S.L. 549.175 Art. 7Authorisation to operate a producer responsibility organisation. S.L.549.63.

(1) Without prejudice to the Waste Regulations, any person who intends to operate a producer responsibility organisation specifically for fulfilling the obligations imposed by these regulations, on behalf of producers of the single-use products listed Schedule 1 shall require and obtain a valid authorisation from the competent authority.

(2) An application for an authorisation under sub-regulation

(1) shall:

(a) be made in writing; (TOBACCO FILTERS CONTAINING PLASTIC)

(b) include the information set out in Part A of Schedule 3;

(c) be signed by any of the authorised signatories referred to in Schedule 4;

(d) be accompanied by a non-refundable fee of five hundred euro (€500); and

(e) be accompanied by a work plan providing the information referred to in Part B of Schedule 3 which has to be to the satisfaction of the competent authority.

(3) The competent authority may specify the format in which the work plan referred to in sub-regulation (2) is to be made available.

(4) An authorisation granted by the competent authority shall be subject to the conditions included in the authorisation, the inter alia, requirement that the services offered by an authorised producer responsibility organisation shall be:

(a) open to the participation of all producers without any non-discriminatory conditions and such participation shall not be refused or revoked without reasonable justification; and

(b) designed so as to avoid any barriers to trade or distortions of competition in conformity with the relevant regulations.

(5) An authorisation granted by the competent authority in accordance with these regulations shall be valid for a period of time determined in the authorisation itself.

(6) Where an authorisation granted in accordance with sub-regulation (4) is due to expire, an authorised producer responsibility organisation that wants to continue to operate as an authorised producer responsibility organisation shall, not later than six (6) months before the expiry of the authorisation:

(a) submit an application to the competent authority to renew the authorisation granted in accordance with these regulations;

(b) provide to the competent authority a revised version of the work plan for the operation of the producer responsibility organisation that complies with Part B of Schedule 3, signed by any of the authorised signatories referred to in Schedule 4.

(7) The renewal of the authorisation to operate a producer responsibility organisation shall be approved where the competent authority is satisfied as to the contents of the revised version of the work plan provided as required by sub-regulation (6)(b).

(8) An authorised producer responsibility organisation is to be charged a fee as prescribed in Schedule 6 for each operational year.