file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates.
  • Responsibilities of bulk consumer. – Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall ensure that e-waste generated by them shall be handed over only to the registered producer, refurbisher or recycler.
  • Responsibilities of the recycler. – All recycler shall have to, –
  • register on the portal;
  • ensure that the facility and recycling processes are in accordance with the standards or guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard from time to time;
  • ensure that the fractions or material not recycled in its facility is sent to the respective registered recyclers;
  • ensure that residue generated during recycling process is disposed of in anauthorised treatment storage disposal facility;
  • maintain record of e-waste collected, dismantled, recycled and sent to registered recycler on the portal and make available all records for verification or audit as and when required;
  • file annual and quarterly returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the month succeeding the quarter or year, as the case may be, to which the return relates;
  • accept waste electrical and electronic equipment or components not listed in Schedule-I for recycling provided that they do not contain any radioactive material and same shall be uploaded on the portal;
  • create awareness through media, publications, advertisements, posters or by such other means of communication;
  • account for and upload information about any non-recyclable e-waste or any quantity which is not recycled and disposed of;
  • take help of dismantlers for recycling purposes:

Provided that it shall be the responsibility of recycler to ensure proper material flow to and from those dismantlers and the dismantler shall give dismantled material to registered recycler only and maintain record of the same.

  1. Responsibilities of State Government or Union territories. –    (1) The Department of Industry in the State and Union territory or any other government agency authorised in this regard by the State Government or the Union territory, as the case may be, shall ensure earmarking or allocation of industrial space or shed for e-waste dismantling andrecycling in the existing and upcoming industrial park, estate and industrial clusters.
  2. Department of Labor in the State and Union territory or any other government agency authorised in this regard by the State Government or the Union territory, as the case may be, shall, –
    1. ensure recognition and registration of workers involved in dismantlingand recycling;
    2. assist formation of groups of such workers to facilitate setting up of dismantling facilities;
    3. undertake industrial skill development activities for the workers involved in dismantling and recycling;
    4. undertake annual monitoring and to ensure safety and health of workers involved in dismantling and recycling.

CHAPTER IV

  1. Procedure for storage of e-waste. – Every manufacturer, producer, refurbisher and recycler may store the e-waste for a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days and shall maintain a record of sale, transfer and storage of e-wastes and make these records available for inspection and the storage of the e-waste shall be done as per the applicable rules or guidelines for the time being in force:

Provided that the Central Pollution Control Board may extend the said period up to three hundred and sixty-five days in case the e-waste needs to be specifically stored for development of a process for its recycling or reuse.

CHAPTER V

  1. Management of solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells. – (1) These rules shall be applicable to solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells, subject to provisions of this chapter.
  2. Every manufacturer and producer of solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells shall, –
    1. ensure registration on the portal;
    2. store solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells waste generated up to the year 2034- 2035 as per the guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard;
    3. file annual returns in the laid down form on the portal on or before the end of the year to which the return relates up to year 2034-2035;
    4. ensure that the processing of the waste other than solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells shall be done as per the applicable rules or guidelines for the time being in force;
  • ensure that the inventory of solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells shall be put in place distinctly on portal;
    • comply with standard operating procedure and guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard.
  • Recycler of solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells shall be mandated for recovery of material as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard.

CHAPTER VI

  1. Modalities of the extended producer responsibility Regime. – (1) All producers shall fulfil their extended producer responsibility obligation as per Schedule-III and Schedule-IV, in doing so they may also take help of third party organisations such as producer responsibility organisations, collection centres, dealers etc.:

Provided that the extended producer responsibility shall lie entirely on the producer only.

  • The extended producer responsibility for each product shall be decided on the basis of the information provided by the producers on the portal and the individual product’s life period as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard and the targets specified in Schedule-III and Schedule-IV.
  • (i) The producer shall fulfill their extended producer responsibility through online purchase of extended producer responsibility certificate from registered recyclers only and submit it online by filing quarterly return.
  • The details provided by producer and registered recycler shall be cross-checked on the portal.
  • In case of any difference, the lower figure shall be considered towards fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligation of the producer.
  • The certificates shall be subject to environmental audit by the Central Pollution Control Board or any other agencies authorized by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard.
  • Extended producer responsibility Certificate Generation. – (1) Recycling. – (i) The Central Pollution Control Board shall generate extended producer responsibility certificate through the portal in favour of a registered recycler in the format laid down by it in this regard.
  • (a) The quantity eligible for generation of extended producer responsibility certificate shall be calculated by the following formula namely:

*QEPR = Qp x Cf

*the QEPR is the quantity eligible for generation of the certificate, Qp is the quantity of the end product and Cf is the conversion factor (quantity of inputs required for production of one unit of output)

(b)    Conversion factor Cf for each end product shall be determined by Central Pollution Control Board with the approval of the steering committee.

