One of the big challenges is the payment of the registration fee that the operators of the packaging waste management system pay to the FBiH Environmental Protection Fund in the amount of 2 KM for each ton of packaging that taxpayers report to the operator's system. Considering that the amount reached up to 100,000 KM per year, it significantly burdened the functioning of the system operators who not charge this fee additionally from the system payers but set it aside from their regular income. Instead of developing the system, they paid this amount to Fund. In this regard, the Association of System Operators in FBiH addressed the Ministry of Environment and Tourism with a request to call off payment of this fee.

"In the year when all world governments exempt their economic entities from fees and help the economy in various ways, we asked the competent Ministry to release us from these obligations, because the recording fee significantly burdens the costs of our work. Namely, we have been paying this fee since 2013 in the amount of 2 KM per ton, and we do not charge from our clients, nor do we increase our fees by this amount. Given the difficult market situation caused by the pandemic and the significant decline in business volume, we expected that the Ministry would meet our needs and release us from these obligations" it was pointed out by Ekopak management, concluding that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism did not fully support this initiative. Namely, the Ministry ordered the operators to pay the recording fee in 2020, with the proviso that from 2021 the FBiH Environmental Protection Fund will collect the fee directly from taxpayers in a reduced amount of 1.60 KM per ton of packaging placed on the territory of FBiH.

Full text of Amendments to the Rulebook on the management of packaging and packaging waste can be downloaded here.