The regulatory scope of the new "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive" is expected to be opened
The European Union is currently revising the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). Since January 2010, member states' attitudes have become clearer, with most hoping to remove the detailed list of regulated products from the new directive. The current directive mainly targets ten categories of electrical and electronic equipment and lists a detailed list of regulated products. However, this detailed product list may no longer be present in the new directive.
In the past, several member states opposed opening up the scope of the RoHS directive, but they are now willing to accept the proposal, partly because a recent impact assessment study conducted by Denmark found that opening up the RoHS directive would not significantly increase related costs. However, the study also indicated that 77 product groups could be affected.
In the impact assessment study in Denmark (which did not cover all equipment categories), 77 product groups potentially affected by the opening of regulations came from different equipment categories, mainly large and small household appliances, tools, toys, and entertainment equipment. While the market for most of these products is large, their sales represent only a few percentage points compared to the total sales of all electrical and electronic products.
The Danish study also found that the administrative costs involved in replacing restricted substances with other substances for a few products are quite high. These products include electric or electronic toys without motors and furniture with lighting fixtures.
On January 27, 2010, several influential industry associations within the EU (including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Digital Europe, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, and the European branch of the Japan Chamber of Commerce) issued a press release jointly opposing the opening up of the regulatory scope, arguing that Denmark's impact assessment study was not comprehensive and therefore a detailed and comprehensive impact assessment was necessary.
Orgalime, the European Engineering Association representing the European engineering industry, also publicly opposed the open-ended regulatory scope of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive. On February 1, 2010, Orgalime wrote to European Parliament member Jill Evans, pointing out that this major revision would bring almost all production equipment using electrical and electronic equipment under regulation without any impact assessment.
The RoHS Directive aims to eliminate hazardous substances used in electrical and electronic equipment as much as possible. The current directive prohibits the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and certain types of brominated flame retardants. Because the industry generally believes that it is difficult to completely eliminate these substances, the directive also includes several exemptions. The European Commission submitted a proposal to amend the directive on December 3, 2008, and it is awaiting its first reading in the European Parliament. The new directive is expected to be adopted before the end of this year.
– Reference source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council website, 2010-03-11
