ACCC agrees extension of national Tyre Stewardship Scheme

What is this scheme about?

Introduced in April 2013, the Tyre Stewardship Scheme (Scheme) is a voluntary, industry led program with the primary aim of increasing the recycling rate of end-of-life tyres. Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) was incorporated to provide administration and management of the Scheme.

Amongst other things, the Scheme imposes a levy of $0.25 per tyre on tyre importers and it imposed obligations on accredited participants to only deal with other accredited participants in the tyre supply chain.

Extension of the Scheme

Authorisations granted by the ACCC for TSA to operate the Scheme were due to expire on 3 May 2018.

The TSA made an application for the Scheme to be extended in December 2017 and the ACCC responded by providing an interim authorisation in April 2018 to allow TSA to continue to operate the Scheme.

The ACCC has now announced that it will continue to grant authorisation to the TSA for a further 6 years until 15 June 2024.

Authorisation is a public process which allows the ACCC to grant protection from legal action for conduct that might otherwise breach the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. 

What does this mean to you?

1. Participants in this scheme can be reassured that their financial and other commitments in order to comply with the Scheme will not go to waste; and
2. Participants will continue to be tied by an obligation to deal with other accredited participants. Those that are not participants in the scheme should consider joining.

If you have any queries on how this could impact your business, please contact us.