Staff Writer

Some retailers are urging customers to make major appliance and electronic purchases before Aug. 13, when a law goes into effect that requires them to pay a disposal fee at the time of purchase.

Other retailers say the fees are insignificant and won't deter buyers. Still others welcome the law, arguing it will improve their profit and loss statements because they currently dispose of customers old appliances free of charge.

"For us it is quite good news. ... For the last three or four years we have been collecting these things on our own," said Pavel Sláma, managing director of Datart International, the oldest provider of household appliances and consumer electronics in the Czech Republic.

The law requires customers to pay a surcharge of 10–450 Kč (40 U.S. cents–$18) when they purchase an appliance such as a hair dryer, computer or refrigerator to cover the cost of recycling and disposal of historical waste that dots the countryside. Historical waste in this context consists of products produced prior to Aug. 13, 2005.

Retailers have the option of showing the charge as a line item on the purchase receipt. An additional fee of 1 percent of the purchase price to dispose of future waste will be added to the cost of the item or absorbed by producers.

The Environment Ministry pushed for adoption of the law because many of the manufacturers of historical waste who might also be tapped for disposal fees are no longer in business. The move is also an attempt to get rid of illegal dumps.

"This fee [to collect historical waste] is clear and visible," Sláma said. "If it's hidden in the price then people won't know how much they are paying for the product itself and how much to get rid of it."

Industry officials indicate compliance with the law may take some time because the government has yet to issue rules on how it will be fulfilled. "The biggest difficulty is that there is no straightforward explanation on how to do it," Sláma said.

However, Karolína Šůlová, spokeswoman for the Environment Ministry, disagrees. "Their associations took part in the preparation of the decrees implementing the act and they were consulted on the new rules," she said.

Most retailers interviewed by The Prague Post were upbeat about the law and doubted anyone would resent the fees because of the importance of protecting the environment.

Karel Turek, director of Mora Moravia chain at Ve Smečkách 18, doesn't know how the law will work, but said, "I don't think 150 Kč matters [to most people]."

Jaromír Pešek, 53, and his wife, Vlastimila, 50, owners of the Jaromír Pešek computer store at Žitná 27, agreed. "We wouldn't mind it, and customers will have to respect it. There are hard metals and parts that must be properly disposed of. We come from very unspoiled environments so we support recycling schemes," Pešek said.

— Frantisek Šístek contributed to this report.

Laura Cianci can be reached at