  • The validity of the extended producer responsibility certificate shall be two years from the end of the financial year in which it was generated and the expired certificate automatically extinguished after the period unless extinguished earlier as per the provisions of these rules.
  • Each extended producer responsibility certificate shall have a unique number containing year of generation, code of end product, recycler code and a unique code and the extended producer responsibility certificates shall be in the denominations of 100, 200, 500 and 1000 kg or such other denominations as may be laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board with the approval of the Steering Committee.
  • Refurbishing. – (i) The e-waste shall also be allowed for refurbishing and refurbisher shall have to get registered on the portal and based on the data provided, refurbishing certificate shall be generated in favour of a registered refurbisher in the format laid down by it in this regard.
  • On production of the refurbishing certificates purchased from the registered refurbishers, the extended producer responsibility of the producers shall be deferred by the duration as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board for the corresponding quantity of e-waste and shall be added to the extended producer responsibility of the producer upon expiry of the extended life of the refurbished product.
  • To incentivise refurbishing, only 75 per cent of the deferred quantity shall be added to the extended producer responsibility of the producer for recycling upon expiry of the extended life of the refurbished product.

Example: – If a producer has extended producer responsibility obligation of 100 tonnes in the year 2023-2024 and he purchases recycling certificate of 60 tonnes and refurbishing certificate of 40 tonnes and the concerned item has extended life of five years due to refurbishing.

In this case 60 tonnes of the extended producer responsibility of the producer shall be achieved in the year 2023-2024 itself and 75 per cent of the reaming 40 tonne i.e. 30 tonnes shall be carried over and added to the extended producer responsibility of that producer for the year 2028-2029 for that item.

  • The extended producer responsibility obligation shall be extinguished only after end of life disposal through a registered recycler and producing extended producer responsibility certificate and not by refurbishing certificate.
  • Transaction of extended producer responsibility certificates. – (1) A producer may purchase extended producer responsibility certificates limited to its extended producer responsibility liability of current year (Year Y) plus any leftover liability of preceding years plus 5 per cent of the current year liability.
    • The extended producer responsibility obligation shall have to be fulfilled by the producers by proportionately purchasing extended producer responsibility certificate on quarterly basis.
    • As soon as the producer purchases extended producer responsibility certificate, it shall be automatically adjusted against its liability and priority in adjustment shall be given to earlier liability and the extended producer responsibility certificate so adjusted shall be automatically extinguished and cancelled.
    • As soon as producer purchases refurbishing certificates its extended producer responsibility liability shall be deferred automatically for the relevant quantity of the product, for the duration as laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board.
    • The availability, requirement and other details of the extended producer responsibility certificate and refurbishing certificates for every producer or recycler or refurbisher shall be made available on the portal.
    • All the transactions under these rules shall be recorded and submitted by the producers or recyclers on the portal at the time of filing of quarterly returns.

CHAPTER VII

REDUCTION IN THE USE OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AND THEIR COMPONENTS OR CONSUMABLES OR PARTS OR SPARES

  1. Reduction in the use of hazardous substances in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares. – (1) Every producer of electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares listed in Schedule I shall ensure that, new electrical and electronic equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares do not contain Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers beyond a maximum concentration value of 0.1 per cent by weight in homogenous materials for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers and of 0.01 per cent by weight in homogenous materials for cadmium.
  2. Components or consumables or parts or spares required for the electrical and electronic equipment placed in the market prior to the 1st May, 2014 may be exempted from the provisions

of sub-rule (1) provided reduction of hazardous substances compliant parts and spares are not available.

  • The applications listed in Schedule-II shall be exempted from provisions of sub- rule (1).
  • Every producer of applications listed in Schedule-II shall ensure that the limits of hazardous substances as given in Schedule-II are to be complied.
  • Every producer shall provide the detailed information on the constituents of the equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares along with a declaration of conformance to the reduction of hazardous substances provisions in the product user documentation.
  • Imports or placement in the market for new electrical and electronic equipment shall be permitted only for those which are compliant to provisions of sub-rules (1) and (4).
  • Manufacture and supply of electrical and electronic equipment used for defence and other similar strategic applications shall be excluded from provisions of sub- rule (1).
  • Every producer shall provide information on the compliance of the provisions of sub-rule (1) and this information shall be in terms of self-declaration.
  • Manufacturer shall use the technology or methods so as to make the end product recyclable;
  • Manufacturer shall ensure that component or part made by different manufacturer are compatible with each other so as to reduce the quantity of e-waste.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board shall conduct random sampling of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market to monitor and verify the compliance of reduction of hazardous substances provisions and the cost for sample and testing shall be borne by the producer and the random sampling shall be as per the guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard.
  • If the product does not comply with reduction of hazardous substances provisions, the producer shall take corrective measures to bring the product into compliance and withdraw or recall the product from the market, within a reasonable period as per the guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board in this regard.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board shall lay down the methods for sampling andanalysis of hazardous substances as listed in sub-rule (1) with respect to the items listed in Schedule-I and Schedule-II and also enlist the labs for the said purpose.

