Self-report, inspection and penalties

CONAI has prepared inspection procedures for the correct application of the EPR fee.

The CONAI Regulations set out the main types of infringements that constitute serious violations:

1. failure to apply the EPR fee;
2. partial or complete failure to indicate the EPR fee, making it impossible, during the auditing set out in article 12, to check whether the fee has actually been applied;
3. absent or late submission of the EPR fee declaration, in accordance with art. 4, paragraph 11, over 30 days after the expiry date;
4. inaccurate EPR fee declaration, pursuant to art. 4, paragraph 11;
5. fraudulent use of exemption procedures pursuant to art. 4, paragraph 10

The penalty for one or more of the infringements described above is:

• 50% of the amounts due, in the case of a first infringement;
• 150% of the amounts due, in the case of additional infringements. The application of this penalty also results in the loss of the right to use the simplified procedure for a period of three years in relation to the violations set out in article 14, paragraph 2, letter e).

Penalties are halved in the event that:

• pursuant to art. 12, paragraph 4, the Consortium member company does not challenge the measure, or withdraws the challenge after receiving notification from CONAI of the reasons it deems the challenge unfounded;
• in relation to inaccurate EPR fee declaration, it is nevertheless ascertained that the omission is no more than 10% of the annual EPR fee.

In the case of other infringements of obligations under the Consortium Articles of Association and Regulations, penalties may not exceed 250,000.00 Euros (art. 14, paragraph 6 of the Regulations).

Penalties are also reduced to one third if payment is made within sixty days of notification by CONAI.

Penalties are also payable by transferees benefiting from undue advantage in accordance with art. 14, paragraph 2, letters a) or b).

Regularization of violations via self-report

Consortium members seeking to regularize violations pertinent to the application of regulations may use a procedure known as “self-report”. In such cases, without prejudice to the application of interest on arrears due, no penalties will be incurred by members who, prior to the advent of inspections, declare the infringement made, liquidating (calculating) and declaring the EPR fee due in the prescribed manner, within 30 days of submission of the self-report (Self-report_form) and paying the fee due on receipt of the CONAI invoice.

Facilitated regularization procedure

CONAI has introduced – effective from 20 February 2019 – a facilitated regularization procedure for companies who, of their own accord, intend to regularize their position in real terms, without in any way hindering the determination of the CONAI EPR fee due in the time frame provided for under the current Consortium scheme.

More specifically, the terms of this procedure are:

• checks limited to the last 5 years (rather than 10) preceding the date of submission of the self-report, provided that inspection has not already begun, as set out in art. 12 of the Consortium Regulations;
• the option of paying the amounts due to Conai (for fees and interest on arrears) in instalments spread over a period of up to 36 months.

The deadline for submitting declarations following self-report (30 days) and the non-application of penalties by CONAI also both still stand.

The reductions (which should not, however, be construed as a waiver by CONAI of the CONAI EPR fee due by the company over the last decade) are applicable under the following conditions and shall automatically become void if either of them is not met:

• submission by the deadline of periodic declarations to CONAI for the 5 years preceding the self-report, the deadline being 30 days from the date of submission of the self-report;
• full payment of the sums due to CONAI for whatever reason.

The above facilitated regularization can also be used by companies subject to inspection (pursuant to article 12 of the Consortium Regulations) on condition that the results of such inspections are accepted unreservedly and uncontested, without prejudice to:

• the other self-report conditions shown above (such as payment in instalments and payment of sums due);
• applicable penalties, commensurate with the sums ascertained with the above-mentioned time limit.

For further information please consult the Guide to CONAI membership and EPR fee application.