Purpose of the E-Waste (Management) Rules

India’s E-Waste (Management) Rules 2016 (“the Rules”) are intended to ensure that e-waste is properly channeled to authorised recyclers or dismantlers to achieve environmentally sound management of that e-waste.

“E-Waste” in this context has been defined to mean electrical and electronic equipment discarded as waste, in whole or in part, by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes and includes ‘end-of-life’ products.

The Rules were promulgated under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and entered into force on 1st October 2016.

Persons within Scope – Section 2 of the Rules

The rules apply to “every manufacturer, producer, consumer, bulk consumer, collection centres, dealers, e-retailer, refurbisher, dismantler and recycler involved in manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, collection, storage and processing of e-waste or electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule 1, including their components, consumables, parts and spares which make the product operational…”

A copy of Schedule 1 to the Rules is attached to this International Trade Compliance Note for further reference.

While there is no specific mention of “importer” in section 2, a direct connection to imported electrical and electronic equipment is made subsequently in section 5 of the Rules (discussed further below).