What are the WEEE categories?

Since the 2018 open scope, WEEE uses six categories: 1) temperature exchange equipment, 2) screens and monitors, 3) lamps, 4) large equipment, 5) small equipment, and 6) small IT and telecommunications equipment. Older 10-category mappings are now consolidated into these six.

What are the main producer obligations?

Producers must register with a national scheme or producer compliance scheme, mark equipment with the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol, finance the collection and treatment of WEEE, provide take-back, and report the quantities of EEE placed on the market and WEEE collected.

Who counts as a producer under WEEE?

A producer is anyone who manufactures and sells EEE under their own brand, resells under their brand equipment made by others, or imports/exports EEE into a country on a professional basis, including most distance sellers shipping into a market.

What is the WEEE collection target?

The EU WEEE Directive sets a collection target of 65% of the average weight of EEE placed on the market in the preceding three years, or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated. National schemes allocate producer obligations to help meet these targets.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The checker uses a built-in mapping of categories to obligations and runs entirely in your browser. No product or business detail is transmitted or stored.

What is the WEEE Compliance Checker?

Free WEEE compliance checker. Select your EEE product category and market (UK or EU) to identify Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive duties — producer registration, take-back, financing, marking and reporting — across the six current EEE categories and their collection targets. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

WEEE Compliance Checker

Name: WEEE Compliance Checker
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) makes producers of electrical and electronic equipment responsible for financing its collection, treatment and recycling. This free checker maps your product category and market to the registration, marking, take-back, financing and reporting duties that apply, and frames the collection targets your scheme must meet. It is built for electronics manufacturers, importers, distance sellers, and their compliance teams.

The six WEEE categories and what they include

Since the 2018 “open scope” recast, WEEE is organised into six categories:

Category	Typical products
1 — Temperature exchange	Fridges, freezers, air-conditioning, heat pumps
2 — Screens and monitors	TVs, monitors, laptops with screens, tablets, digital photo frames
3 — Lamps	Fluorescent, LED, and high-intensity discharge lamps
4 — Large equipment	Washing machines, dishwashers, large printing equipment, solar panels
5 — Small equipment	Toasters, cameras, electric shavers, small medical devices, smoke detectors
6 — Small IT and telecoms	Phones, keyboards, routers, earbuds, USB hubs

The key distinction is between household WEEE (collected from consumers) and B2B WEEE (collected from businesses). Category 2 and 4 items are among the highest-tonnage streams and typically attract higher compliance-scheme fees.

Core producer obligations

The tool maps your selection to these statutory duties:

Register with the national WEEE authority or a producer compliance scheme (in the UK, the Environment Agency via a compliance scheme; in the EU, the relevant national register per each country you sell into).
Mark equipment with the crossed-out wheelie-bin symbol and your producer identifier, usually etched or printed before sale.
Finance and provide take-back of WEEE — household producers must fund collection, treatment and recycling proportionally to their market share. B2B producers must offer equivalent take-back for historic B2B WEEE.
Report EEE placed on the market and WEEE collected or funded, in tonnes by category, on the schedule set by each national authority.

Collection targets and why they matter for fees

The EU WEEE Directive sets a collection target of 65% of the average weight of EEE placed on the market in the preceding three years, or 85% of WEEE generated. UK targets follow a similar structure. National schemes allocate these obligations across registered producers in proportion to their market share by tonnage. In practice, this means your compliance fee scales directly with how much EEE you place on the market.

UK vs EU: key practical differences post-Brexit

UK producers register under the UK WEEE Regulations and report to Environment Agency-approved compliance schemes. EU producers or distance sellers must register (or appoint an authorised representative) in each EU member state where they sell — there is no single EU-wide WEEE registration. Distance sellers shipping directly to households in an EU country are typically classed as producers in that country.

Example scenarios

A company importing LED desk lamps into France is in category 3. It must register with a French compliance scheme (or appoint a local representative), mark its lamps with the wheelie-bin symbol, and fund collection and recycling in proportion to its French tonnage. Mercury-containing lamps also carry special handling obligations. A UK business selling consumer routers is in category 6 (small IT), with registration, wheelie-bin marking, household take-back, and quarterly/annual tonnage reporting due to its compliance scheme.

This checker provides category-level guidance only. Confirm exact duties, fees, and registration deadlines with your national WEEE authority or compliance scheme.