S.L. 549.54 Art. 24Signed agreement with an operator of an authorised waste batteries and accumulators collection, treatment and recycling scheme.

(1) If a producer chooses to make use of an existing authorised waste batteries and accumulators collective organisation, he shall be required to submit to the competent authority a signed agreement with the operator of the authorised waste batteries and accumulators collective organisation to prove that the producer responsibility organisation complies with the provisions by these regulations.

(2) The producer shall moreover submit to the competent authority, by 31 March each year, a statement of compliance with the provisions of these regulations, signed by the operator of the authorised waste batteries and accumulators collective organisation, in respect of batteries and accumulators which have been placed on the market within Malta by the producer between 1 January and 31 December of the immediately preceding year.

(3) The operator of the authorised waste batteries and accumulators collective organisation referred to in sub-regulation

(1) shall:

(a) bind himself to carry out the activities agreed to and on behalf of the producer in accordance with any existing laws and regulations;

(b) ensure that all economic operators and all competent public authorities may participate in the scheme;

(c) ensure that the scheme shall also apply to batteries and accumulators imported from third countries under non-discriminatory conditions and shall be designed to avoid barriers to trade or distortions of competition;

(d) provide the competent authority with information on any measures taken to encourage developments affecting the impact of batteries and accumulators on the environment, mainly:

(i) developments, including voluntary steps taken by the scheme members, to reduce the quantities of heavy metals and other hazardous substances contained in batteries and accumulators;

(ii) new recycling and treatment techniques;

(iii) economic operators’ participation in environmental management schemes;

(iv) research in those fields; and

(v) measures taken to promote waste prevention;

(e) provide the competent authority, by 31 March each year, with the information referred to in regulations 14 and 16 as it applies to the producer, mutatis mutandis in respect of batteries and accumulators placed on the market within Malta by the producer between 1 January and 31 December of the immediately preceding year;

(f) provide the competent authority, by 31 March each year, with a statement of compliance of the producer with the provisions of these regulations, in respect of batteries and accumulators placed on the market within Malta by the producer between 1 January and 31 December of the immediately preceding year.

(4) All the information shall be provided in half-yearly and annual reports. A waste batteries and accumulators collective organisation shall submit half-yearly reports to the competent authority within three

(3) calendar months following the end of that period, whereas annual reports shall be submitted to the competent authority within four (4) calendar months of the closing of the year.

(5) Deleted by Legal Notice 145 of 2017.

(6) The competent authority may specify the format in which such information shall be made available.

(7) The competent authority shall make this information available in accordance with the Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment Regulations.