Reviews of RoHS- and ELV Exemptions for the European Commission

2 years ago Ruediger Kuehr Comments Off on Reviews of RoHS- and ELV Exemptions for the European Commission

Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS Directive) restricts the use of hazardous substances listed on its Annex II in electrical and electronic equipment.

Due to their unique physical and chemical properties or combination thereof, some of these substances can, however, not (yet) be substituted in specific applications. Art. 5(1)(a) of the RoHS Directive foresees the possibility to grant application-specific temporary exemptions in such cases with a maximum validity of five or seven years. The exemptions listed on Annexes III and IV therefore need to be reviewed at least every five and seven years to adapt them to the state of science and technology, i.e. whether they are still needed or whether they can expire. Industry can, at any time, also request new exemptions, which then also are reviewed to assess whether they are actually needed.

Similarly, restrictions and exemptions also apply to the use of hazardous substances in Art. 4(2)(b) of Directive 2000/53/EC (End-of-Life of Vehicles Directive). The exemptions listed on Annex II are regularly reviewed as well, and new exemptions can be requested and are reviewed.

UNITAR-SCYCLE together with Fraunhofer IZM and Bio Innovation Services reviewed RoHS and ELV exemption requests for the European Commission and prepared the below reports recommending their adoption or refusal.

Download reports (pdf):

RoHS-28_Pack-23_Report_Final_20221220

RoHS-26_Pack-21_Final-Report_amended

ELV_11th_Adapt_Report_Final_2021-11-05