A company that sells electrical and electronic equipment directly to an end user in another European country must appoint an authorized representative for each country of sale. By doing so, the company fulfills its statutory producer responsibility obligations, ie participates in the costs of recycling and waste management of the equipment in the country of sale.
Elker can act as an authorized representative for a company registered abroad that imports, manufactures or sells electrical and electronic equipment and batteries and accumulators under its own brand in Finland. Correspondingly, a Finnish company that sells products to another member country by distance selling must appoint an authorized representative for all the member countries to which the products are sold. Read more: European cooperation
As an authorized representative, Elker takes care of all obligations related to producer responsibility, such as waste management and reporting of monitoring data to the authority, on behalf of the foreign company. The foreign company reports to Elker on a quarterly basis the number of devices it has placed on the market in Finland and Åland in Elker’s reporting system.
A foreign company that has authorized Elker as its representative for electrical and electronic equipment may also report batteries and accumulators (excluding large industrial accumulators) with the same authorization. It is possible for a parent company to report on behalf of its subsidiary, in which case only the parent company is registered in Finland. The basic information of the subsidiaries is reported to the producer organization on a separate form. The contract between the authorised representative and the company can be transferred to another company if, for example, the company merges with another company.
Elker’s authorization is in writing and the necessary documents are available from Elker’s member support at membersupport (a) elker.fi.
“A foreign distance seller means an operator established abroad who sells products subject to producer responsibility directly to Finnish users.”
Pirkanmaa ELY Center, supervicing authority of producer responsibility