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The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive 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).
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 DTI (Department of Trade & Industry) is the UK lead for the RoHS Directive, being responsible for EU negotiations and
UK implementation.
Envirowise offers practical help on the WEEE and RoHS Directives, as well as other environmental issues, free of charge.
1. Latest Information
2. Timeline
3. RoHS in the UK
3a UK RoHS Regulations (SI 2006-1463)
3b UK Guidance Notes
3c UK RoHS Enforcement Body (NWML)
3d UK Consultations
3e Reports on Compliance Approaches
4. EU Developments on RoHS
4a European Commission's FAQs
4b TAC Meetings
4c Exemptions
4d Categories 8 & 9
4e Perchards Report
5. Documents
6. Useful links
7. Contacts
This section summarises key recent developments. More details and links to documents are provided in sections below.
A public consultation for the latest batch of exemption requests has been annnouced by the European Commission. Details of
which can be found on their website.
The exemptions that were approved by the TAC in June 2006 were published in the EC Official Journal on 14 October 2006.
UK Guidance Notes re-issued
The DTI's non-legally binding guidance notes were re-issued in June 2006
The UK RoHS Regulations have been updated to include exemptions agreed since they were first laid in October 2005. Statutory
Instruments 2006 number 1463 was laid before Parliament on 6 June 2006 and came into force on 1 July 2006. These regulations
will be revised in due course to incorporate new exemptions agreed.
As usual the UK has produced an unofficial note of the latest TAC meeting on 22 November 2006
A document outlining general principles for RoHS enforcement across the EU was published in May 2006. This aims to ensure
a common European approach to enforcement, and has wide support from other Member States. However, there is no guarantee
that all enforcement bodies will adhere to the guide since there is no legal requirement for them to do so.
The European Commission's Frequently Asked Questions document has recently been amended and expanded. The latest version can
be downloaded from their website.http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee_index.htm
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27 January 2003 RoHS Directive formally adopted 28 March 2003 UK Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) published
28 March -30 May 2003. First UK Government Consultation
November 2003 Updated Partial RIA
25 November 2003 - 1 March 2004 Second UK Government Consultation
April 2004 UK commissioned report on compliance approaches published 16 July 2004 UK hosted TAC workshop – established key definitions supporting proposed maximum concentration values
30 July 2004 - 29 October 2004 Third UK Government Consultation on draft regulations and non-statutory guidance
1 July 2005 NWML appointed as UK RoHS enforcement body
18 August 2005 Commission Decision establishing Maximum Concentration Values (MCVs). Published in Official Journal of the
EU 19 August 2005
September 2005 Final RIA published (updated May 2006) 7 October 2005 First UK RoHS Regulations laid before Parliament (now superseded by SI 2006 No.1463) 13 October 2005 Commission Decision exempting deca BDE & lead in lead-bronze bearing shells & bushes. Published in Official
Journal of the EU 15 October 2005
21 October 2005 Commission Decision adopting 'first batch' of exemptions. Published in Official Journal of the EU 25 October
2005
21 April 2006 Commission Decision on 5 further exemptions
6 June 2006 Revised UK RoHS Regulations laid before Parliament SI 2006 No.1463
1 July 2006 RoHS Directive and UK RoHS Regulations came into force
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Statutory Instrument 2006 - 1463, transposing the RoHS Directive into national law, was laid before Parliament on 6 June 2006
and came into force on 1 July 2006.
The DTI has published non-statutory guidance notes, last updated June 2006.
The European Commission has also issued non-legally binding guidance in the form of a Frequently Asked Questions document. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee_index.htmback to top
The UK appointed National Weights & Measures Laboratory (NWML), an executive agency of the DTI, as the UK's RoHS Enforcement
Body on 1 July 2005, a year in advance of the Directive coming into effect.
