Section 48-60-160. Fees and fines for manufacturers and representative organizations; exemptions.

SC Code § 48-60-160 (2019) (N/A)
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(A) A manufacturer subject to the requirements of this chapter shall pay the department an annual registration fee in the amount of three thousand five hundred dollars.

(B) A representative organization shall pay the department an annual registration fee in the amount of twenty thousand dollars for the department to pay the full costs of administering and enforcing the provisions of this chapter relating to representative organizations.

(C) Manufacturers participating in a representative organization are exempt from paying an annual registration fee.

(D) A manufacturer that produces computer monitors, computers, or televisions is only required to pay one annual registration fee, if a fee is required.

(E)(1) A manufacturer of a covered device that fails to comply with a requirement of this chapter, excluding recycling obligation shortfalls as provided for in this section, is subject to a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars per violation.

(2) A manufacturer of a covered television device or covered computer monitor device participating in a plan pursuant to Section 48-60-50 or Section 48-60-55(K) that fails to meet its individual recycling obligation for the previous program year as outlined in this chapter may elect to:

(a) pay a shortfall fee as determined by the department; or

(b) account for the amount of the shortfall in the following year. A manufacturer electing to account for the amount of a shortfall in the following year only may elect this option once every three years.

(3) The shortfall fee provided for in this section must be calculated as follows:

(a) If the manufacturer of a covered television or computer monitor device recycles at least ninety percent, but less than one hundred percent of its individual recycling obligation, the shortfall fee is thirty cents multiplied by the number of additional pounds that should have been recycled in order for the manufacturer to have met its individual recycling obligation.

(b) If the manufacturer of a covered television or computer monitor device recycles at least fifty percent, but less than ninety percent of its individual recycling obligation, the shortfall fee is forty cents multiplied by the number of additional pounds that should have been recycled in order for the manufacturer to have met its individual recycling obligation.

(c) If the manufacturer of a covered television or computer monitor device recycles less than fifty percent of its individual recycling obligation, the shortfall fee is fifty cents multiplied by the number of additional pounds that should have been recycled in order for the manufacturer to have met its individual recycling obligation.

(F) A manufacturer of a covered device that sells five hundred or fewer such devices in the State per year is exempt from registration, penalty, or shortfall fees proposed in this chapter.

(G) A television manufacturer participating in a representative organization with an approved consumer electronic device stewardship program that falls below seventy-five percent of its allocation, as determined by a representative organization at the end of the program year, is ineligible to participate in the consumer electronic device stewardship program the following year and must participate in the plan enumerated in Section 48-60-55(K).

(H) All fees and penalties collected by the department to administer and enforce this chapter must be deposited in a dedicated account and may be expended by the department to cover the department's costs to implement this chapter. Shortfall fees must be used to assist local governments in recycling covered devices as required by this chapter.

HISTORY: 2014 Act No. 129 (H.3847), Section 11, eff March 4, 2014.

Editor's Note

2014 Act No. 129, Section 14, provides as follows:

"SECTION 14. Section 48-60-50 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Section 3 of this act, is repealed December 31, 2014. The remaining provisions of Chapter 60, Title 48 of the 1976 Code, except Section 48-60-90, are repealed December 31, 2021."