S.O................(E):- whereas, the Central Government considers it necessary in the public interest and to enable the recovery and/or reuse of useful material from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), thereby reducing the hazardous wastes destined for disposal and to ensure the environmentally sound management of all types of waste electrical and electronic equipment; and whereas the following draft rules, which the Central Government proposes to make in exercise of the powers conferred in clause (c) and (d) of subsection (2) of Section 6,8 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 

1986), are hereby published for the information of public likely to be affected thereby; and notice is hereby given that the said draft rules will be taken into consideration by the Central Government on or after the expiry of a period of sixty days from the date on which copies of the notification as published in the Gazette of India are made available to public; 

Objections or suggestions to the proposal contained in the draft notification, if any , may be addressed, within  the period so specified,  to the Secretary, Ministry of  Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhawan, Central Government Offices Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003 or electronically at e-mail address: secymoef@nic.in;

The objections or suggestions which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft rules before expiry of the period so specified shall be considered by the Central Government. 

Chapter I

GENERAL 

1. Short Title and Commencement. –

(1) These rules may be called the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2010.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Application. –

(1) These rules shall apply to every  producer(s), dealer(s), collection centre(s), refurbisher(s), dismantler(s), recycler(s), auctioneer(s) consumer(s) or  bulk consumer(s) involved in the manufacture, processing, sale, purchase of  electrical and electronic  equipment or components  as specified in schedule-I and  shall not apply to the following:-

(a)  waste water and exhaust gases as covered under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (6 of 1974) and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (14 of 1981) respectively and rules made there under; 

(b) waste arising out of the normal operations from ships beyond five kilometers of  the relevant baseline as covered under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (44 of 1958) and the rules made there under;

(c) radio-active wastes as covered under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) and rules made there under, 

(d) ozone depleting substances (ODS)  as covered  under the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000 made under the Act; and

(e) batteries  as covered  under the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001 made under the Act.

3.   Definitions. - In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a) \'Act\' means the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); 

(b) \'auction\' means sale of used electrical electronic equipment or component(s) thereof by invitation of tenders or auction, contract or negotiation by individual(s), companies or Government Departments;

(c) \'authorization\' means permission for  handling,  collection, reception,  storage, transportation, dismantling, recycling, treatment and disposal of e-waste granted under sub-rule (2) of rule 11; 

(d) \'bulk consumer\'  means bulk users of electrical and electronic  equipment such as Central or State Government Departments, public sector undertakings, banks, private companies, educational institutions multinational organizations and others that are registered under  the  Factories Act 1948, Companies Act 1956 or  the Societies Registration Act 1860, and the Micro, Small and  Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006  including the international agencies;

(e) \'Central Pollution Control Board\' means the Central Pollution Control Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (6 of 1974);

(f) \'collection centre\' means a centre established, individually or jointly to collect e-waste;

(g) \'consumer\' means any person(s)  using electrical and electronic equipment excluding the bulk consumers;

(h) \'dealer\'  means any person who sells and receives electrical or electronic equipment or components thereof to and from the  consumers or bulk consumers or other dealers or retailers on behalf of the producers  or otherwise;

(i) \'dismantler\' means any person engaged in dismantling of used electrical and electronic equipment into their components;

(j) \'disposal\' means any operation which does not lead to recycling, recovery or reuse and includes physic-chemical or biological  treatment, incineration and deposition in secured landfill; 

(k) \'environmentally sound management of e-waste\' means taking all steps required to ensure that e-waste are managed in a manner which shall protect health and environment against any  adverse effects which may result from such wastes;

(l) \'electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)\' means equipment which  is dependent on electric currents or electro-magnetic fields  to be fully functional including those  used  for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Schedule-I.

(m)\'e-waste\' means waste  electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part included in, but not confined to equipment listed in schedule-I and scraps or rejects from their manufacturing process, which is intended to be discarded.

(n) „extended producer responsibility„ (EPR) means responsibility of any producer of electrical or electronic equipment, for their products beyond manufacturing until environmentally sound management of their end-of-life products. 

(o) \'facility\' means any location wherein the process incidental to the collection, reception, storage, segregation, refurbishing, dismantling, recycling, treatment and disposal of e-waste are carried out;

(p) \'Form\' means forms appended to these rules; 

(q) „historical waste‟  means  e-waste available in the market  on the date  from which these rules come into force.

(r) „orphaned products‟ means  non branded or assembled  products as well as those produced by a company, which has closed the operation or stopped the product support;

(s) „producer‟ means any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used;

(i) manufactures and offers to sale electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand; or

(ii) offers to sale under his own brand, the assembled electrical and electronic equipment produced by other manufacturers or suppliers; or

(iii) offers to sale imported electrical and electronic equipment ;

(t) „recycler‟  - means any person who is engaged in processing e-waste for recovery of useful materials or reuse; 

(u) \'refurbishment\' means repairing of used electrical and electronic equipment to be put back to original use and selling the same in the market;

(v) \'refurbisher\' means any person who is engaged in refurbishment;

(w) \'Schedule\' means the Schedules appended to these rules;