City of Buenos Aires – The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Law Has Been Regulated

In 2008, the City of Buenos Aires enacted Law No. 2807, which opened the legislative regulation of Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment (“WEEE”). Indeed, Buenos Aires was the first city to enact a law to manage the WEEE.

The aim of the Law has been to establish measures for the sustainable management of obsolete electronic equipment from the City of Buenos Aires Executive Branch which are no longer in use.

The Law, without limitation, provides a list(1) of obsolete electronic equipment for recycling (among which are printers, telephones, monitors, camcorders, large computers, etc) without prejudice, the enforcement authority is empowered to expand that list.

In addition, the Law establishes the following targets:

• Donate devices that are no longer used to charity;
• Raise awareness on the rational use of technological resources;
• Contribute to narrowing the digital divide;
• Protect the environment; and
• Promote the proper recycling and the correct final disposal of the electronic equipment.

By the end of 2011, when this Law was regulated, approved by the Decree 705/2011, that defines the WEEE as a type of urban solid waste characterized for its dangerousness, harmfulness or toxicity.

The enforcement authority of the Law is the Environmental Protection Agency (APRA) which must: (i) publish annual figures and statistics on the recovery and re-use resulting from the application of the law, and (ii) perform training and dissemination on the rational use and proper management of electronic devices which were used in the Executive Branch.

Since the scope is limited to the Executive Branch of the City and administrative bodies dependent on it, it is expected that in the next few months similar rules of general application are enacted.