Web campaign against Sweden ecotax

Sweden’s electric goods federations have launched a website pushing to abolish the national “ecotax” on electric goods, ahead of elections in Sweden in September. The website is launched by APPLIA (Home Appliances Sweden) and Elekronik Branschen (electronics federation). The Sweden electronics ecotax was introduced in 2017 with the stated intention of reducing use of certain chemicals, targeting in particular those containing bromine and also those containing phosphorus, but in fact all electrical goods are taxed according to weight. The website says that the tax costs consumers around 250 million €/year, collected by the Government, and has not changed chemicals usage. The tax is halved for electrical items which do not contain bromine or chlorine (halogenated FRs, PVC …) and reduced to a low level (5% of base tax) if they do not contain phosphorus (phosphorus-containing PIN FRs or plasticisers). The Sweden industry website says that flame retardants are important in electronics and that effective alternatives (to phosphorus FRs) are not available today.

Website in Swedish “Rebellion. Abolish the electronics tax now, Finance Minister” https://elektronikskatt.se/