So called “quick amendment” No. 285/2020 Coll. entered into force on October 14th, 2020, amending the Act No. 79/2015 Coll. on waste, amending certain acts, as amended (hereinafter referred to as “Waste Act”), amending also the Act No. 302/2019 Coll. on depositing of the single-use packaging for beverages, amending certain acts, as amended by the Act No. 74/2020 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as “Amendment”.)
Modifications of the Waste Act that will have impact to:
I. The producers of packaging and non-packaging products:
• Introduction of the obligation to cover the costs for implementation of separated collection and recovery of waste from the packaging and non-packaging products in the extent of economically feasible expenses laid down in the implementing regulation. This implementing regulation will be the subject to comment procedure according to the published preliminary information during October 2020. As a Producer Responsibility Organization for packaging (hereinafter referred to as “PRO for packaging”) we are not able to quantify the increased fees.
• Prolongation of validity of the agreement on fulfillment of the reserved obligations. The agreement on fulfillment of the reserved obligations is concluded for a defined time period, as a minimum for two calendar years.
• Commitment of the packaging and non-packaging products manufacturer who terminated the agreement without giving the reason (pursuant to the par. 14 a) of the point two of the Waste Act), to agree upon a new agreement with the PRO for packaging, not later than until October 31st of the calendar year in which the termination was announced. It does not apply to the producers who are shifting to individual performance of duties. As of the year 2020, a producer of packaging and a producer of non-packaging products are obliged to conclude a new agreement with the Producer Responsibility Organization for packaging until November 20th, 2020.
• Responsibility for separately collected waste from packaging from other sources, and separately collected waste from non-packaging products from other sources was transferred by the modified Art. 81, par. 1 from municipality to the originator of this waste (physical person – entrepreneur and legal person).
II. The municipalities:
• Bringing a promise to the self-governments that they should not find themselves in a situation without a PRO for packaging that will finance their separated waste collection. Pursuant to the new Art. 59, par. 12 of the Waste Act, if a PRO terminates the agreement with a municipality, it is obliged to ensure the separated waste collection from packaging and waste from non-packaging products for this municipality until the conclusion of a new contractual relationship of such municipality with another PRO for packaging, to the extent of previous system of separated collection of waste from packaging and waste from non-packaging products in this municipality.
The Act amendment modifies also the Act No. 302/2019 Coll. on depositing of single-use packaging for beverages, as amended by the Act No. 74/2020 Coll., whereas the application deadline for depositing of the single-use packaging for beverages – PET bottles and cans is moved back to the original term, i.e. January 1st, 2022.
October 15th, 2020
