European Commission Reviews List of Priority Restricted Substances under RoHS 2

HONG KONG, China - July 21, 2014 - PRLog -- AUBA Final Report on Priority Restricted Substances

Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2) sets the rules for amending the list of restricted substances in Article 6(1). A review and amendment of restricted substances in Annex II is to be considered by the Commission before 22 July 2014, and periodically thereafter. In preparation of the 2014 review, the Austrian Umweltbundesamt GmbH (AUBA) conducted a first study that started in 2012 and ended at the beginning of 2014. The final report issued by AUBA (2) listed many priority substances for Annex II restrictions besides four substances (HBCDD, DEHP, BBP and DBP) prioritized already in RoHS 2, Recital 10.

As requested by the Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Commission, Oeko-Institut e.V. undertook the task to evaluate the quantitative usage data about priority substances identified earlier by AUBA. The number of substances indicated in Table 1 within the latest SafeGuards bulletin (http://newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/000006/sgs-safeguards-13214-eu-review-list-restricted-substances-rohs-2-a4-en-14.pdf) went way beyond the limited number of priority substances already indicated in RoHS 2, covering even materials like polyvinylchloride which is highly used by the EEE industry.

DIBP under Review

Another substance under review in this study, but not included in the above list, is diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). DIBP is widely used as plasticizer in glues, printing inks, toys and childcare articles and many other consumer products. Despite the wide spread use of DIBP the substance is identified as a substance of very high concern (SVHC) because of its reproductive toxicity and included in REACH Annex XIV. Even if DIBP currently seems not to be in use in the EEE sector the Oeko-Institute does recommend the restriction of DIBP together with the other priority phthalates as a preventive measure to avoid the move of industry from potentially restricted phthalates to DIBP in the future.

References:

(1) RoHS 2 (http://rohs.exemptions.oeko.info/fileadmin/user_upload/re...)

(2) AUBA Final Report (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_eee/review/new...)

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