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If your business is registered as a WEEE or battery producer, you have a Producer Registration Number. Here is what it is, what it does, and what to do if you do not have one.
If your business is registered under the UK's WEEE or battery compliance regulations, you will have a Producer Registration Number - a unique identifier that confirms your business is registered as a producer and provides a reference point for all your compliance obligations.
Despite being fundamental to the compliance system, the PRN is rarely explained clearly. This guide covers what it is, what it is used for, and what to do if you do not have one.
A Producer Registration Number (PRN) is a unique identifier issued to your business when you first register as a producer under the WEEE Regulations or the Waste Battery Regulations. It is your compliance reference - the number that links your business to its registered producer obligations on the Environment Agency's national database.
Your PRN is issued once and stays with your business. It does not change when you switch compliance schemes, renew your annual registration, or change the products you sell. It follows the producer, not the scheme.
The PRN should not be confused with packaging waste PRNs (Packaging Recovery Notes), which are a separate mechanism used to evidence recycling in the packaging industry. In the WEEE and battery context, PRN refers specifically to your producer registration identifier.
Any business that has registered as a WEEE or battery producer will have a PRN. This includes:
If you joined a compliance scheme, your scheme will have handled registration on your behalf and should have provided you with your PRN. If you registered directly with the Environment Agency, your PRN was issued as part of that process.
Your PRN serves several practical functions throughout the compliance year:
You receive a PRN when you first register as a producer. The process depends on your producer size:
If you believe you should be registered as a WEEE or battery producer but do not have a PRN, one of two things is likely: either you have never registered (and are non-compliant), or your PRN was issued by your scheme but has not been passed on to you.
If you are registered through a compliance scheme and cannot locate your PRN, contact your scheme directly and ask them to confirm it. They should be able to provide it immediately.
If you are not registered and believe you should be, the right step is to register as soon as possible. Depending on how long you have been placing products on the market without registration, you may need to report retroactively. Contact WERCS for a free assessment of your position - we can confirm whether you are obligated and help you work out the best path to compliance from where you currently are.
Yes - this is a specific legal obligation that many producers overlook. Under the WEEE Regulations, producers must declare their PRN to any distributor they supply EEE to. This is known as a producer declaration and it is required by law. If you supply electrical products to retailers or other distributors and have not shared your PRN with them, you need to do so.
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