Poland has implemented laws to comply with the directives 94/62/EC for packaging, 2006/66/EC for batteries and 2012/19/EU for electrical appliances as it is implemented in many other EU countries. It requires a registration of all companies responsible for waste disposal. In addition to companies from the waste disposal industry, manufacturers of electrical appliances, batteries or packaging material must register, as well as online retailers, importers or companies that generate packaging waste.
At the beginning of 2020, a central database for the registration of all these registered companies was set up by BDO (the body commissioned by the authorities in Poland to manage the database): The database on products and packaging and on waste management (in short: BDO database).
Moving away from paper applications towards an online platform organised by a dedicated body should simplify the registration. The business-related official Trusted Profile should be used to identify the obligated party. Like an identification number, each Polish person is assigned a Trusted Profile. Foreign companies usually do not have such a Trusted Profile. The idea of minimising the bureaucratic burden by means of an online database linked to the Trusted Profile initially led to helplessness among BDO employees, resulting in long waiting times and short deadlines for companies.
For example, in September BDO informed that, and above all how, an EEE and battery quantity declaration for products placed on the market in 2019 must be submitted online within 3 weeks. Thanks to our reliable partners and cooperative customers, all quantity declarations could be submitted on time.
In the meantime the new database has been implemented. What remains is the hurdle of getting access to BDO only via the Trusted Profile. Especially for foreign companies, registration - and thus legally compliant offering of products in Poland - has become more difficult with this step. Foreign companies usually do not have such a Trusted Profile and are therefore dependent on a representative who manages BDO database access for them.
- For electrical appliances, the problem does not arise because foreign companies do not have their own registration, but are registered through their Polish authorised representative.
- The battery take-back schemes have taken action on short notice and have offered this service in order to be able to submit the above-mentioned short-term requested quantity declaration for 2019.
- The take-back systems for packaging do not provide a representative.
After intensive research on the websites of BDO and other official institutions, many telephone calls in Polish, filling in applications and visits to the Polish consulate, take-e-way GmbH also has a Trusted Profile, which also allows the establishment of online access to the BDO database.
We are now pleased to inform you that we, take-e-way, as your representative, can link registrations of our clients with our BDO access and thus provide the necessary quantity reports and, if necessary, make changes to the master data in order to continue to offer our clients a reliable service and to enable them to have a legally compliant market presence.
If you place products on the Polish market and are not yet registered or would like to find out more about your obligations in Poland, we look forward to your call.
The take-e-way GmbH consultants will be pleased to assist you. Call +49/40/750687-0 or send an e-mail to beratung@take-e-way.de.
