Competition Law, Environmental Policy and Producer Responsibility

The proposed Directive on waste electrical and electronical equipment envisages a producer responsibility. This means that producers and importers will be made responsible for the collection and recycling of these products once they have reached the end of their life. Similar legislation in the Netherlands has resulted in a collective producer responsibility organisation funded by a disposal fee. The establishment of such collective organisations is encouraged by environmental legislation. However, competition law is critical of such co-operation particularly with regard to the disposal fee that is to be passed on to consumers. This study examines the environmental and competition law applicable to producer responsibility organisations. In this regard, the experiences in the Netherlands and a number of other European countries have been studied. It comes to the conclusion that competition law and environmental law may not pull in the same direction. The study suggests a number of possible solutions for the conflict between environmental and competition law in this field.