CONSUMERS WILL still be able to dispose of electronic and electrical waste free of charge, despite a High Court ruling against aspects of the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) scheme, according to Minister for the Environment John Gormley .
In his High Court judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe ruled that the Minister for the Environment acted outside his powers in providing for prosecutions on indictment for retailers who failed to display information on the recycling scheme and its associated charges.
The charges, applied to all new electronic and electrical equipment, provide a fund which is used to pay for recycling such equipment at the end of its working life.
As part of the scheme, retailers were told they must display information for customers on the recycling fund or face prosecution by indictment.
Mr Justice O’Keeffe said the Supreme Court had previously ruled that the European Communities Act 1972 specifically stated that regulations made by a Minister enabling the implementation of community law “shall not create an indictable offence”.
The challenge to the legality of offences created under the regulations was brought by Spectra Photo (Retail Company) and Hooft Enterprises after they were charged before Dublin District Court with committing two offences contrary to section 53L of the Waste Management Act at premises on Grafton Street, Dublin, on October 6th, 2005.
Following the judgment, Mr Gormley issued a statement.
In it he said that the outcome of the case “will not impact on the rights of consumers to deposit waste electrical items at retail outlets, nor on members of the public to deposit such waste free of charge at local authority civic amenity facilities.
“While today’s ruling affects how producers display [and] how they may finance the recycling of household WEEE, there are sufficient powers in the Waste Management Act, other than those that were the subject of today’s ruling, to require producers to finance the recycling of WEEE and retailers and local authorities to take back WEEE,” he said.
The Minister claimed that, whereas sections 53G to 53M of the Act were declared void by Mr Justice O’Keeffe, other sections of the Act gave the Minister powers to make regulations for management of the waste.
Ireland was among the first EU states to introduce a WEEE scheme when it was put forward by then Minister for Environment Dick Roche in 2005.
The scheme was initially opposed by some British retailers here, who maintained it would make pricing difficult, as it was not at that time law in the UK.
Some retailers offered to simply absorb the cost of the recycling fund, but this was rejected by Government on grounds that it could be unfair to smaller retailers, who would have to add the charge.
The High Court ruling, which was described by Mr Gormley as “a very comprehensive judgment”, will now be considered in detail by the Department of the Environment, in consultation with the Attorney General.