Under the Germany Act Governing the Sale, Return and Environmentally Sound Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ElektroG) which came into force on August 13th 2005, the financing of collection and recycling of any waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) arising from equipment bought before August 13th 2005 is the customers responsibility. This is regardless of whether the old equipment is being replaced by a new item of equipment purchased from Black Box. Waste arising from equipment purchased before August 13th 2005 is referred to as Historic WEEE.

Under the ElektroG Act, Black Box is required to finance the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of any new electrical and electronic equipment that you buy from them after August 13th 2005, when that new equipment eventually becomes waste. This is referred to as New WEEE. Customers using Black Box products should note that producer responsibility obligations to take back New WEEE do not begin in full in Germany until 24 March 2006.

Black Box products are very competitively priced. Any new increase in operating costs for manufacturers such as Black Box is normally reflected in a price increase in the product. However, instead of increasing the prices of our products Black Box has decided to share these new environmental costs directly with our customers. We believe in being transparent with you on any new environmental costs that our products need to address.

Our approach to sharing these new environmental costs are:

• You pay for transportation of your WEEE to Black Box’s appointed recycler in Germany.
• Black Box pays for the costs of treatment, recycling and recovery of the WEEE to meet the targets set by the ElektroG Act.
• Black Box pays for the costs of data management and reporting to the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) to demonstrate compliance with all administrative requirements of the ElektroG Act

Black Box has established a recycling contract with the European Advanced Recycling Network (EARN) and will cover any costs of treatment, recycling and recovery of the equipment on arrival at the EARN facility in Germany. All New WEEE that arises from the purchase of Black Box products is classed as non-hazardous waste*.

*Black Box customers sending equipment for recycling are advised that you MUST remove all batteries PRIOR to collection to avoid the equipment being classed as hazardous waste

It is your responsibility to arrange and pay for costs of collection and transportation to EARN. Under the German ElektroG Regulations, you are free to use any carrier you wish to collect and transport the New WEEE to the EARN recycler.

WEEE Reporting Recycling Data for Black Box equipment in Germany

Under Part 2, Section 13 of ElektroG, Black Box dealers must provide annual information of the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market, reused, recycled and recovered within Germany.

The first WEEE recycling report will cover the period March 2006 to February 2007. EARN will prepare the recycling data report for Black Box. Information in the EARN recycling data report will be summarised on the Black Box website when it becomes available.