Government Reports 29 Cases of Illegal E-Waste Import

The Lok Sabha was informed by the Union government on Monday that 29 cases of illegal e-waste import have been detected across the country since 2019 in response to a question raised by Congress MP TN Prathapan.

Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra each reported 11 cases of illegal e-waste detection. Tamil Nadu reported nine cases in 2020-2021 and two cases in 2021-2022 (till February), while Maharashtra registered three cases in 2019-2020, one in 2020-2021, and seven cases in 2021-2022. Additionally, Uttar Pradesh detected one case in 2019-2020, none in 2020-2021, and one in 2021-2022. Gujarat registered three cases, with two in 2019-2020 and one in 2021-2022, and West Bengal reported two cases in 2020-2021. The illegal shipments primarily included old and used photocopiers and computer parts. Notably, Bengaluru did not report any such cases.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, stated, “The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) further informed that all field formations and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) under the CBIC keep constant vigil to check illegal e-waste import into India and take action in accordance with the law whenever such contraventions are noticed.”

The management of e-waste in the country is regulated by the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, with the responsibility of disposal of e-waste in a scientific and environmentally sound manner assigned to the producers of notified electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) under the principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR). Producers of EEE have been given annual e-waste collection and recycling targets under the EPR regime.