As of 1st July 2023, the rules of the extended producer responsibility scheme (EPR in short) must be applied in Hungary. The essence of this is that the manufacturers/first domestic distributors is obliged to assume the financial responsibility for the waste management of their products, and they must bear the costs of collecting and disposing of the waste generated from the so-called circular products.
The Hungarian EPR regulation particularly
imposes additional obligations on the manufacturers/distributors of the product
groups known from the current environmental protection regulation, but it
supplements these with new goods, the handling and disposal of which after
becoming waste entails significant costs. So there are products that fall under
both the product fee regulation and the EPR. And there are some which are
affected by the newly introduced EPR regulation even without a product fee
obligation, such as some wooden furniture. Further, there are some products, which
will remain exclusively under the product fee obligation, such as the ’other
plastic products’ (plastic flowers and fruit imitation), other chemical
products (organic surfactants, hair care products, scrub creams), other
petroleum products (for example: lubricating oil, hydraulic oil). The products
falling under the EPR regulation we have already listed in our previous
article. In this article we have investigated it in detail that not only the
domestic producer of circular products are affected, but also the first person
who distributes an abroad produced product falling under the EPR regulation on
the market in Hungary within its economic activity.
Rules for packaging materials
It is important to highlight that even if the
product imported from abroad is not to be classified as a circular product, its
packaging is almost certainly the one for which the first domestic distributor
is responsible for handling it. Differently from the product fee law, it is not
the manufacturer of the packaging material who will be obliged to pay the EPR
fee, but the person who packs the product. The manufacturer of the packaging
must therefore pay the product fee, while the packager must pay the EPR fee.
However, those smaller businesses that use
relatively small amounts of packaging at the point of the sale – e.g. bakeries,
flower shops, convenience stores - are not subject to the obligation. In these
cases, the obligations related to the EPR must be fulfilled by the seller of
the packaging material. Packaging material sellers therefore have to deal with
more administration, as they have to make sure what their customer uses the
packaging material for, in order to determine who is responsible for the
obligations. Such packaging materials are called "packaging materials
designed and intended to be filled at the point of sale for the consumer"
or "packaging created from single-use packaging materials sold, filled or
designed to be filled and intended for filling at the point of sale to the
consumer".
As described in our previous article, the fee
obligation arises when the circulation product is placed first time on the
market. That time we also covered the issue of self-use, but it is worthwhile
to deal with packaging produced abroad in more detail. The use of this for your
own purposes, when the packaging is permanently separated from the product, if
no EPR fee was previously paid for the packaging. An exception to this is the
separation of reusable packaging brought back from abroad owned by a domestic
business organization.
When does the fee payment obligation arise?
The date of the EPR fee payment obligation is
the same as the performance date indicated on the invoice issued at the time of
the first domestic sale or on the other document certifying the performance of
the transaction, or in the absence of these, the date of the actual performance
of the transaction. In the case of personal use, the settlement as a cost,
possibly the date of completion of the transaction or, in the case of packaging
imported from abroad, the date of final dismantling of the packaging can be
considered.
Determining this date in practice runs into
many difficulties, especially in the case of products that have been previously
purchased but are sold after the new rules came into force. In this regard, it
is worth looking for a personalized solution with the involvement of an expert.
EPR fee rates
The amount of the EPR fee determined per unit,
listed by fee code, was defined by decree of the Minister of Energy responsible
for waste management, based on the proposal of the Hungarian Energy and Public
Utilities Regulatory Office.
Below the EPR fees are listed, determined for
some circular products, applicable as of 1st July, 2023, compared to the
current product fee rates.
|
Circular product |
Fee code |
EPR fee to be paid by the producer (Ft/kg) |
Product fee rate (Ft/kg) |
Difference (Ft/kg) |
|
Plastic packaging |
M01 |
219 |
57 |
+162 |
|
Paper and cardboard packaging |
P01 |
173 |
19 |
+154 |
|
Screens, monitors |
E02 |
362 |
57 |
+305 |
|
Tires |
G01 |
137 |
57 |
+80 |
|
Cooking oil, cooking fat |
Z01 |
36 |
- |
+36 |
|
Textile products |
T01 |
145 |
- |
+145 |
|
Furniture made of wood |
B01 |
17 |
- |
+17 |
In the case of the products included in the
above examples, which are subject to the environmental product fee regulations,
the EPR fee will be higher than the current product fee, further in the case of
the new product streams (cooking oil, cooking fat, textile products, wooden
furniture) they need also to count on a significant EPR fee payment obligation
after July 1, 2023.
Tasks in the near future
1. Waste owners (owners of separately
collected municipal waste and EPR waste) and producers should register on the
partner portal of MOL Hulladékgazdálkodási Zrt. (link)
2. Submission of a registration request
to the waste management authority through the OKIR
portal.
For registration, a client gate access,
authorization (for registration and data supply on behalf of the company), and
an environmental customer code (KÜJ) are required.
3. Classification and categorization of
the products by considering the customs tariff numbers, the sectoral
legislation and the packaging waste listed based on the raw material in
accordance with the EPR regulation.
4. Creation of circular product codes
and record keeping defined in the EPR regulation. Development of the own
methods for determining the amount of circular products.
6. Preparing of the invoicing software
for the application of the invoicing clause defined in the EPR regulation.
After all, the text of the mandatory clause will have to be included in all of
the invoices issued after 30th June 2023.
7. Review of the processes related to
the environmental product fee for the purpose of sharing the fees to be paid
after 1st July.
Ongoing tasks: data supply and fee payment
Quarterly data supply to the waste management
authority by the 20th of the month following the quarter in question, using a
special form. Since the EPR is related to the environmental product fee and, it
is worth harmonizing the two obligations. The fee is to be paid on a quarterly
basis to the concession company (MOHU MOL Hulladékgazdálkodási Zrt.) on the
basis of an invoice issued by the concession company within 15 days after
receipt of the invoice. There is not any separate declaration at MOHU is due,
as the data are directly transported from the waste management authority.
After receipt of the MOHU-invoice, it is possible
to ask for data correction within 15 days, having regard to the fact that based
on the current legislation, it is not possible to submit any self-revision
within the statutory limitation period. In case of any correction, the
corrected data are to be submitted to MOHU and the waste management authority
simultaneously, with this procedure it is possible to ask for the correction of
the payable fee amount. In case of submission such a correction request, the
payment deadline is postponed accordingly.
Sanction
The fulfilment of the manufacturer's obligation
(registration, record-keeping and data provision) can be checked by the Waste
Management Authority (Pest County Government Office), while the fulfillment of
other manufacturer obligations can be audited by the competent county
government office. However, it is also expected that the environmental product
fee and EPR data will be brought together by the tax authority.
In case of violation of the obligations defined
in the EPR Regulation, the competent authority may impose a waste management
penalty, which is the amount determined on the basis of the basic penalty amount
and the multipliers assigned to the factors that modify it.
If the company does not fulfill its obligations
even after the penalty has been imposed, the authority will suspend the
circulation of the circular product until the fulfilment of the registration
obligation and the payment of the fee due for the products previously placed on
the market.