CHAPTER VIII MISCELLANEOUS

  1. Duties of Authorities. – Subject to the other provisions of these rules, the authorities shall perform duties as specified in Schedule-V.
  2. Annual Report. – The Central Pollution Control Board shall submit an annual report to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding status of implementation of the e-waste management rules with quantitative and qualitative analysis along with its recommendations, within one month of the end of the financial year.
  3. Transportation of e-waste. – Transportation of waste generated from manufacturing or recycling destined for final disposal to a treatment, storage and disposal facility shall follow the provisions under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016.
  4. Accident reporting. – Where an accident occurs at the facility processing e-waste or during transportation of e-waste, the producer, refurbisher, transporter, dismantler, or recycler, as the case may be, shall report immediately to the concerned State Pollution Control Board about the accident through telephone and e-mail.
  5. Appeal. – (1) Any person aggrieved by an order of suspension or cancellation or refusal of registration or its renewal passed by the Central Pollution Control Board, within a period of thirty days

from the date on which the order is communicated to him, prefer an appeal to the Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change duly nominated by the Central Government in this regard.

(2)    The Appellate Authority may entertain the appeal after expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.

  • Environmental Compensation. – (1) The Central Pollution Control Board shall lay down guidelines for imposition and collection of environmental compensation on any entity in case of violation of any of the provision of these rules and guidelines issued hereunder and the said guidelines shall be in accordance with these rules and shall be approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board shall also lay down guidelines for imposition and collection of environmental compensation on the producer in case of non-fulfilment of obligations set out in these rules and transaction or use of false extended producer responsibility certificate and the said guidelines shall be in accordance with these rules and shall be approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
  • The environmental compensation shall also be levied on unregistered producers, manufacturer, refurbisher, recyclers and any entity which aids or abets the violation of these rules.
  • (i) Payment of environmental compensation shall not absolve the producer from the extended producer responsibility as specified in these rules and the unfulfilled extended producer responsibility for a particular year shall be carried forward to the next year and so on and up to three years.
    • In case, the shortfall of extended producer responsibility obligation is addressed after one year, 85 per cent of the environmental compensation levied shall be returned to the producer.
    • In case, the shortfall of extended producer responsibility obligation is addressed after two year, 60 per cent of the environmental compensation levied shall be returned to the producer, and in case, the shortfall of extended producer responsibility obligation is addressed after three year, 30 per cent of the environmental compensation levied shall be returned to the producer, thereafter no environmental compensation shall be returned to the producer.
  • False information resulting in over generation of extended producer responsibility certificates by recycler shall result in revocation of registration and imposition of environmental compensation which shall not be returnable and repeat offence, violation of these rules for three times or more shall also result in permanent revocation of registration over and above the environmental compensation charges.
  • (i) The funds collected under environmental compensation shall be kept in a separate Escrow account by the Central Pollution Control Board and the funds collected shall be utilizsed in collection and recycling or end of life disposal of uncollected, historical, orphaned e-waste and non-recycled or non-end of life disposal of e-waste on which the environment compensation is levied, research and development, incentivising recyclers, financial assistance to local bodies for managing waste management projects and on other heads as decided by the committee.

(ii) The modalities and heads for utilisation of the funds shall be decided by the Steering Committee with the approval of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

  • Prosecution. – Any person, who provides incorrect information required under these rules for obtaining extended producer responsibility certificates, uses or causes to be used false or forged extended producer responsibility certificates in any manner, willfully violates the directions given under these rules or fails to cooperate in the verification and audit proceedings, may be prosecuted under section 15 of the Act, 1986 and this prosecution shall be in addition to the environmental compensation levied under rule 22.
  • Verification and Audit. – The Central Pollution Control Board by itself or through a designated agency shall verify compliance of these rules by producers, manufacturer, refurbisher, dismantlers and

recyclers through random inspection and periodic audit, as deemed appropriate so as to take action against violations of the provisions of these rules as per rule 22.

  • Steering Committee. – (1) There shall be a Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board to oversee the overall implementation of these rules and the Steering Committee shall comprise of following other members in addition to the chair, namely: –
    • one representative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change;
    • one representative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology;
    • one representative of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy;
    • one representative of the Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs;
    • a maximum of two representatives of electrical and electronic equipment Producer and Manufacturer Association;
    • a maximum of two representatives of E-Waste Recycler Associations;
    • one representative of State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee as co-opted by the Chairman of the Steering Committee;
    • Head of the Concerned Division of the Central Pollution Control Board – Member- Convener.
  • The steering committee shall be responsible for overall implementation, monitoring and supervision of these rules and it shall also decide upon the disputes arisen from time to time and on representations received in this regard, and shall refer to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change any substantial issue arisen or pertaining to these rules.
  • The steering committee shall review and revise the guidelines or extended producer responsibility target or addition of new Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Schedule I, in view of the technological advancements and other factors with the approval of the Central Government.
  • The Steering Committee shall take all such measures as it deems necessary for proper implementation of provisions of these rules.