SECTION 328.137. Manufacturer Responsibilities

(a) Before a manufacturer may offer computer equipment for sale in this state, the manufacturer shall:

(1) adopt and implement a recovery plan; and

(2) affix a permanent, readily visible label to the computer equipment with the manufacturer's brand(s).

(b) The recovery plan must enable a consumer to recycle computer equipment without paying a separate fee at the time of recycling and must include provisions for:

(1) the manufacturer's collection from a consumer of any used computer equipment labeled with the manufacturer's brand(s);

(2) recycling or reuse of computer equipment collected under paragraph (1) of this subsection, including information for the consumer on how and where to return the computer equipment labeled with the manufacturer's brand(s). This information must include, at a minimum, an Internet link that consumers can access to find out specifically how and where to return the computer equipment labeled with the manufacturer's brand(s). If the Internet link is going to change, the manufacturer shall notify the commission of what the new Internet link will be 30 days in advance; and

(3) collection of computer equipment that is:

(A) reasonably convenient and available to consumers in this state; and

(B) designed to meet the collection needs of consumers in this state.

(c) Examples of collection methods that alone or combined meet the convenience requirements of this section follow. These are merely examples, meaning that other collection methods not mentioned, alone or combined, may meet the convenience requirements of this section:

(1) a system by which the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee offers the consumer a system for returning computer equipment by mail, without the consumer having to pay any mailing, shipping , handling, or any other cost directly related to mailing;

(2) a system using a physical collection site that the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee keeps open and staffed and to which the consumer may return computer equipment; and

(3) a system using a collection event held by the manufacturer or the manufacturer's designee at which the consumer may return computer equipment.

(d) Collection services under this section may use existing collection and consolidation infrastructure for handling computer equipment and may include electronic recyclers and repair shops, recyclers of other commodities, reuse organizations, not-for-profit corporations, retailers, recyclers, and other suitable operations. Other suitable operations include, but are not limited to, local governments.

(e) The manufacturer:

(1) shall include collection, recycling, and reuse information on the manufacturer's publicly available Internet site, including a list of all of the manufacturer's brands both in use and no longer in use;

(2) shall provide to the commission a recovery plan in accordance with subsection (b) of this section and notification that the manufacturer has, or will have by September 1, 2008, a compliant collection program. In order to be eligible for the September 1, 2008 commission's list of manufacturers that have recovery plans and have notified the commission that they have a compliant collection program, a manufacturer must submit its recovery plan and notification no later than July 1, 2008; and

(3) may include collection, recycling, and reuse information in the packaging or in other materials that accompany the manufacturer's computer equipment when the equipment is sold.

(f) Information about collection, recycling, and reuse on a manufacturer's publicly available Internet site does not constitute a determination by the commission that the manufacturer's recovery plan or actual practices are in compliance with this subchapter or other law.

(g) Each manufacturer that has submitted a recovery plan shall submit an annual recycling report to the commission by January 31, 2010, or by January 31 of each year after submitting a recovery plan, that includes:

(1) the weight of computer equipment collected, recycled, and reused during the preceding calendar year; and

(2) documentation verifying the collection, recycling, and reuse of that computer equipment in a manner that complies with §328.149 of this title (relating to Sound Environmental Management) and with §305.128 of this title (relating to Signatories to Reports). The certification required by §305.128(c) of this title must also state either at the beginning or end, "I, {name}, certify under penalty of law that all computer equipment collected by {company name} under 30 TAC Chapter 328, Subchapter I, has been recycled or reused in a manner that complies with federal, state, and local law."

(h) If more than one person is a manufacturer of a certain brand of computer equipment as defined by §328.135 of this title (relating to Definitions), any of those persons may assume responsibility for and satisfy the obligations of a manufacturer under this subchapter for that brand. If none of those persons assumes responsibility or satisfies the obligations of a manufacturer for the computer equipment of that brand, the commission may consider any of those persons to be the responsible manufacturer for purposes of this subchapter.

(i) The obligations under this subchapter of a manufacturer who manufactures or manufactured computer equipment, or sells or sold computer equipment manufactured by others, under a brand that was previously used by a different person in the manufacture of the computer equipment, extend to all computer equipment bearing that brand regardless of its date of manufacture.

Source Note: The provisions of this §328.137 adopted to be effective June 12, 2008, 33 TexReg 4506