WEEE symbol: the crossed-out wheeled bin, the bar under it and where it goes

The WEEE symbol is a crossed-out wheeled bin. The Directive fixes it for electrical and electronic equipment: it tells the buyer that the product goes to separate collection, not into unsorted household waste (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex IX). You print it on the product, together with a second mark, usually a bar or a date under the bin, that shows the product was placed on the market after 13 August 2005 (Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What you do:

1. Check that your product is electrical or electronic equipment under the WEEE Directive. The test and the producer duties that come with it are in the WEEE Directive guide. A business that sells at a distance into an EU country from another country is the producer there, so the marking duty is yours (Art. 3(1)(f)(iv)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 3, paragraph 1, point (f), point (iv)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
2. Use the drawing in Annex IX of the Directive: a wheeled bin with two lines crossing it (Annex IX). Do not redraw it. The German register points to the PNG file the German Federal Environment Agency provides (stiftung ear).
3. Add the date mark. The Directive only says “a mark on the EEE”; the usual form, which the German register describes, is a date or a solid bar under the bin. Everything you place on the market today comes after all the cut-off dates, so it carries the mark (Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
4. Print it on the product, visibly, legibly and indelibly (Annex IX). Put it on the packaging, the instructions for use and the warranty instead only where the size or the function of the product makes that necessary (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
5. Add what the country you sell into asks beside it. The Directive itself names no producer identification for the marking; Germany requires the marking to identify the producer unambiguously (§ 9(1) ElektroG).
6. If a battery is inside, the battery carries its own bin. It has its own rules, set out in the EU Battery Regulation guide and summarised below.
7. Selling into France: the French administration names the crossed-out bin, for electrical and electronic equipment, as an example of a sign that can take the place of the Triman logo. The sorting instruction still goes beside it (Service Public Entreprendre).

The WEEE symbol is the crossed-out wheeled bin of Annex IX

Annex IX of the Directive says: “The symbol indicating separate collection for EEE consists of the crossed-out wheeled bin, as shown below. The symbol must be printed visibly, legibly and indelibly” (Annex IX). The drawing in the Official Journal is black line art: a wheeled bin with a lid, crossed by two diagonal lines running from corner to corner. The text of Annex IX says nothing about colour, and the drawing carries no bar and no date. It is only the bin.

The reason for the symbol is in the article that requires it: to minimise the disposal of waste equipment as unsorted municipal waste and to make separate collection easier (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The country must also make sure household users are told the meaning of the symbol, along with the duty not to throw the waste into unsorted municipal waste and where to return it (Art. 14(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A country may place that duty on the producer, on the distributor, or on both, for example in the instructions for use or at the point of sale (Art. 14(5)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Germany puts it on the producer, who must enclose the information in writing with every device, including the meaning of the symbol (§ 18(4) ElektroG). It also puts a duty on distributors that are bound to take back waste equipment (§ 18(3) ElektroG), and the German register lists the meaning of the crossed-out bin among the things such a seller tells customers (stiftung ear).

A bar or a date under the bin shows the product was placed on the market after 13 August 2005

The Directive does not draw the second mark. It says that “a mark on the EEE specifies that the latter was placed on the market after 13 August 2005”, so that the date it was placed on the market is “determined unequivocally” (Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The form in use is the one the German register describes: the symbol of the crossed-out wheeled bin, with a date marked underneath it stating from when the product was placed on the market, or a solid bar attached instead (stiftung ear).

The date mark has its own start dates, which the amending Directive of 2024 set after a Court of Justice ruling on retroactive costs (Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Directive (EU) 2024/884, recitals 4 and 11):

A product you sell new today was placed on the market after all three dates, so the date mark applies to it whichever row it sits in (Art. 2(1)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Directive prefers the standard EN 50419:2022 for the bin and the date mark

For both marks the Directive says the producer marks “preferably in accordance with the European standard EN 50419:2022” (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The word is “preferably”: the Directive does not require the standard. Directive (EU) 2024/884 swapped the reference to the new edition because the standard, first adopted by Cenelec in March 2006, was revised and the revision was adopted by Cenelec in July 2022 (Directive (EU) 2024/884, recital 10). The standard is sold, not free, and its text is not reproduced here.

Where the symbol goes: on the product first, then the packaging, instructions and warranty

The symbol goes on the equipment itself. “In exceptional cases, where this is necessary because of the size or the function of the product”, it is printed on the packaging, on the instructions for use and on the warranty of the equipment instead (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Directive sets no size for the symbol and no producer name beside it

Annex IX asks for a symbol that is visible, legible and indelible. It gives no minimum size. The Directive’s articles on marking name no producer identification either; they name the symbol and the date mark (Art. 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex IX).

Batteries use the same bin under the Batteries Regulation

Batteries carry the crossed-out wheeled bin by Regulation (EU) 2023/1542Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Batteries RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. and not by the WEEE Directive. The drawing in Annex VI, Part B of the Regulation is the same crossed-out bin, with no bar. Since 18 August 2025, every battery is marked with it (Art. 13(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Batteries RegulationArticle 13, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex VI, Part B). The Regulation gives sizes the Directive does not: at least 3% of the area of the largest side of the battery, up to 5 x 5 cm, or 1.5% of the surface for cylindrical cells. A battery with more than 0.002% cadmium or more than 0.004% lead adds Cd or Pb under the bin (Art. 13(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Batteries RegulationArticle 13, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 13(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Batteries RegulationArticle 13, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The size rules, the Cd and Pb marks and the other battery labels are in the EU Battery Regulation guide.

France accepts the crossed-out bin in place of the Triman logo on electrical equipment

In France every product under a producer responsibility scheme that is sold to households carries a sorting sign: the Triman logo, or another common sign that EU law or another EU country’s law makes mandatory. The French administration’s own example of that other sign is the crossed-out bin for electrical and electronic equipment (Service Public Entreprendre). So on electrical equipment, the bin replaces the logo. Your producer responsibility organisation’s sorting instruction still goes beside it; the bin cannot replace it because it does not say where to take the item (Ministry FAQ on Triman, question 10; R. 541-12-20, copy in Ineris AIDA). The French rule in full is on Triman logo in France. The logo and the sorting instructions it goes with are in EPR; the Triman duty and its fine for packaging, and how it sits next to the other countries’ packaging marks, are in packaging recycling symbols.

What happens if you mark wrongly or not at all

The Directive sets no figure: each country lays down penalties that must be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” (Art. 22Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 22Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). In Germany, marking equipment wrongly or not at all can cost a fine of up to EUR 100,000 (§ 45(1) No. 8 and § 45(2) ElektroG). The marking is one of several duties of the same producer: the registration and the take-back of the waste sit alongside it, in the WEEE Directive guide.

What the law leaves open

• The size of the symbol and the dimensions of the bar. Neither Annex IX nor Articles 14(4)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and 15(2)Directive 2012/19/EU, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment DirectiveArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. give a size. The standard the Directive prefers, EN 50419:2022, is paywalled and is not quoted here. Meanwhile: print the symbol large enough to be visible, legible and indelible as Annex IX asks, using the drawing as it stands.
• Whether one bin on the equipment serves the battery inside it too. The Batteries Regulation requires the battery itself to be marked, or its packaging and documents where the battery is too small. Neither text says that the bin on the equipment covers the battery. Meanwhile: mark the battery with its own bin as the Regulation sets out, and the equipment with the bin of the Directive.