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 07 January 2008
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EC Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS)

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) aims to minimise the environmental impact of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) by reducing the quantities of four heavy metals and two brominated flame retardants which it may contain.

Products placed on the EU market on or after 1 July 2006 may not contain more than the specified limits of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

The Directive applies primarily to those who manufacture Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE), those who import these goods into the EU; those who export to other Member States; and those who re-brand equipment produced by others.

The RoHS directive draws its scope from the WEEE Directive and applies to categories 1-7 and 10 listed under Annex 1A of the Directive plus electric light bulbs and household luminaires. The categories are:

  1. Large household appliances
  2. Small household appliances
  3. IT & telecommunication equipment
  4. Consumer equipment
  5. Lighting equipment
  6. Electrical & electronic tools
  7. Toys, leisure & sports equipment

10.  Automatic Dispensers.

There are a number of exempted applications for these substances, some of which have been agreed since the UK laid the RoHS Regulations before Parliament. The UK Regulations will be revised to reflect these new exemptions in due course.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is the UK lead for the RoHS Directive being responsible for EU negotiations and UK implementation.

Index

  1. Latest Information
  2. Documents
  3. Contacts

1. Latest Information

This section summarises key recent developments. More details and links to documents are provided in sections below.

December 2007

  •  The Commission recently announced the second stakeholder consultation for the review of the RoHS Directive, all comments are requested by 13th February 2008. Further details can be found by following the link below.

        RoHS Review - 2nd Stakeholder Consultation

November 2007

  • The UK's RoHS Enforcement Body has published a report outlining enforcement activity since RoHS came into force on 1st July 2006. For the full report please go to:

         http://www.rohs.gov.uk/Docs/NWML%20Year%20One%20Report%20-%20November%202007.pdf

  • The last TAC meeting was held on 12 November 2007. Unofficial meeting notes of the latest meeting can be found by following the link below.
Unofficial note of the Technical Adaptation Committee on the WEEE & RoHS Directives: 12 November 2007PDF document (46KB)

September 2007

  • The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) has published a  new public consultation paper on proposals to revise the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Regulations 2006,  (SI 2006 /1463). 

    This consultation paper is seeking the views of the producers of electrical and electronic equipment and others on proposed amendments in relation to:

          - Schedule 2 of the current Regulations; and

          - those Regulations that are specific to the enforcement  provisions.

    BERR has invited the views of stakeholders by Thursday, 29th November 2007.   Further details and a copy of the consultation document can be found on BERR's website at http://www.berr.gov.uk/consultations/open-consultations/index.html.

July 2007

  • The exemption published in the EC Official Journal on 12 October for hexavalent chromium in corrosive preventive coatings of unpainted metal sheeting expired on 1 July 2007.
  • BERR’s non-legally binding guidance notes were re-issued on July 2007.
    RoHS Regulations: Government guidance notesPDF document (366KB)

June 2007

October 2006

        

Procedures Exemptions Decision - 12 October 2006PDF document (34KB)

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2. Documents

1.    EC Directive

        RoHS EC Directive 2002/95/EC

2.    Maximum Concentration Values

        Maximum concentration values - EU Commission Decision

3.    13 October 2005 - deca-BDE & lead in lead-bronze bearing shells & bushes

        

4.    21 October 'First batch' of exemptions.

        Commission Decision adopting 'first batch' of exemptions

5.    21 April 2006 - 5 further exemptions

        Third Exemptions Decision - 21 April 2006

6.    WEEE Directive

        WEEE EU Directive 2002/96/EU

7.    Final regulatory impact assessment on the RoHS Directive, last updated May 2006

        

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3. Contacts

For further information about the RoHS Directive please contact:

sustainability@berr.gsi.gov.uk

Anyone who would like to subscribe to our circulation list for occasional mailings on the RoHS Directive should sent their details (e-mail address, full name,organisation and address) to: dti_mailing@erm.com

(Site updated 17 October 2006)

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