The European Union is expected to2011Announced in yearRoHSCorrection order
The European Commission has published the European Commission resolution amending the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 26, 2010. This resolution stipulates that member states must unanimously implement relevant regulations to safeguard the interests of domestic producers (manufacturers and exporters).
The RoHS Directive aims to ban hazardous substances used in electrical and electronic equipment. However, in some cases, banning these chemical substances is not technically feasible and will inevitably damage product quality. Therefore, certain chemicals are exempted. However, when research shows that there are other chemicals on the market that can be used as alternatives, these exempted chemicals will be removed from the exemption list.
The European Commission passed the above-mentioned latest resolution to include cadmium used in color conversion II-VI light-emitting diodes in solid-state lighting or display systems into the exemption list, but the cadmium content per square millimeter of the light-emitting surface must be less than 10 μg. This exemption will only be valid until July 1, 2014, as cadmium-free technologies will appear on the market. This exemption is available at:http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:049:0032:0033:EN:PDF .
On the other hand, the European Commission proposed to amend the RoHS Directive on December 3, 2008. The European Parliament's committee responsible for environmental affairs also appointed Jill Evans as a reporting specialist, responsible for writing reports and making recommendations on amending the content of the directive. The report was released on December 14, 2009.
The Evans report proposed that the revised directive should not only apply to electrical and electronic equipment, but also to wires, consumables and accessories for electrical and electronic equipment. The report also hopes to ensure that hazardous substances are not only prohibited from being used on parts for reuse and repair, but are also prohibited from being used when updating the functionality of electrical and electronic equipment or improving the capabilities of electrical and electronic equipment.
Currently, the RoHS Directive prohibits the use of 6 substances, and the proposed revision does not require immediate expansion of the scope of prohibited use of hazardous substances. However, the Evans report recommended that seven other substances be included in the ban, including brominated flame retardants, chlorinated flame retardants, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated plasticizers, and three types of phthalates(Phthalic acidDi-2-ethylhexyl esterDEHP,Phthalic acidButyl benzyl esterBBPandPhthalic aciddibutyl esterDBP.
Members of the European Parliament's environmental protection committee have until the end of last week to propose changes to the Evans report. The committee will discuss the proposed changes on April 6 and vote on May 4. The European Parliament will then vote on the changes in June 2010. At the plenary meeting held in March, the revised Evans report will be adopted and the position on the RoHS amendment bill will be confirmed. Thereafter, the EU Council will decide whether to accept the European Parliament’s revisions to the Commission’s recommendations. The new RoHS directive will be available for adoption in early 2011.
– Reference source: HKTDC 2010-03-11
