Tires, Batteries and Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations amended

The Ontario government has finalized amendments to O. Reg. 225/18 (the Tires Regulation), O. Reg. 30/20, (the Batteries Regulation) and O. Reg. 522/20 (the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation), all issued under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA).

To view the approved amendments, visit the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

The amendments were, according to the Ontario government, made to reduce burden, increase transparency, align administrative and technical provisions between the regulations, and remove old provisions.

Key revisions to the Tires Regulation include:

  • removing audit requirements for supply data reporting and replacing it with an internal verification process
  • removing reporting and audit requirements for visible fees but keeping the promotion and education (P&E) requirements
  • reducing the frequency of management audits from annually to once every three years
  • amending the small producer exemption to require just record keeping, rather than registration and reporting
  • updating the producer hierarchy to replace Ontario brand holders with Canadian brand holders thereby reducing the number of obligated parties
  • adding a provision to clarify that producer responsibility organizations (PROs) have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring tires collected are managed properly

Key revisions to the Batteries Regulation include:

  • amending the small producer exemption to require just record keeping in all cases, rather than registration and reporting for some small producers
  • adding a new P&E requirement related to visible fees to create transparency around who is charging the fee and what it will be used for
  • adding a provision to clarify that PROs have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring batteries collected are managed properly

Key revisions to the EEE Regulation include:

  • adding a new P&E requirement related to visible fees to create transparency around who is charging the fee and what it will be used for
  • updating the “producer agreement” provisions to clarify that PROs have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring EEE collected are managed properly

Many of the amendments, including removing or reducing the audit requirements related to supply data reporting, management outcomes and visible fees for tire producers, came into effect on the release date of the amended regulations.

Other specified amendments, such as reducing requirements for small producers under the Tires and Batteries regulations and changing the producer hierarchy for tires, will come into effect on January 1, 2023.

The Authority acknowledges registrants may require time to implement the requirements of the amended regulations.

To support registrants, the Authority’s Registrar will be providing explanatory guidance material in the new year. The Registrar will also host a webinar in the new year to present the guidance material and answer any questions about the regulatory amendments.

Registrants will be proactively contacted in the new year with additional information to assist them in operationalizing the amended regulations and registering for the webinar and should not contact the Compliance and Registry Team in the meantime.

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