S.L. 549.54 Art. 3Interpretation.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

"the Act" means the Environment Protection Act;

"agreement" means the formal agreement concluded between the competent authority and the economic operators concerned, which

*These regulations have been repealed by Legal Notice 232 of 2025. †OJ L 266, 26.9.2006, p. 1. ‡OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 38. §OJ L 76, 19.3.2008, p. 39. has to be open to all partners who wish to meet the conditions of the agreement with a view to working towards the objectives of these regulations; "appliance" means any electrical or electronic equipment, as defined by the Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations, which is fully or partly powered by batteries or accumulators or is capable of being so; "automotive battery or accumulator" means any battery or accumulator used for automotive starter, lighting or ignition power; "battery" or "accumulator" means any source of electrical energy generated by direct conversion of chemical energy and consisting of one or more primary battery cells (non-rechargeable) or consisting of one or more secondary battery cells (rechargeable);

"battery pack" means any set of batteries or accumulators that are connected together and, or encapsulated within an outer casing so as to form a complete unit that the end-user is not intended to split up or open; "button cell" means any small round portable battery or accumulator whose diameter is greater than its height and which is used for special purposes such as hearing aids, watches, small portable equipment and back-up power; "category of battery or accumulator" means any of the following types of batteries or accumulators:

(a) automotive batteries or accumulators;

(b) industrial batteries or accumulators; and

(c) portable batteries or accumulators;

"collection rate" means, in a given calendar year, the percentage obtained by dividing the weight of waste portable batteries and accumulators collected in accordance with regulation 5(1) and (2) or with the Waste Management (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations, in that calendar year by the average weight of portable batteries and accumulators that producers either sell directly to end-users or deliver to third parties in order to sell them to end-users in Malta during that calendar year and the preceding two calendar years; "the Community" means the European Community;

"the competent authority" has the same meaning as "the authority" as defined in article 2 of the Act; "disposal" means any of the applicable operations provided for in Schedule 4 to the Waste Regulations; "distributor" means any person that provides batteries and accumulators on a professional basis to an end-user; "economic operators" means producers, distributors, collectors, recoverers, recyclers or other treatment operators of waste batteries and accumulators; "industrial battery or accumulator" means any battery or accumulator designed for exclusively industrial or professional uses or used in any type of electric vehicle;

"local agency" has the same meaning as "entity of government" as defined in article 2 of the Act;

"the Minister" means the Minister responsible for the environment;

"portable battery or accumulator" means any battery, button cell, battery pack or accumulator that:

(a) is sealed; and

(b) can be hand-carried; and

(c) is neither an industrial battery or accumulator nor an automotive battery or accumulator;

"producer" means any person in Malta who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication as defined in the Distance Selling Regulations, places batteries or accumulators, including those incorporated into appliances or vehicles, on the market for the first time within the territory of Malta on a professional basis; "recycling" means the reprocessing in a production process of waste materials for their original purpose or for other purposes, but excluding energy recovery; "treatment" means any activity carried out on waste batteries and accumulators after they have been handed over to a facility for sorting, preparation for recycling or preparation for disposal;

"waste" in addition to what is said in the Environment Protection Act, means any thing, substance, product or object, whether in solid or liquid form, whether hazardous or otherwise, which the holder discards, or intends, or is required to discard, or any other which is deemed to be waste by the competent authority nominated by the Minister responsible for the environment under the Environment Protection Act; "waste battery or accumulator" means any battery or accumulator which is waste.

(2) All other terms shall have the same meaning as that assigned to them in regulation 2 of the Waste Regulations.