Recupel vzw calculates the amount of the Recupel contributions to be paid by the importer or producer or the amount of the Recupel contributions to be refunded on the basis of periodic declarations.

In principle, (if you submit your periodic declaration in a timely manner) you will be invoiced at the end of the month in which you submitted your declaration.

If you do not submit your periodic declaration in a timely manner, Recupel vzw will automatically draw up a fixed declaration at the end of the month in which you normally should have submitted your declaration and this on the basis of the average declaration over the past three months, increased by a 25% penalty. You will then have 20 days to correct the fixed declaration. After these 20 days an invoice will be drawn up by Recupel on the basis of this corrected declaration.

Due to the confidentiality of the data, the declaration will be processed in a "black box" department.
An external audit is regularly carried out to guarantee confidentiality among appointees in this department. In order to further guarantee this confidentiality each employee in this department signs a confidentiality agreement. This department is also regularly subjected to both internal and external audits.

At the beginning of 2007, Recupel introduced an electronic invoicing system, which implies that your invoice will be forwarded to you electronically through a certified organisation, recognised by the authorities, thus guaranteeing the validity of your document. Said document is considered to be an original.

However, if you prefer to receive your invoices on paper you can unsubscribe above. Put your request in writing to Recupel vzw after which you will receive paper invoices.

In the above case, a contribution to administrative costs of EUR 1.50 excluding VAT will be charged per invoice.

The AV and ICT sectors chose to work with a maximum invoice from the start of the professional system. For 2007 the amount was set at 5,000 euro.
Once the limit has been exceeded by a member, no additional invoices will be sent in that calendar year.
If a business declares professional devices for both AV and for ICT and the 5,000 euro limit has been exceeded, the invoice will be drawn up for the sector which declared the highest amount.

This arrangement was changed later.
The amount of the maximum invoice was lowered in January 2008 to 2,500 euro, and applies for a period of 6 months. Afterwards, from July 2008 there will be no exemption anymore.

• For group A (members who have declared <100 euro) a single invoice is made after the final declaration in the 4th quarter (period 12). If the sum of the declarations of all quarters confirms the member's assignment to group A, an invoice will be made for the amount of 100 euro, VAT excluded.
• For group B (members who have declared between >100 euro and 10,000 euro) Recupel takes the number of units actually declared. The last invoice of the 4th quarter (period 12) is used to confirm the final amount.
• For members in group C (members who have declared > 10,000 euro.) a fixed invoice of 2.500 euro is made for the first 3 quarters. The last invoice of the 4th quarter (period 12) is used to confirm the final amount and will take into consideration the actual declared numbers during year "n" with a maximum of 2.500 euro VAT excluded in order not to exceed the maximum total maximum amount of 10,000 euro.

Both Recupel membership and future services are free, in theory. However, if you do not make use of electronic invoicing, then a contribution to administrative costs for processing the invoice declaration can be charged. Since January 2007, the processing of invoices that have not been submitted via the electronic invoicing system (for example by post or fax) can incur an administrative charge of EUR 1.5 excluding VAT. This contribution is due for each WEEE category of which you are a member. For example: If you are a member of the product groups 01.08.01 (Refrigerators and freezers – household) and 01.08.51 (Professional large white goods) in the WEEE category 1 (Large household appliances) and for the product group 03.08.01 (Monitors) in the WEEE category 3 (IT and telecommunication appliances) and do not make any use of the electronic invoicing system for the month of January 2008, then you can be charged for administration costs twice for that month.

When invoicing, Recupel settles

• the Recupel contributions to be paid and
• the refund of Recupel contributions.

You will receive either an invoice or a credit note. Refunds are not possible for appliances with an administrative contribution!

If you submit your periodic declaration on time, you will receive at the end of the month in which you submit your declaration, your invoice that will become due 30 days from invoice date.

If you do not submit your periodic declaration in a timely manner, Recupel vzw will automatically draw up a fixed declaration at the end of the month. This fixed declaration can be corrected but will lead in any case to an invoice on the 20th day of the following months with a due date of 10 days from invoice date.

Invoicing resulting from periodical declarations takes place at the end of the month in which the said declaration was submitted.

If the importer or manufacturer did not communicate their periodical declaration or not in a timely manner, the owed Recupel contributions will be fixed by Recupel on the basis of the average of the three most recent available monthly declarations or the last quarterly declaration, increased by 25%.

In practice Recupel issues one or more credit notes when the amount of the refund exceeds EUR 500 (excl. VAT). This takes place on a quarterly basis.
The refund is paid after being checked by Recupel, which reserves the right to ask the contracting partners to back their refund requests by submitting copies of invoices, export documents, etc.

The refund of Recupel contributions under EUR 500 takes place annually.

Invoicing based on annual summaries, takes place at the latest at the end of July, provided they are submitted in a timely manner. If the annual summary, however, is submitted late, invoicing shall take place quarterly after the date of submission.

Each payment by the importer or manufacturer is made by means of a transfer to the bank account mentioned on the invoice.
The invoice is to be settled within 30 calendar days from the date mentioned on the invoice, except if it involves an invoice drawn up as a result of a fixed declaration procedure, for which period payment period of 10 days applies.
If the invoice is not paid within this period, the importer or manufacturer shall, legally and without formal notice, owe late interests to Recupel on the amounts owed (equal to the legal interest rate).
In the event of credit, Recupel shall transfer the amount to which the importer or manufacturer is entitled to the bank account provided by said importer or manufacturer.

Recupel calculates default interests at the legal interest rate, referred to in the Civil Code.

Currently this interest rate is 7% per year.