Their website includes a decision tree to help determine scope and a frequently asked questions section as well as a useful
links page where you can download documents and find other sources of information. www.rohs.gov.uk
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The DTI recognised the significant impact that the requirements of the RoHS Directive would have upon UK companies operating
within the electrical and electronics sectors very early in the negotiating and implementation process.
The Department has, accordingly, gone to some lengths to ensure that industry was made fully aware of the requirements, which
came into force on 1 July 2006. Our awareness raising activities have included three full rounds of public consultation (culminating
in the one undertaken in 2004); three separate series of UK-wide seminars to inform key stakeholders; and the provision of
full and up to date information on the website. In addition, officials have answered huge numbers of telephone and email inquiries
over this period.
First UK Government Consultation 28 March - 30 May 2003
Second UK Government Consultation 25 November 2003 - 1 March 2004
Third UK Government Consultation 30 July 2004 - 29 October 2004
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Compliance approaches report April 2004
The UK commissioned independent consultants, to look at possible compliance approaches for RoHS.
Here is the Full Report and Executive Summary:
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The European Commission has issued non-legally binding guidance in the form of a Frequently asked questions document. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee_index.htmback to top
At EU level, the Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC), chaired by the European Commission and comprising Member State representatives,
considers follow up issues for the RoHS Directives.
The latest meeting was held on 22 November 2006, the next meeting has not yet been scheduled
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Article 5 of the RoHS Directive setsout the process for exemptions to be granted on the grounds of technical or scientific
impracticability. Exemptions are for specific applications of the restricted substances and once agreed through a vote in
the TAC followed by publication of a Commission Decision apply to everyone: there is no requirement to register
The European Commission has put each batch of exemption requests to public consultation and contracted independent technical
consultants to make recommendations. Details of those consultations are available via the Commission's website, under 'events',
but a summary of exemption requests is below:
Batch No of exemptions Consultation deadline
3rd 22 11 Feb 2005
4th 23 28 Oct 2005
5th 15 10 Feb 2006
6th 23 15 May 2006
All exemptions agreed can be found by looking at the Annex to the RoHS Directive and subsequent Commission Decisions amending
the annex: Commission Decisions of 13 October 2005, 21 October 2005 and 21 April 2006. A further 8 exemptions were agreed
at the TAC meeting of 26 June (see unofficial note) and will be published as a Commission Decision in due course.
The Directive and Decisions can be found under 5. Documents.
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Categories 8 (medical devices) and 9 (monitoring & control instruments) of the WEEE Directive are currently outside the scope
of the RoHS Directive, although Article 6 of the RoHS Directive requires the European Commission to consider bringing them
into scope.
The Commission has engaged independent consultants, to conduct a study. The interim report was discussed with invited stakeholders
at a meeting in Brussels on 26 April 2006. Further details are available via the Commissions website under 'studies'.
The final report is due to be published in July 2006. If it recommends bringing categories 8 & 9 into scope, the Commission
would put proposals to the Council & Parliament around 2008. We would not expect to see any possible measures come into force
before 2010.
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A report on other Member States' preparations for WEEE and RoHS. Now that the RoHS Directive has been transposed by all Member
States we do not anticipate any further issues of the report for RoHS.
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May 2006 - Full Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the Department of Trade and Industry's Regulations Transposing Directive
2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the Restriction of the use of Certion Hazardous Subtances in Electrical
Equipment (the RoHS Dircetive) as amened, in the United Kigdom.
EC Directive
Maximum Concentration Values
13 October 2005 - deca-BDE & lead in lead-bronze bearing shells & bushes
21 October 'First batch' of exemptions.
21 April 2006 - 5 further exemptions
WEEE Directive
Final regulatory impact assessment on the RoHS Directive, last updated May 2006
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UK RoHS Enforcement Body (NWML)
European Commission's RoHS website
DEFRA's website on electrical & electronic equipment (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency for England and Wales
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,oganisation and address) to: dti_mailing@erm.com
(Site updated 17 October 2006)
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