WEEE Management Reform: key changes under legislative decree no. 2 of 7 January 2026

On 24 January 2026, legislative decree No. 2 of 7 January 2026 “Implementation of Directive (EU) 2024/884 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 amending Directive 2012/19/EU on waste of electrical and electronic equipment – WEEE” (the “Decree”) has entered into force.

The Decree, which implements Directive (EU) 2024/884 at a national level, introduces a series of substantial amendments to Legislative Decree No. 49 of 14 March 2014 (the “Legislative Decree 49/2014”), which transposed Directive 2012/19/EU on waste of electrical and electronic equipment (“WEEE”) into Italian law. The amendments introduced concern fundamental aspects of the regulation of electronic waste, with particular reference to the definition of historical WEEE, the methods of financing the management of domestic and professional WEEE, the special regime applicable to photovoltaic panels and marking obligations.

The regulatory intervention responds to the need to harmonise national regulations with the changes highlighted in the European directive, ensuring a clearer identification of producers' responsibilities in relation to the different categories of WEEE and their respective dates of placement on the market, in accordance with the principle of extended producer responsibility and the general regulations set out in Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006 (“Environmental Code”).

This article provides a brief overview of the main changes introduced by the Decree, with particular attention to the operational implications for producers, distributors and WEEE managers.

Please read the alert written by our professionals Simone Cadeddu, Francesca Lalli, Jacopo Nardelli, Camilla Triboldi and Giulia Serio at the following link.