Your voice matters. Have your say on how we administer Australia’s national environmental protection laws as we strive for continuous improvement. Complete this survey to help shape our priorities and inform how we provide our services and conduct our activities.
The survey will be open until 11:59pm AEST Wednesday, 30 September 2026. If you have any questions, please contact: surveyhelp@nationalepa.gov.au
Corporations that imported or manufactured television or computer products covered by the Recycling and Waste Reduction (Product Stewardship—Televisions and Computers) Rules 2021 in the previous financial year may be considered liable parties under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS).
In any year, an importer or manufacturer is liable if they imported or manufactured more than a unit threshold amount during the previous financial year. The threshold amounts are:
A liable party must be a constitutional corporation—a trading or financial corporation formed in Australia or a foreign corporation. A liable party can be part of a group of related bodies. If a group of related corporate bodies has collectively imported over a threshold, then any member that imports over 1,000 of any of these products must take part in the scheme.
The Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 requires liable parties to be responsible for the recycling of end-of-life television and computer products by becoming a member of an approved co-regulatory arrangement.
Co-regulatory arrangements manage the day-to-day operation of the scheme and must meet a recycling target based on their (liable party) members’ share of total liable imports or manufactured products in the previous financial year. They may take liable party’s exports into account when determining membership obligations.
Importers have a legal responsibility under the Customs Act 1901 to provide accurate information to Australian Border Force on their customs import declarations. This data is supplied to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), who notifies importers that have exceeded one or more of the thresholds about their obligations under the NTCRS.
The following table will help liable parties to understand and meet mandatory annual milestones:
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| Late July |
DCCEEW sends letters to importers identified as liable based on their imports in the previous financial year. These letters will include a detailed Statement of Advice summarising the imports on which the assessment was based, and information on how to become a member of an approved co-regulatory arrangement by 1 September. Liable parties should check the data in the Statements of Advice for errors and advise the Department of Home Affairs through their customs broker or freight forwarder of any necessary amendments by 31 October. Any applications for exemption from the NTCRS must be supplied in writing to the DCCEEW between late July and 1 September. |
| 1 September |
Liable parties join a co-regulatory arrangement and supply their import summary to their chosen arrangement by this date. If a liable party leaves a co-regulatory arrangement during a financial year, it must join another arrangement in that financial year. A liable party that has not met its obligation to be a member of an approved co-regulatory arrangement remains liable in the following year. Liable parties should provide their co-regulatory arrangement with details of their exports as soon as they can. A co-regulatory arrangement may take a liable party’s exports into account when determining their membership requirements. |
| 8 September | Co-regulatory arrangements are required to provide their membership lists to DCCEEW. Non-members can then expect follow up contact from DCCEEW to encourage joining a co-regulatory arrangement. |
| 15 September |
Co-regulatory arrangements are required to provide their audited export report to DCCEEW on behalf of their members by this date. A liable party must be a member of a co-regulatory arrangement before 15 September and exported television or computer products in the previous financial year for these products to be counted under the scheme. Liable parties must submit their export data to their co-regulatory arrangement—DCCEEW cannot accept export data from liable parties. |
| 31 October | Changes to the Department of Home Affairs customs data after this date will not be taken into account in the assessment of a corporation’s liability, except where the amount of goods for which the party is liable has increased as a result of the changes. |
| Mid November | Updated Statements of Advice will be provided to those liable parties that have amended their import declarations with the Department of Home Affairs. These revised Statements should be provided to the liable party’s co-regulatory arrangement to signal a change in the amount of products imported by them. |
In determining whether companies are liable, the Recycling and Waste Reduction (Product Stewardship—Televisions and Computers) Rules 2021 rely on product codes corresponding to the products that are imported or manufactured. These codes are used by the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to identify imported products.
Each product is assigned a conversion factor. This is an average weight set by the Department in consultation with industry stakeholders to determine a fair approximation of the product under that code. These weights are also used to calculate how much e-waste is available to be recycled and the minimum target each co-regulatory arrangement is required to reach in a financial year.
Email ewaste@nationalepa.gov.au.