RANGE REVIEW: LIGHTING & ELECTRICAL
THE RIGHT TO COMPLY R
The lighting market is seeing great growth – particularly with the dominance of LED – but producers and traders are voicing growing frustration over non-compliant products flooding the UK market. Fiona Garcia reports.
etailers have grown accustomed to increased competition from online traders but the lighting industry is
facing a bigger problem, with internet re-sellers distributing un-tested, non-compliant products – while undercutting legitimate UK sellers on price by as much as 20% – all without any comeback from authorities. The loophole these traders are able to use to escape prosecution is that they are based outside of the UK and, while they may be distributing their goods via online platforms, such as Amazon, it seems the online giant can’t be held accountable and UK trading standards are either powerless or unwilling to pursue international sellers overseas. Recolight chief executive Nigel Harvey gave a presentation at lighting show Lux Live this month addressing the issue with regards the WEEE directive but believes it “is only the tip of the iceberg” and that these re-sellers ,who he dubs ‘freeriders’, are often seen to be flouting regulations around packaging, CE markings, as well as avoiding paying VAT and import duties. In his talk Mr Harvey urged the industry to respond to DEFRA’s open consultation on proposed changes to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations, with an onus on tackling non-compliant online operators. He told delegates that some of the amendments the Environment Agency has suggested, “seem to make sense”, such as the introduction of a mandatory PCS balancing system that makes sure all schemes pay their share of recycling costs. Another “sensible tweak,” he says,
ensures that the fees collected when producers register to join a scheme is allocated to each regional agency within DEFRA. “What they’re saying is all the fees
produced in Scotland should go to the Scottish environment agency and all the fees produced in England should go to the English Environment agency and the same with Wales and Northern Ireland,” Mr Harvey explains. However, like so many others in the lighting industry, one of Mr Harvey’s biggest frustrations with the regulation and how it is
16 DIY WEEK 24 NOVEMBER 2017
implemented lies with the issue of tackling non-compliant sellers.
Loaded question The topic is addressed in the consultation document produced by DEFRA. Detailing the wording in the agency’s post-implementation review, Mr Harvey says: “They ask a fairly innocuous question but it’s actually a very loaded question.” DEFRA asks: ‘To what extent has the introduction of “authorised representatives” addressed the challenge of ensuring internet sellers based outside the UK are registered as producers in the UK?’
Mr Harvey explains the context of this question: “In the 2013 regulations there’s an opportunity for companies who are not based in the UK to appoint what’s called an authorised representative to be their representative in the UK for compliance for the purposes of WEEE. And the idea behind this is that it would encourage all of those distant sellers who were based in China , Hong Kong, India, wherever to comply with regulations.” His response: “They have asked ‘has that solved the problem of non- compliance through online retailers and fulfilment houses?’ and honestly I don’t think it has at all.”
Speaking to DIY Week, Robert Milliken, director of manufacturer Dencon Accessories, says the issue is “a real bugbear,” adding, “when we manufacture LEDs, we pay the recycle charge which is 6p per lamp.” He details an experience he had at a trade show in China recently: “I met a group of about 70 re-sellers. They said that they tour around the world, going to these trade fairs – anything from clothing to electrical and lighting – they source goods, then go on Amazon and sell them. They go to a stand and they say ‘will you dropship anywhere in the world?’ and most of them will.” He continues: “I asked them, ‘do you do any WEEE compliance? Do you do any VAT? Do you check the goods for quality? The answer was no. They don’t do anything. All they do is load them up onto the computer and sell them via Amazon. “The orders come in to the re-seller, they send them on to the factory, and the factory sends them out across the world. All these guys do is sit there.”
Lucrative business For these re-sellers it is a lucrative business and, without the overheads a legitimate trader would have to pay, they are able to offer much cheaper prices, while still making a
“It’s very difficult for companies who are operating legitimately to have such large-scale totally non-compliant competition”
profit. “The money they’re making,” exclaims Mr Milliken. “One guy we met he was turning over £600,000- worth of goods per month. He never saw them, never did anything with them and he was making 20% of that £600,000. That’s after Amazon took everything out, he had a clear 20%. He had this computer programme with a little ticker going at the top showing him how much he had sold. It was just ticking over, ticking over and he said ‘while I’ve been sitting here talking to you, I’ve made another £5,000.’” The frustration for so many in the lighting industry is that these cases are not isolated. The scale of the problem is significant. “There are loads of them!” Mr Milliken says of these re-sellers. “We can’t compete against this.”
Mr Harvey sympathises with
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