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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) 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.

Index

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

1. Latest Information

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

The Commission recently published a document outlining the review of the RoHS Directive. Stakeholder comments are requested by 22 May 2007.

The public consultation for the latest batch of exemption requests has now closed. Details of the consultation can be found on the Europa website.

The exemptions approved by the TAC in June 2006 were published in the EC Official Journal on 14 October 2006.

The DTI's non legally binding guidance notes were re-issued in January 2007.

The UK's first set of RoHS Regulations (Statutory Instrument 2005 no.2748) were revised in June 2006 to include exemptions agreed prior to the coming into force date of 1 July 2006. Statutory Instrument 2006 no.1463 was laid before Parliament on 6 June 2006. These Regulations will need to be revised again later this year to incorporate new exemptions agreed in October 2006, but the latest Guidance Notes (January 2007) already reflect all currently agreed exemptions.

The UK has produced an unofficial note of the latest TAC meeting on 22 November 2006.

The European Commission's Frequently Asked Questions document has recently been amended and expanded. The latest version can be downloaded from their website.

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2.  Timeline

27 January 2003 RoHS Directive formally adopted

November 2003 Updated Partial RIA

25 November 2003 - 1 March 2004 Second UK Government Consultation

April 2004 UK commissioned report on compliance approaches published

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

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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3.  RoHS in the UK

3a UK RoHS Regulations

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.

3b  UK Guidance Notes

The DTI has published non-statutory guidance notes, last updated January 2007

The European Commission has also issued non-legally binding guidance in the form of a Frequently Asked Questions document.

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3c  UK RoHS Enforcement Body (NWML)

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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3d  UK Consultations

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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3e Report on Compliance Approaches

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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4.  EU Developments on RoHS

4a  European Commission FAQs

The European Commission has issued non-legally binding guidance in the form of a Frequently asked questions document.

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4b  TAC Meetings

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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4c  Exemptions

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

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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4d  Categories 8 & 9

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 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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4e  Perchards Report

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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5.   Documents

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

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

21 October 'First batch' of exemptions.

21 April 2006 - 5 further exemptions

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6. Useful links

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

7.  Contacts

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)