Foreign online shops have not been sending anything here for months. This is due to the Austrian Packaging Ordinance.
Since the beginning of the year, many online shops, such as Aliexpress, a delivery stop to Austria. The reason for this is a new one packaging regulation. This complicates the delivery to Austria, because a notarized authorized representative is needed in the country. However, many online retailers do without this because Austria as a marketplace is too small for them. The regulation, which was decided by the Ministry of Climate Protection, should actually environmental Protection contribute. “Retailers should make their contribution to recycling,” says the ministry in response to a futurezone request.
But instead, the implementation of the regulation creates a new environmental problem, which was not on the radar at the Ministry of Climate Protection: The regulation means that many electronic devices are no longer repaired, but instead thrown away. Many people who actually want to repair washing machines or vacuum cleaner robots are desperate because they can no longer get adequate spare parts.
Manufacturing in China
Sensors and many other small electronic parts are used exclusively in China manufactured, the production was completely outsourced tens of years ago. But especially from China, for example via the AliExpress marketplace, hardly any parcels arrive in Austria. Hardly any of the retailers listed on AliExpress have taken the trouble to look for an authorized representative in Austria. This means that there is a shortage of spare parts in this country. In some cases, they can no longer be purchased at all or can only be purchased from third-party dealers for a multiple of the price. The third-party dealers are mostly located in other EU countries. This means that the spare parts have to cover longer distances, which are associated with more emissions, before they land in Austria. And in addition, these dealers would also have to have an authorized representative in order to be officially allowed to ship to Austria.
One who is really angry about it is Michael Radhuber from Upper Austria. He has one in January Petition on change.org started that already more than 5,000 people support. “If one of my devices breaks, I look to see which part is affected,” says Radhuber in an interview with futurezone. “With a cordless screwdriver, that 200 Euro cost, I replaced a circuit board when it broke. I repaired the device. Now I can no longer get the spare part,” says the environmental economist. He also has a washing machine that was not even a year old with the help of one 80-Cent-Diode repaired from China. Otherwise he would have had to replace it as a whole, since otherwise a repair would no longer have been financially worthwhile.
Successful complaint to the EU
“It bothers me enormously that I can no longer order directly from the producer, but am obliged to buy through intermediaries at a much higher price,” says Radhuber. In addition to a petition, Radhuber also has one Complaint to the EU Commission initiated – with success. Since many people in Austria have contacted the EU Commission, it has decided to officially examine the Packaging Ordinance. It is being investigated whether an infringement procedure will be brought or not. “It may (…) be that the complaint submitted to the Commission does not result in a solution being found in your specific case,” says the EU’s response to the complaint (PDF).
The Ministry of Climate Protection refers to futurezone’s request that the directive is “based on the requirements of EU waste legislation”. However, such an implementation has so far only existed in Austria. That in turn is also the Neos an eyesore. “Austrian companies have contacted us who feel disadvantaged because they can only get spare parts at high prices and because different rules now apply to the small Austrian market than in the rest of the EU,” says Gerald Loacker, Neos MPs to futurezone. The Neos therefore have one at the end of March parliamentary question brought in. “The importance of the Austrian sales market, especially from the point of view of a producer in Asia, is probably grossly overestimated by the minister,” it says.
No changes in the regulation planned
However, the climate protection ministry does not seem to want to adapt the regulation. It is further assumed that foreign dealers have to take action if they want to supply Austria. It is pointed out that the process is “quite manageable” even for smaller international traders: “We have already received and processed over 4,500 corresponding applications,” according to the ministry.
“If large international retailers do not comply with the rules of manufacturer responsibility, those who act in accordance with the law would ultimately have to bear the costs for recycling and disposal. In any case, this must be prevented,” according to the ministry. For Loacker, this is “the result of having tunnel vision and not seeing the big picture.”
