The generous geriatric is facing the latest in a long line of
legal quandaries as he rushes to finish millions of presents, but
in his haste he may be ignoring his obligations to recycle and
dispose of goods he has previously delivered, said one expert.
"Santa and the elves, as producers of electrical and electronic
equipment, will have obligations in relation to goods placed on the
market, together with responsibilities for financing the treatment,
reprocessing and environmentally sound disposal of them," said
Kirsty Isla Cooper, an environmental law specialist at Pinsent
Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM.
Claus must comply with the European Union's Waste Electric and
Electronic Equipment Directive, which from this year made producers
of goods responsible for their environmentally sound disposal.
"Under the WEEE Regulations Santa and the Elves will be
obligated to join a producer compliance scheme (PCS) to discharge
their financial responsibilities in respect of the treatment,
re-use, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal of
WEEE they have placed on the market," said Cooper.
"All producers, irrespective of size, were to register with an
approved PCS by 15th March 2007, so Santa and the elves may be in
breach if they have not registered and so they may face
prosecution," she said. "The financial implications are
substantial."
Cooper said that Claus and the elves have all sorts of
administrative responsibilities for letting the PCS and
distributors know all about the products they are distributing.
It is unclear whether the elves are separately responsible
because The Grotto has not answered OUT-LAW's questions about
whether elves are employees of Claus or are independent
contractors.
Claus delivers presents in a sleigh drawn by nine reindeer, and
may be committing a far more serious environmental problem with his
choice of mode of transport should he use the sleigh in the south
of England, which has suffered outbreaks of foot and mouth and
bluetongue disease.
His use of hooved animals in areas blighted by transmittable
diseases is potentially his most serious safety breach. Outbreaks
of foot and mouth and bluetongue diseases this autumn have put the
future of the already-battered UK farming industry in jeaopardy
once again. Claus's bringing of reindeer in and out of restriction
zones could be a serious threat to the industry.
"Foot and mouth is alright, but these are susceptible animals
for blue tongue," a spokeswoman for the Department for the
Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) told OUT-LAW.COM.
"The Bluetongue exclusion zone is still in operation and applies
to reindeer," she said. "There is a 150km surveillance zone around
the exclusion zone. You wouldn't be able to go in there with
reindeer and leave with them alive."
