2025.05.19

The 2025 version of ”The Unsustainable Electronics Tax”

A new updated version of the report The unsustainable electronics tax is now available. This year with Applia as one of the initiators, together with the Electronics Industry, Technology Companies, Computer Games Industry and TechSverige.

The report shows how the electronics tax, introduced in 2017 to phase out certain flame retardants, has in practice had the opposite effect. Instead of benefiting the environment, it drives up prices, makes recycling more difficult and weakens the competitiveness of Swedish companies.

The report provides examples of goods where the tax has led to large price increases. For example, a Whirlpool washing machine priced at SEK 5,290 is charged SEK 685 in tax plus VAT. Without the tax, the price would have been SEK 4,602, which represents a price difference of SEK 15.

The report shows how the electronics tax is unsustainable from several perspectives:

• Negative environmental impact: Consumers are steered towards cheaper, less sustainable products. The risk of ”false substitution” increases.
• Big price increases: Low-income households and the public sector are particularly affected.
• Buy moving abroad: The tax favors low-cost sites with poorer environmental and safety standards.
• No impact on production: Sweden's market is too small to influence global manufacturers.
• 50 % tax increase in two years: Despite political promises to the contrary, tax collection has skyrocketed.

The electronics tax has become an ineffective and counterproductive policy instrument. It does not contribute to a non-toxic environment; on the contrary, it makes recycling more difficult, drives up prices and distorts competition. To phase out hazardous substances in electronics, internationally coordinated efforts are required, not national solutions. The EU already has powerful tools such as REACH and RoHS, which are really driving development forward. At the same time, companies' sustainability efforts must be strengthened through better conditions that enable investments in circular solutions, innovation and the dissemination of knowledge. The electronics tax should therefore be abolished and replaced with policy instruments that actually make a difference.