Base presentation from European Commission on RoHS Directive prepared for Fleishman-Hillard EU Roundtable on WEEE and RoHS.

1. Recast of the Directive on restrictions
of hazardous substances in electrical
and electronic equipment
(RoHS)
Roundtable
Brussels, 14 July 2009
Madalina Caprusu
European Commission – DG Environment

2. Current RoHS Directive
Objective: to avoid leakage of hazardous substances from waste to the
environment and to prevent contamination with these substances when
recycling materials
Key elements:
Ban on the use of 4 heavy metals and 2 brominated flame
retardants in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)
Scope of products leaning on the WEEE Directive
Exemptions by comitology, based on availability of alternatives
and an assessment of their impacts in terms of environment,
health, and consumer safety
Similar legislation adopted by China, Korea, Japan, some U.S.
states

3. The RoHS Recast

4. Why a revised RoHS?
Better Regulation
Problems with implementation
Coherency with other legislation
Article 6 current RoHS:
Inclusion of Medical Devices and Measurement and Control
Equipment (categories 8 and 9)
Adaptation of the list of restricted substances

5. Scope
Current RoHS Proposal (Art.2, Annexes I and II)
Based on the WEEE Directive Product categories and binding
EEE under categories 1 - list of products defining the
7 and 10 of Annex IA of scope are set under RoHS
the WEEE Directive Products list – amendable
Electric light bulbs and through comitology
luminaries in households Inclusion of categories 8&9
Not spare parts for repair or Not spare parts for compliant
reuse of EEE put on the market EEE
before 1/7/2006
Not (guidance): Not (legal text):
Military Military
Equipment designed as part Equipment designed as part
of another equipment of another equipment
Fixed installation Fixed installation (clarified)

6. Definitions
Current RoHS Proposal (Art. 3)
EEE EEE
Producer EU “marketing of
Main problem: some definitions products” legislation
are unclear (e.g. ‘producer’) or definitions e.g.
missing (e.g. ‘put on the manufacturer, distributor,
market’) “making available on the
market”, “market
surveillance” etc.
Categories 8&9
definitions (e.g. AIMD)
Homogenous material

7. Substance restrictions
Current RoHS Proposal (Art. 4(7), Annex IV)
Ban on the use of heavy metals No changes to the list of
(Pb, Hg,Cd,CrVI) and substances
brominated flame retardants Substance restriction
(PBB&PBDE) in EEE put on the mechanism in line with the
market after 1/7/2006 REACH methodology
Maximum concentration List of banned substances and
values (MCVs) to be tolerated MCVs - amendable through
regarding compliance (Annex) comitology instead of co-
New substances – co-decision decision
4 substances identified for
priority assessment

8. Exemptions
Current RoHS Proposal (Art. 5, Art.4(4)(f),
Art. 5(1)(b)- Criteria for Annexes V&VI)
granting exemptions: 4-year maximum validity period,
if elimination or with possibility of requesting
substitution is technically renewals
or scientifically New exemption criteria:
impracticable, or availability and reliability of
where the negative substitutes and socio-economic
environmental, health impacts.
and/or consumer safety Permission to use non-
impacts caused by compliant spare parts is
substitution are likely to extended to equipment
outweigh the benefitting from an exemption
environmental, health New annex - exemptions for
and/or consumer safety categories 8&9
benefits
Review – at least every 4 years Rules for exemption request -
or 4 years after comitology
Applications listed in the
Annex

9. Compliance
Current RoHS: Proposal (Arts. 7-17)
Art. 4: MS to ensure that from
1/7/06 products put on the EU
market comply
Alignment with the recently
Does not foresee compliance adopted EU "Marketing of
procedures or standards to be Products" legislation
applied
Harmonised provisions on
Compliance: is entirely conformity assessment
competence of the MS. procedures, CE marking and
2006-MS have set up an market surveillance
informal Enforcement Bodies
Network

10. Summary of proposed modifications
Clarification of scope and definitions
Inclusion of Medical Devices and Measurement and Control Equipment
A clearer mechanism for identifying and restricting the use of additional
hazardous substances
Adaptation of the procedure for exemptions
Harmonisation of conformity assessment requirements with EU
legislation on the Marketing of Products
Full COM proposal downloadable at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/pdf/com_2008_809.pdf
Thank you for your attention.