My company trades used electronics and ships across borders – is my business model compliant with waste regulations?

Client

Operator of electronics recycling and refurbishing services

The situation

The regulations on cross-border shipment of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are one of the most complex areas of environmental law and for companies whose business model relies on collecting, processing and re-placing used electronics on the market, they can pose a real operational threat. An operator of IT and media solutions faced the need to restructure the legal framework of its operations to meet WEEE regulatory requirements without blocking business activity.

Our role

We were litigating against the regulator in the waste permitting process. We advised on the permitting structure and were building a secure supply chain to ensure full regulatory compliance of the client’s operations. Our advisory went beyond reacting to problems: we actively participated in building the client’s business model in response to regulatory requirements.

The result

It is a good example of a new approach to environmental advisory: we do not describe the rules, we help design an operational model that is compliant from the outset, before a problem emerges at the stage of an inspection or administrative proceedings.

Does your company process or move used electronics? We can check whether your model is WEEE-compliant.