Growing regulatory complexity as challenge - Strategies for managing compliance with international waste regulations

Today manufacturers and retailers are facing a regulatory avalanche in the field of environmental legislation on a worldwide scale. Countries such as Japan and Taiwan, Argentina and Brazil are implementing regulations applicable to waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), used batteries and packaging. With these development producers, importers and resellers are exposed to a continuously growing variety and therefore complexity of legal requirements for placing their products on more than just the domestic market. In addition to legislation standards decisions of competent authorities based on diverging interpretations of legal stipulations and bureaucratic administrative proceedings are essential elements of compliance strategies that companies must develop. With this background a sound strategy for managing the growing complexity of dealing with mandatory requirements and voluntary green company initiatives including reverse logistic programs are becoming a critical factor of success.