Legal Definitions

Appropriate Authority	In England and Wales, the Environment Agency; in Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency; and, in Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment (see Links for the respective websites).
Categories of EEE	For the purposes of the Regulations, EEE is categorised into 13 different groupings. Click here for the full list.
Compliance Period	For 2007, the Compliance Period was 1 April to 31 December inclusive; thereafter, it is 1 January to 31 December inclusive - i.e. the calender year.
The Directive	Directive 2002/96/EC of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, as amended by Directive 2003/108/EC of 8 December 2003.
Distributor	Any person who provides electrical or electronic equipment on a commercial basis to the party who is going to use it is a distributor for the purposes of the WEEE Regulations, regardless of whether that person is providing goods to a consumer (i.e. an individual) or an end-user (i.e. a business). Distributors include retailers, distance sellers and producers who also sell to the end-user or consumer.
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE)	Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is defined in the Regulations as ‘equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Schedule 1 [to the regulations] and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volts for alternating current and 1,500 volts for direct current’. EEE does not include equipment designed specifically to protect UK national security or for a military purpose, or equipment that is part of another type of equipment that is outside the scope of the Regulations (e.g. an aircraft or car).
Producer	A producer is defined as: any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication:- (a) manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand; (b) resells under his own brand equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the ‘producer’ if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in sub-paragraph (a); or (c) imports or exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a Member State.
The Regulations	The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/3289)
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)	WEEE is electrical or electronic equipment which is waste within the meaning of the Waste Framework Directive (2006/12/EC), including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding. ‘Waste’ is defined in the Directive as any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard.
WEEE from Private Households (WPH)	WEEE from Private Households (WPH) is WEEE which comes from private households and from commercial, industrial, institutional and other sources which, because of its nature and quantity, is similar to that from private households.