When the WEEE regulations first came to the attention of the industry we said it would be the biggest most complicated piece of legislation to affect us since VAT. Frankly, it's probably more complicated and places a huge burden on smaller companies.

WEEE stands for 'Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment' and, in simple terms, applies to any product which requires electricity to work. Of course, there are some exceptions but these notes relate to products supplied by Noma and are not intended to be a blow-by-blow account of the full details of WEEE. If you want to know more of the gory details about the regulations simply enter 'WEEE' into Google and take your pick! Quite a good reference is to be found at http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file37923.pdf

Noma is responsible as a 'Producer' for B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) sales. B2C is where we sell something to a retailer to sell-on to a consumer (i.e. we are not the seller to the consumer). B2B is where we sell something to another business for their use (e.g. lights to a shopping centre for display purposes).

Christmas lighting
One of the exceptions to the WEEE Regulations is domestic household lighting. Christmas lighting sets (whether or not sold at Christmas) are regarded as being within this category and are, we believe, therefore 'without the scope of the Regulations'. This is a Christmas lighting industry position, confirmed with the DTI through Noma's Trade Association. A lighting set includes, as applicable, plug, transformer, control unit, wiring harness and bulbs (including LED bulbs if hard wired).

Extension Leads
Extension leads are excluded from the Regulations.

Where it's happening
This is a European Union 'Directive' which means it applies to all EU countries. However it's likely to be dealt-with differently in various countries so the way the UK handles it might be different to (say) Italy. Generally, 'though anything made in, or imported into, the EU is caught by this far-reaching piece of work.

Other environmental Directives
The RoHS Directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) has been effective since 1st July 2006 and a Directive to do with the handling and recycling of batteries is now in effect

Producer Number
Our WEEE Producer Number is: WEE/FC0047SY

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/sectors/sustainability/weee/page30269.html

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