From June 26 to August 10, 2020, the Authority consulted on its proposed 2020 Registry fees for tires, batteries and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). These are fees that registrants pay to the Authority to cover the Authority’s costs related to building and operating the Registry, and compliance and enforcement activities.
We hosted two webinars to describe the methodology used to calculate the proposed fees and gain feedback from registrants and other interested stakeholders. Stakeholders also submitted their feedback by email. The Authority considered all feedback received during the consultation as it finalized the 2020 fees. Read the consultation report.
The final fees have been modified from the initial fee proposal based on the feedback received during the consultation process, as well as the final EEE Regulation. The four primary amendments to the initial 2020 Registry fee proposal are:
- Lower number of assumed EEE and battery producers based on feedback from EEE and battery industry stakeholders
- Eliminate PRO fees to remove a barrier to entry for new PROs and support competition in the compliance services market
- Merge separate EEE and batteries fees into a single fee to reduce impact on batteries sector and to reflect that (1) battery and EEE producers are interrelated, (2) many EEE products are sold with batteries, and (3) the Batteries and EEE regulations are interrelated.
- Eliminate flat fees for small EEE and batteries producers. The final EEE regulation provides a higher exemption threshold than what was proposed in the initial 2020 Registry fee proposal. Based on feedback from stakeholders, it was also determined that very few battery producers would qualify for the flat fee. Accordingly, there will be no fee in 2020 for producers who are required to report supply of 6500 kg or less of EEE or producers who are required to report supply of 1000 kg or less of batteries.
View the 2020 Registry Fee Schedule
As part of the 2020 Registry fees consultation, the Authority also consulted on its General Fee Setting Policy and Methodology, which outlines the principles, rules, and method for setting Registry fees. The General Fee Setting Policy and Methodology will be reviewed to reflect the structure of the final 2020 Registry fees.
Background
2020 is the first year that Registry fees include multiple material groups. Tires was the only group required to pay Registry fees to the Authority in 2018 and 2019, as it was the sole material designated under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA). Batteries is the second material designated under the RRCEA and will transition on July 1, 2020. Waste electronics is scheduled to transition to the new framework on January 1, 2021. The regulation designating waste electronics under the RRCEA is expected to be finalized by the government soon. Registrants obligated under the Tires Regulation, the Batteries Regulation and the Electronics Regulation will all be required to pay Registry fees to the Authority in 2020.
This proposal outlines the proposed 2020 Registry fees for tires, batteries and electronics, as well as context for setting each material fee.
The proposed fees for electronics were based on an assumption that the soon-to-be finalized Electronics Regulation will cover the same range of materials currently accepted as part of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Program operated by Ontario Electronic Stewardship. If the final Electronics Regulation differs substantially from the Authority’s assumptions, the final fees will be revised accordingly.