Monday, May 9

WEEE Regulations

New Electrical Industry Regulations - effective August 2005

An article in the May edition of the Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) regional publication North East of England Voice headed ''Environmental Legislation'' implies that at '' two high powered'' meetings in April'' the FSB will be ''discussing the way forward'' for some meaningful changes to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations and the influence of the Federations involvement.

The delay in the implementation of these EU originated regulations, which will seriously effect all small businesses in the electrical industry, is purely due to the fact that the government has not yet implemented the compliance and inspection mechanism for this particularly complex and costly piece of regulation. The detail of the regulation is now fixed. The impression from the article implies that the FSB can still influence the text of the regulation; which it can not because it is too late. The regulation was drafted in Brussels by the EU Commission in 2003 and passed by the EU Parliament last year.

My understanding is that the FSB was not involved, as indeed it should have been, in the avoidance of this seriously restrictive regulation but actually in the complete opposite - how best to implement and inspect the compliance of this nasty, anti-small busineess, new law.

I will aviod detailed comparrisons with 1940/4 Vichey France as well as Quisling governments, however readers will I hope take my point.

Clearly is it a part apart of the culture of the FSB's so called anti-regulatory ('quality-parteneship') ethos of compliance to assist the government in the implementation of regulation rather than opposing clearly restrictive regulatory barriers ?

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