Exemptions to EU ROHS II Directive Undergoing Stakeholder Consultation

March 5, 2012 - PRLog -- The Öko-Institut and Fraunhofer IZM will provide assistance to the European Commission with a technical review of the requests for exemption from substance restrictions of the RoHS II Directive 2011/65/EU that have been posted by Electrical and Electronics industry. The consultation of stakeholders is scheduled from January 24 to March 20, 2012 and will cover the 18 exemption requests that have not been eliminated, and evaluate them against the Directive’s criteria for exemptions listed in Article 5 (1) (a).

A final decision about each exemption will be subsequently taken by the relevant EU institutions. The preparatory role played by the Öko-Institut and Fraunhofer IZM during this stakeholder consultation will collect and evaluate the information submitted by stakeholders and provide the Commission with their recommendations on the justifications for each exemption, analyzing their socio-economic and cost benefits.

In all, 20 exemption requests from the revised Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive were submitted, but only 18 of these form part of the present stakeholder consultation. Two requests have already been eliminated from the current project.

Of the 18 RoHS exemption requests covered by the present stakeholder consultation, it includes exceptions for specific uses and levels of cadmium, lead and mercury. Two requests involve the cadmium used in electrical contacts and in the phosphor coatings used to intensify X-ray images. Another two requests are for specific applications involving low levels of mercury used in fluorescent tubes. The remaining fourteen requests are to do with specific applications of lead; two of these in combination with cadmium for special uses in optical instruments and the bonds for superconducting magnets. The remaining lead exemption requests involve its use in radiation therapy and surgery, CT and MRI scanners, as a bonding agent for steel and aluminum in X-ray equipment, for use as an electrical connection solder and as an ingredient in superconducting materials and special forms of glass, as a PCB mounting substance and in certain very low temperature applications. It is obvious that the exemption proposals are linked predominantly to medical devices, control- and monitoring-instruments where the general exemption of RoHS I directive will phase out in the next years.

The RoHS exemptions website contains details of how stakeholders may offer contributions for the evaluation of requests and existing exemptions. To assist stakeholders in better understanding the process and how to submit a contribution, a guidance document is also available on the RoHS website.

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