In brief
The Ministry of Popular Power for Ecosocialism (“Ministry“) issued Resolution No. 0191 (“Resolution“)1, by which it established the rules on the extended liability of producers, importers and distributors of containers, paper packaging and wrapping, cardboard, plastic, disposable glass and tires (“Products“) for waste use and its incorporation in a secondary market or its proper final disposal.
The Resolution will enter into force on 18 January 2021. As of that date, producers, importers and distributors of the Products (“Producers“) must register in a special registry and submit to the Ministry the programs for handling the Products in the post-consumer phase.
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In further detail
The Resolution created a Register of Producers controlled by the Ministry in which Producers must register. The Ministry will grant the registration only once by a non-transferable identification code. The Resolution established no term for registration, so it is advisable that Producers request registration when the Resolution enters into force.
Producers must manufacture single-use containers and packaging with materials that ease their return, reuse, biodegradability or effective recycling. Establishments for the return of used Products must be identified. The recovered Products must be identified to the consumer, indicating this condition for their commercialization.
Every two years, Producers must submit to the Ministry the Programs of the Individual or Collective Liability System (“Programs“). The Resolution established no deadline to submit the Programs either, so we reiterate the previous recommendation. The Programs must include the modality of compensation for returning the Products. Producers must inform consumers of this modality through digital, audiovisual or printed media.
The Programs comprise the procedures for returning, collecting, depositing and transporting the Products, in their post-consumer phase and are:
- Individual Liability System: In this system, the Producer will carry out its own procedures, has sole responsibility for implementing it and must cover the implementation costs.
- Collective Liability System: In this system, the Producer will involve a set or mixed group of Producers, generators, and authorized handlers, among others. Implementing of the system is co-financed, jointly responsible and differentiated between the different members.
The Ministry will carry out the environmental evaluation to grant the registration certificates and approve the Programs. The Resolution established fees for environmental control payable to the Decentralized Service Environmental Services for Ecosocialism (SAEC), called “costs for environmental control.” The fees are of doubtful constitutionality and legality, because they are not established in a law as ordered by the Constitution and the Organic Tax Code.
The fees are denominated in the Sovereign Crypto-Asset “Petro”.2 Producers must pay the fees in their equivalent in Bolivars at the value at the time of payment,3 according to these values:
| PRODUCT | UNIT OF MEASUREMENT | Fees for environmental control (Petros) |
| Registration of Producers | — | 15.00 |
| Compliance of the Management Plan: | — | — |
| 1. National production of single-use high and low-density Polyethylene material. | TON | 0.5171 |
| 2. Import of single-use high and low density Polyethylene materials. | TON | 0.9469 |
| 3. National production of single-use Polyethylene Terephthalate materials | TON | 0.6051 |
| 4. Import of single-use Polyethylene Terephthalate materials. | TON | 1.1345 |
| 5. National production of disposable cardboard materials. | TON | 0.5455 |
| 6. Import of disposable cardboard materials. | TON | 0.9818 |
| 7. National production of disposable glass materials. | TON | 0.3636 |
| 8. Import of disposable glassware. | TON | 0.8182 |
| 9. National production of tires up to RIM 14. | UNIT | 0.0145 |
| 10. Import of tires up to RIM 14. | UNIT | 0.0218 |
| 11. National production of tires RIMS 15-19. | UNIT | 0.0727 |
| 12. Import of tires RIMS 15-19. | UNIT | 0.1091 |
| 13. National production of tires RIM 20 onwards. | UNIT | 0.0909 |
| 14. Import of tires RIM 20 onwards. | UNIT | 0.1364 |
1 V. Resolution No. 0191, Official Gazette No. 42,011 on November 19, 2020.
2 V. Background and related information: Baker McKenzie, “Constituent Decree on Crypto Assets and the Sovereign Cryptocurrency Petro”, in https://bakerxchange.com/rv/ff003a67204386781c1da3cb0146b9dc0311f77d; “Obligation to register economic information and events expressed in Sovereign Crypto-assets” in https://bakerxchange.com/rv/ff0055f58b8d4de7e7638c7fa0448f1364c0fb8c; “Regulation of the Accounting Registry of Legal Businesses with Crypto-Assets in Venezuela” in https://bakerxchange.com/rv/ff005850a06ee95cf300d881ac4c87b8996229c2; “The National Assembly declares the nullity of the Petrocurrency” in https://bakerxchange.com/cv/e43b80ad618b5234a90a51c51f607d8343737cfe.
