Existence of local computer retailers threatened

The European WEEE Directive directs that the producers should bear the end-of-life costs of electrical and electronic equipment; that is, the monitor, printer, computer and accessories manufacturers and importers. However, local computer retailers such as Mission Computers on Yorkshire Street say the operating framework adopted by the UK Government is already showing itself to be fundamentally flawed, inequitable and a serious threat not only to the viability of thousands of small information technology businesses throughout the country but also tens of thousands of IT sector jobs. The compliance costs for the Independent IT Sector are proving significantly greater than that borne by the big IT superstores, supermarkets and internet retailers. This inequality will lead to a cost increase some fifteen times higher for the average Independent than that incurred by big retail businesses.

The WEEE Regulations (Dec) 2006 implemented the EC WEEE Directive within the UK. The 80 page DTI Guidelines explaining requirements were published on the 28 February 2007. These Guidelines informed, for the first time, that registrations and substantial fee payments for the various compliance schemes were required by 15 March 2007. To not register by the deadline would be an offence. Local computer retailers say two weeks was wholly inadequate to even grasp the outline let alone the detail of the complex Guidelines.

Hendy Armstrong of the Independent Trade Association of Computing Specialists says: "It is only now that the impact, burden and inequality of the UK implementation requirements are beginning to be appreciated.

"It is fair to say that the regulatory framework was drawn up by legislators who took little, if any account of the many thousands of Information Technology micro-enterprises that populate the UK today. Paradoxically, by disadvantaging the Independents, it is likely that this poorly considered implementation will end up achieving the exact opposite of the aims of WEEE Regulations. These small, owner-managed businesses have actually been at the vanguard of re-use, recovery and recycling of equipment for years. They have served their local communities by providing dedicated and professional services, aiding the retention of equipment that would otherwise have been disposed of in landfill. They are the computer experts consumers turn to when their superstore-bought computer fails, or when the big-name company lets them down. These local shops maintain and repair most of the computer products sold in the UK, and provide technical support to hundreds of thousands of small businesses throughout the country. Most are “manufacturing” only a handful of computers every month. For years, all have been actively salvaging, refurbishing and putting unwanted IT equipment to re-use, pre-empting the introduction of the WEEE Directive. The same cannot be said for the mass merchandisers and internet retailers where a sale generates the maximum WEEE.

"It is totally unacceptable that the unequal implementation and operating costs of WEEE compliance are significantly more favourable to the really big retailers and, ultimately, will endanger the viability of these small local independent businesses by placing them at a further huge disadvantage."