AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY ON PLASTIC PACKAGING WASTE, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9003, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2000”

Eighteenth Congress
Third Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, two thousand twenty one.

[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11898, July 23, 2022 ]

AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY ON PLASTIC PACKAGING WASTE, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9003, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2000”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the "Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022."

Section 2. Section 2 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 3. Section 3 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 4. Section 4 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 5. Section 7 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 6. Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby further amended by inserting a new chapter after Chapter III to read as follows:

Section 7. Section 45 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 8. Section 49 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 9. Mandatory Review. — Within five (5) years after the effectivity of this Act, or as the need arises, Congress shall review the accomplishments, and impact of this Act, as well as the performance of its implementing agencies, and the compliance of obliged enterprises to achieve the objectives of this Act, for the purpose of determining the necessity of a remedial legislation mandating for more stringent footprint recovery targets, higher incentives, or phase-out of certain types of single-use plastic packaging.

Within one (1) year after the effectivity of this Act, the NEC shall further identify, review, and update the list of non-environmentally acceptable products and plastic packaging material that shall be phased out, especially those that are highly unnecessary or replaceable, or cannot be efficiently reused, recovered, or recycled, consistent with the provisions of this Act.

Section 10. Appropriations. — The sum necessary for the effective implementation of this Act shall be charged against the appropriations for the DENR under the General Appropriations Act: Provided, That obliged enterprises and the respective PROs shall be responsible for the funds necessary to operationalize and maintain the EPR programs, in compliance with this Act and its implementing rules and regulations.

Section 11. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The DENR, in consultation with relevant government agencies, representatives from obliged enterprises, and other stakeholders shall formulate the rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this Act within ninety (90) days from its effectivity.

Section 12. Section 60 of Republic Act No. 9003 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 13. Separability Clause. — If any portion or provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act or any provision not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect.

Section 14. Repealing Clause. — Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order, letter of instruction, rule or regulation inconsistent or contrary to the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 15. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its complete publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,

This Act which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 2425 and House Bill No. 10696 was passed by the Senate of the Philippines and the House of Representatives on May 23, 2022 and May 26, 2022, respectively.

Approved: Lapsed into law on JUL 23 2022 without the signature of the President, in accordance with Article VI Section 27 (1) of the Constitution.

RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE
President of the Philippines

"Section 2. Declaration of Policies. — It is hereby declared the policy of the State to adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste management program which shall:

"Section 3. Definition of Terms. — For the purposes of this Act:

"Section 4. National Solid Waste Management Commission. — There is hereby established a National Solid Waste Management Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, under the Office of the President. The Commission shall be composed of eight (8) members from the government sector and five (5) members from the private sector. The government sector shall be represented by the heads of the following agencies in their ex officio capacity:

"Provided, That representatives from the private sector shall be appointed by the President for a term of three (3) years.

"x x x.""

"Section 7. The National Ecology Center. — There shall be established a National Ecology Center (NEC) under the Commission which shall provide technical expertise, information, training, and networking services for the implementation of the provisions of this Act. As part of its oversight function, the NSWMC shall have direct supervision over the NEC.

"In this regard, the NEC shall perform the following functions:

"The National Ecology Center shall be headed by the Assistant Director of the Bureau in his/her ex officio capacity. The Assistant Director shall regularly submit reports as may be required by the NSWMC in its monthly meetings. The reports of the NEC shall be consolidated by the NSWMC Secretariat for submission to the NSWMC. The NEC shall maintain a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary pool of experts including those from the academe, inventors, practicing professionals, business and industry, youth, women, and other concerned sectors, who shall be screened according to qualifications set by the Commission.""

"CHAPTER III-A
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY

"ARTICLE 1
National Framework for All Types of Product Wastes

"SEC. 44-A. National Framework for Extended Producer Responsibility. — Unless otherwise provided under Article 2 of this Chapter, within three (3) months following the effectivity of the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022, the Department, in consultation with the NSWMC, shall formulate a national framework on EPR for all types of product wastes. The framework shall include the following components:

"SEC. 45. Incentives. —

"SEC. 49. Fines and Penalties. — (a) x x x

"(g) Any obliged enterprise that fails to register under Section 44-E or fails to comply with Section 44-F shall be imposed with the following fines:

"In case of failure to meet the targets set under Section 44-F, the obliged enterprise shall pay the same fines set above, or a fine twice the cost of recovery and diversion of the footprint or its shortfall, whichever is higher.

"The penalty shall be imposed whether or not the noncompliance is the result of the failure to register under Section 44-E, falsification of documents, misdeclaration of generated or recovered footprint, employment of any scheme to maliciously evade the responsibility of an enterprise under the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022, or tamper its compliance with the provisions of Section 44-F.

"The Pollution Adjudication Board of the Department shall hear and adjudicate cases of violations or offenses under this section, and impose appropriate fines therefor.""

"SEC. 60. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. — There is hereby created a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to monitor the implementation of the Act and to oversee the functions of the implementing agencies. The Committee shall be composed of five (5) Senators and five (5) Representatives to be appointed by the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. The Oversight Committee shall be co-chaired by the Chairpersons of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change of the Senate and the Committee on Ecology of the House of Representatives.