Royal Decree 679/2006, on the management of used industrial oils, establishes the extended responsibility of the manufacturer, designating the manufacturers and importers of lubricant oils as the parties responsible for assuming the funding of the management of the waste generated by the products they commercialise. The income received by SIGAUS, to jointly guarantee the correct management of the used oils, originates from the fees paid by the adhered companies of €0.05 per kg of oil placed on the market. Under the premise of 'the polluter pays', this contribution is passed on from the manufacturer to the distributor, from the distributor to the car repair or industry that purchases the lubricant and, in the case of car repair, to the end consumer.

One of SIGAUS' principles is to comply with this responsibility of the manufacturers and to ensure that the system is viable at all times. In this sense, it is fundamental to maintain the balance between the contributions from the adhered companies and the funding needed for the management companies so that they can obtain a 'reasonable profit' from the operations they carry out.

With the objective of guaranteeing this balance, SIGAUS periodically reviews the funding received by the various managers that intervene in the system, as the profitability of the operations is affected by external factors such as the price of oil or the international market for products derived from the same. In periods where the base oils or the first refined fuel oil has a high price on the market, the products obtained from the used oils have a higher value and the management companies obtain greater income from the sale of the same. However, at times of depreciation of oil, the regenerated oil does not have as competitive a price and presents lower demand, making it necessary for the management companies to receive greater funding in order to guarantee both the economic feasibility of their processes and that all of the waste is correctly collected and treated.

In order to establish the amount of funding that must be provided to our network of managers, we annually request an independent audit from PwC based on the information provided by our management companies.

Furthermore, in order to determine funding for the waste regeneration operations, we consider the evolution of the base lubricant prices provided by the ICIS index (Independent Commodity Information Services), the main global provider of prices for chemical and energy products. In this way, we maintain flexible funding, adapted at all times to the reality of the market for regeneration companies.