Frequently Asked Questions

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: General , PRO , Registration

  Toggle the submenu Does RPRA vet PROs that register to ensure that they are viable options for producers to meet their requirements under the regulation?

  RPRA does not vet PROs before listing them on the website. Any business that registers as a PRO will be listed. Producers should do their own due diligence when determining which PRO to work with.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting

  Topic: Producer , Registration , Reporting

  Toggle the submenu Why is a registration and/or reporting deadline communicated by the Authority different than what is written in the regulation?

  As the Regulator responsible for enforcing regulations under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, the Registrar uses their discretion for when it is necessary to give registrants more time to collect the information needed for registration and/or reporting.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: Environmental Fees , Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu Can I dispute an environmental fee that seems too high?

  If you are concerned about the fee you were charged, you should contact the business that charged you the fee to request a more detailed explanation of how the fee was determined.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: Environmental Fees , Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu Is the environmental fee on my receipt a tax?

  No. An environmental fee is not a government tax and cannot be represented as mandatory, a regulatory charge, or a RPRA fee. It is a fee charged at the discretion of a business to recover their costs related to recycling the product.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: Environmental Fees , Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu How much can be charged as an environmental fee?

  There is no set environmental fee for any product, the amount of the fee charged is decided by the business.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: Environmental Fees , Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu What are the rules around charging an environmental fee?

  Consumer protection laws in Ontario prohibits the misrepresentation of charges, which means that producers or retailers cannot misrepresent any visible fees as a regulatory charge, tax, RPRA fee or something similar. Consumers who have questions or concerns about a specific transaction or want to report a misrepresentation can contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery at 1-800-889-9768.

  As of March 2023, the promotion and education requirements related to environmental fees have been removed from the Tires, Batteries, Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and Hazardous and Special Products regulations. No changes were made to the Blue Box Regulation as it never contained promotion and education requirements related to these fees.

  RPRA’s compliance bulletin Charging Tire Fees to Consumers has since been revoked and RPRA has ceased its enforcement of promotion and education requirements for visible fees across all materials.

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• Program: Batteries , Blue Box , Hazardous and Special Products , ITT/AV , Lighting , Tires

  Topic: Environmental Fees , Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu Can businesses charge consumers an environmental fee?

  Businesses have the choice to recover the cost of recycling their products by incorporating those costs into the overall cost of their product (as they do with other costs, such as materials, labour, other regulatory compliance costs, etc.) or by charging it as a separate fee to consumers.

  Environmental fees are not mandatory and are applied at the discretion of the business charging them, including the amount of the fee.

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• Program: ITT/AV

  Topic: Producer , Reporting

  Toggle the submenu Is the data I report to the Authority the same as what I reported to Ontario Electronic Stewardship?

  No. The list of products obligated under the EEE Regulation is different from the list of products included in the OES Program. The OES Program required producers to report the number of units they supplied, while the EEE Regulation requires producers to report the total weight of products.

  To help producers calculate the weight of their products, we have included weight conversion factors in our Verification and Audit procedure, which is included as a weight conversion tool on the registration form.  Once a producer determines the units of products on which they are obligated to report, they can enter the units into the conversion tool to get a calculated weight to report to the Authority.

  For more information, see the Determining Supply Data section of the Registry Procedure: EEE Verification and Audit.

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• Program: ITT/AV

  Topic: About the Authority , Producer

  Toggle the submenu Has the Authority replaced Ontario Electronic Stewardship?

  No. RPRA is the regulator for the purposes of the new EEE Regulation. Producers and PROs are required to register with RPRA and meet the mandatory performance and reporting requirements under the regulation. RPRA is responsible for overseeing compliance with the regulation and has a range of enforcement tools that include compliance orders, administrative penalties, and prosecutions.

  As a regulator, RPRA will not provide collection and management services. Instead, producers will be served by a competitive market comprised of processors, refurbishers, haulers, and PROs. Producers can contract with PROs to meet their obligations under the EEE Regulation, but producers will always remain responsible for meeting those requirements regardless of who they contract with.

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• Program: ITT/AV

  Topic: Producer , Retailer

  Toggle the submenu As a retailer, what are my responsibilities under the EEE Regulation?

  You may have obligations as an ITT/AV producer. To determine if you are a producer, see the FAQ Am I an ITT/AV producer?

  If you are not a producer, then under the EEE Regulation you are not required to report supply data to the Authority or anyone else.

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