We ship electronics to consumers in several EU countries

A web shop that sends electronics across a border takes its producer obligations with the parcel. The WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU defines as a producer anyone who, irrespective of the selling technique, sells electrical and electronic equipment by distance communication directly to private households or to other users in a Member State, and is established in another Member State or in a third country (Article 3(1)(f)(iv)).^[1]

Registration follows the customer. Member States keep a register of producers, including producers supplying by distance communication, and those producers are registered in the Member State they sell to. Where a distance seller is not registered in that Member State itself, it is registered through its authorised representative (Article 16(1)). On registration, the register receives the representative's details and also the contact details of the producer it represents (Annex X, Part A, point 1).^[1]

The authorised representative is the link. A Member State ensures that a distance-selling producer established on its territory, which sells into another Member State where it is not established, appoints an authorised representative in that other Member State as the person responsible for its obligations there (Article 17(2)). The appointment is made by written mandate (Article 17(3)). Producers established in another Member State that place equipment on a market in the ordinary way may also appoint a representative there instead of acting themselves (Article 17(1)).^[1]

The national registers do not work in isolation. The authorities cooperate and exchange information, in particular between registers and by electronic means, to make sure producers comply (Article 18), and national registers link to each other's websites to make registration in several countries possible (Article 16(2)(d)). Inspections cover at least the information reported to the register (Article 23(1)(a)).^[1]