Russia Proposes Amendments to Extended Producer Responsibility Law

The Russian Government has proposed an amendment to Federal Law No. 89-FZ, 1998 on waste production and consumption.

Following a review of the “extended producer responsibility programme” for manufacturers and importers of goods and packaging, during the period of 2016-2019, it became apparent that numerous producers and importers have been ignoring their obligations under the Law, including failing to self declare to Rosprirodnadzor, the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, low levels of report submissions, and failure to pay fees.

These failures have been blamed on the current structure of the system, where manufacturers and importers are solely responsible for ensuring their payment of the environmental fee and are required to establish their own infrastructure for the disposal of waste goods and packaging, in accordance with the Law’s standards.

The new draft proposes the following changes:

• By 1 April each year, manufacturers or importers will have to submit reports on the amount of goods or packaging either sold or imported in the territory of the Russian Federation, during the previous calendar year
• A twice yearly environmental fee will be introduced for the production or import of goods and packaging. This fee is currently paid once a year
• The environmental fee will be used to finance projects for the management of waste
• The Federal Tax Service of Russia will take over matters relating to the accuracy of calculations and the payment of environmental taxes
• Rosprirodnadzor will supervise the implementation of measures

The proposed date of entry into force is the 1 January 2021, with the exception of subparagraphs “c”, “d”, “g”, “k” of paragraph 3, subparagraph “g” of paragraph 5, and paragraph 6 of Article 1, which will enter into force on 1 January 2022.

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